Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: atlas, bill everett, pre-code horror, zombie

Zombie by Bill Everett Debuts in Menace #5, up for Auction

Zombie by Bill Everett debuted in Menace #5 from Marvel/Atlas in 1953, and would return to enter the Marvel Universe 20 years later.

Zombies were a staple part of the Pre-Code Horror era, and of course, there had been comic books that featured the living dead long before that.  The Master of Corpses in More Fun Comics #31 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster is one early Golden Age example from 1938. Tarpé Mills Purple Zombie (Heroic Comics #1-12, 1940-1941) and Joe Simon's Zombie Master (Daring Mystery Comics #1, 1940) are some notable early Golden Age entries, and there are numerous others.  But while zombies appeared in comic books a handful of times per year throughout much of the early Golden Age, during the height of the Pre-Code Horror era, they could be seen in comics on the newsstands multiple times monthly.

DC Comics' Solomon Grundy is perhaps the most famous comic book zombie of the Golden Age, though he is not the only undead comic book character to return to comics in later times.  Bill Everett's Zombie from Menace #5 entered the Marvel Universe two decades after its 1953 release. A nearly-forgotten character who debuted at the peak of Marvel's Pre-Code Horror era, there's a CGC VG 4.0 copy of the comic containing his first appearance in Menace #5 (Atlas, 1953) up for auction in the 2024 October 24 – 25 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40272 at Heritage Auctions.

Marvel was the comic book industry's most prolific horror publisher in 1953 when Menace #5 hit the newsstands.  Of course, this changed when the Comics Code was implemented the next year.  Notably, the Code explicitly prevented zombies from appearing in comic books at that time, along with other horror staples like vampires and werewolves.  However, when Code guidelines were relaxed on this point in 1971, Marvel looked to re-enter the horror field, and Marvel resurrected Everett's Zombie to star in its Tales of the Zombie magazine in 1973.  An editorial in the debut issue explained how this came about:

Editor Roy Thomas turned up several [Bill Everett Pre-Code Horror stories] while he was looking for vintage tales to reprint for the first issue of our sister-mag DRACULA LIVES!, back when that title and MONSTERS UNLEASHED. were the only two giant-sized comics on the Marvel schedule.

And the very best Everett tale— in fact, Roy's personal nomination for one of the best-drawn sagas of that much-maligned decade wherein he cut his proverbial eyeteeth — was a thing called simply "Zombie." He put it aside on top of a stack of reprint material by Russ Heath, Gene Colan. Tony diPreta. and other giants in the field, and went on to other concerns.

Then, suddenly, neo-publisher Stan Lee came up with a couple of new names he wanted to see done as magazine titles, so that Marvel would enter the black-and-white field with a whole line of 75-centers. One was VAMPIRE TALES. which debuts next month, same time, same newsstand— and the other was TALES OF THE ZOMBIE!

Roy was thunderstruck— an unusual occurrence for the Rascally One. TALES OF THE ZOMBIE. Great title, that. But— tales of what zombie? More than seven years of hectic experience in comics had convinced Roy that Marvel's magazines usually did best with strong title characters rather than with anthology-type books per se. But, how to come up with just the right zombie, drawn in just the right style by just the right artist? He racked his brains for, oh. five minutes or so. Then. something clicked— and be remembered. Bill Everett's Zombie! Why not take this beautifully-conceived, painstakingly-rendered Walking Deadman, and make him the unique hero of his own magazine, just like that?

Zombie is an obscure beginning for a character who made his way into the Marvel Universe 20 years later, there's a CGC VG 4.0 copy of the comic containing his first appearance in Menace #5 (Atlas, 1953) up for auction in the 2024 October 24 – 25 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40272 at Heritage Auctions.

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