By “But what breed of man or woman finds pleasure in the degradation of another human being? What manner of man could be so shallow? Alas, you are about to find out.”
I knew little of the living dead when I saw Tales of the Zombie #1 at the Book Cache in Anchorage, Alaska. All I knew was that it was from Marvel, and that the cover by Boris Vallejo was one of the most striking images I’d ever seen. A creature with albino skin, standing in a foggy graveyard, clutching the arm of a frightened woman. The Zombie in the upper left hand corner reading a Marvel mag was cute. I bought it and devoured the origin story.
Written by Steve Gerber and drawn by John Buscema (one of his most outstanding black and white art jobs, inked by Tom Palmer and Syd Shores), it was violent, graphic, and sexy. Set in New Orleans, it was the story of Simon Garth, a successful coffee harvester. A hard-driving and conservative man, Simon cared only for his daughter Donna—who liked to skinny dip in the pool when no one was watching. When the gardener Gyps catches Donna in the nude, he makes advances and is thrown off by Simon. Vowing revenge, Gyps takes Simon to a voodoo party in the bayou. He’s supposed to be a living sacrifice to the Loa.
Fortunately for Simon, the voodoo priestess happens to be his super-hot secretary, Layla. Layla cuts him loose, and he runs through the bayou. Gyps runs Simon down and fatally stabs him with the shears that Simon told him to sharpen. Gyps buries Simon in the swamp and then decides that’s not good enough. To truly suffer, Simon must become one of the walking dead!
Gyps forces Layla to perform the voodoo ritual. Simon rises from the grave, and he’s adorned with the Amulet of Damballa. Whoever holds the duplicate coin has the power to control Simon and force him to do virtually anything. It’s a fickle power, perhaps dependent on the one holding the coin. Gyps orders Simon to kidnap Donna, but Simon somehow resists the command. When Gyps drops the coin in a drunken stupor, Simon swiftly kills him in his first moment of freedom.
From there, the series progressed with two main themes. One theme dealt with Simon struggling to end his hellish existence. The other theme dealt with various people getting the coin and forcing Simon to do terrible things. Steve Gerber was the perfect writer for the series. He excelled at writing mindless creatures, allowing the supporting cast to take over most of the story. He wrote the stories from Simon’s point of view, using second person narration: “You stand in a dark, windswept field somewhere outside New Orleans, but you do not feel the chill of the blustery night breeze. You do not feel anything.”
From issue #2 until the end, the primary artist became Pablo Marcos. Marcos had a vivid style and a flair for black and white drawing that fit the series perfectly. His rendition of the Zombie resembled the paintings by Boris Vallejo. He drew shockingly voluptuous voodoo queens and other slutty women who gave themselves over the dark arts.
Tales of the Zombie was a unique series in that it actually told a complete arc across the entire ten issues Marvel published. It was probably not planned that way, but the pieces fell into place. Issue #9 had Gerber’s strongest story in the series run, “A Death Made Out Of Ticky-Tacky.” Simon had been reunited with Layla, the only person who could possibly undo his curse.
Before she can aid him, Simon is summoned by a group of swingers who now possess the coin of Damballah. They force Simon to attack a number of people that they each have a trivial disagreement with. You can feel Simon’s shame and horror building each time they abuse him.
The last victim turns out to be a “snooty secretary from Garwood,” Simon’s old company. Simon enters a dark apartment and smashes the victim in the head violently. To his horror, he discovers that it’s Layla. She tears the Amulet of Damballah from his neck, and Simon is a free man at last. With a bloodcurdling shriek, he goes after the swingers and kills them.
The last Simon Garth story in TOTZ #9 was “A Day In The Life Of A Dead Man.” It wasn’t written by Gerber, but it used all the supporting characters and plot elements from the past issues. A voodoo master helps a dying Layla to restore Simon Garth to life for twenty four hours. Simon returns to New Orleans and makes peace with his family, sells his company, and takes revenge on a voodoo lord who made Simon kill an ally.
At the end of TOTZ #9, Simon turns back into a Zombie and crawls back into the grave for a final and everlasting sleep. Someone probably resurrected him in other Marvel titles. I preferred to think of this as Simon Garth’s final redemption. Nuff said.
Leave a comment