(I originally read these comics in mid December 2016)
Marvel's adults only 'MAX' imprint seems to have been the place where a lot of moribund, old characters in need of trademark renewal got a brief shot at revival, with varying success. Unlike some others, this post-Romero updating of the '70s Simon Garth Zombie character is well worth a read.
Bank Teller Simon Garth is having the worst day of his unremarkable life when two robbers burst into his branch, kill the manager and kidnap Garth and co-worker Layla because they need him to deactivate the paint canisters in their money bags - or so they think. Things get immeasurably worse, however, when the quartet is stopped in their tyre tracks by a chemical spill on the Interstate. This isn't your average chemical spill, though, as it has the effect of turning people into ravenous, undead cannibals, one of which bites Layla's throat out. The remaining trio take refuge in an abandoned burger joint with a rag-tag assortment of new characters, including an infected soldier who will inevitably 'turn', as the chaos outside swells to apocalyptic proportions and the zombie hordes attempt to claw their way in. As always in these situations, everybody's unsure of their allegiances and betrayal might lurk just around the corner. It's spoiling nothing to mention that, yes, Garth does end up infected.
If you've seen any zombie film made in the last forty-eight years, then you'll find nothing groundbreaking here. However, the story by Mike Raicht is solid and is lifted higher by the atmospheric and super-gory artwork of Kyle Hotz. (You'll feel like you're sloshing ankle-deep through a sea of intestines, by the end.)
Raicht is gone for the follow-up series and I expected a dip in quality as remaining artist Hotz was an unknown quantity to me as a writer. However, he doesn't miss a trick and picks up right after the events of the first series with an infected Simon Garth, now a fully-fledged (yet benevolent) zombie, let loose after his rescue helicopter crashes. From here, another epidemic begins. Hotz has fun introducing a family of inbred hunters modelled after the Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Sawyer clan as adversaries for our zombie hero and now protector of a little girl, lost in the woods after a car crash. Hotz's artwork is as good as ever, like a latter-day Graham Ingels, and if you enjoy the first series you'll want to read this too. Before reading 'Zombie', I considered Hotz to be "like Kelley Jones, just not as good," but I'm forced to revise that opinion now.
Zombie (2006) # 1-4 are collected in:
The Zombie: Simon Garth (2008) # 1-4 are collected in:
