The Zombie

Simon Garth was an ordinary man whose life took a dark turn when he was murdered and then resurrected as a shambling, undead zombie through voodoo ritual, leaving him trapped between life and death and bound to obey whoever possessed the mystical Amulet of Damballah.

Few corners of Marvel's Bronze Age feel as deliciously strange as the one carved out by The Zombie, who shambled onto the scene in 1973 courtesy of a remarkable creative team — Steve Gerber, Roy Thomas, John Buscema, and Tom Palmer — at a moment when the Comics Code's loosening grip let horror truly breathe. This is a character born in the same shadowy Marvel neighborhood as Morbius, Son of Satan, and Jack Russell, a rogues' gallery of macabre company that tells you everything about the eerie, anything-goes spirit of the era. Popping up across titles like Marvel Zombies 4, Daredevil Annual, and Bizarre Adventures, The Zombie has quietly persisted across an astonishing five-plus decades, a testament to the enduring pull of Marvel's horror catalogue. If you love the weird, wonderful fringes of the Bronze Age — where superhero bombast gave way to genuine dread — this is a character well worth tracking down.