Zombie (comics)

Zombie
Tales of the Zombie #1 (Aug. 1973). Art by Boris Vallejo.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Menace #5 (Jul 1953)
Created by	Stan Lee Bill Everett
In-story information
Alter ego	Simon William Garth
Species	Zombie
Abilities	Super strength; magical healing

The Zombie (Simon William Garth) is a fictional supernatural character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett for the standalone story "Zombie" in the horror-anthology comic book Menace #5 (cover-dated July 1953), which was published by Atlas Comics, a forerunner to Marvel. The character later became well known for starring in the black-and-white, horror-comic magazine series Tales of the Zombie (1973–1975), usually in stories by Steve Gerber and Pablo Marcos.

Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Roy Thomas plucked the character Simon Garth, the Zombie, from a pre-Comics Code horror tale in Menace #5 (July 1953), published by Marvel forerunner Atlas Comics, and brought the character into modern-day continuity in Tales of the Zombie #1 (1973). The initial modern story, co-scripted by Thomas and Steve Gerber and drawn by John Buscema and Tom Palmer, was a 12-page tale that led into a seven-page reprint of the 1950s story (with the art slightly altered to give the Zombie shoulder-length rather than short hair). That original story was also reprinted in 1975's Tales of the Zombie Annual #1, and again two decades later in Curse of the Weird #4 (March 1994), the final issue of a short-lived Marvel horror reprint series.