Menace #5
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMenace #5 (cover-dated July 1953) is the cornerstone pre-Code horror key of the Atlas era because it contains the first appearance of Simon Garth, the Zombie — one of a tiny handful of Atlas-era characters who made a successful leap into mainstream Marvel continuity decades later. The seven-page standalone story 'Zombie!' planted a distinctive voodoo-horror template that distinguished itself from the era's mindless-monster fare by giving its undead protagonist a flicker of retained humanity: Garth cannot bring himself to harm his own daughter, and ultimately turns on his cruel master, investing the genre's stock 'ironic comeuppance' structure with genuine pathos. When the Comics Code Authority banned zombies from approved comics after 1954, Garth was effectively buried for nearly twenty years, making the issue a document of what pre-Code horror could accomplish before the industry self-censored, and its rediscovery by Roy Thomas in 1973 directly triggered Marvel's black-and-white monster-magazine boom.
In "Zombie!", a 1953 Menace issue, Stan Lee and George Tuska deliver a chilling tale of guilt and terror as Hunk Gillem is haunted by the corpse of Tom Britton, a man he claims to have killed. The story unfolds with a haunting dream sequence that blurs reality, culminating in a shocking twist revealed through Bill Everett’s eerie cover and the unsettling aftermath of a night gone wrong.
In "Crack-Down!" from Menace #5 (1953), a small-time hood ignores a gang lord’s warning not to make moves while a senator is in town—only to mug a stranger for thirty-three dollars at a bar, thinking him an easy mark. When he’s called to testify in court, the twist hits hard: the man he robbed was the senator himself.
In "Nightmare!" from Menace #5 (1953), Hunk Gillem is haunted by visions of the corpse of Tom Britton—whom he killed—chasing him through his worst dreams. After confessing his terror to the bar tender, who offers a cure, Hunk wakes to find the nightmare has bled into reality: his face is burned, and the bartender is no man at all.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Atlas Comics — publisher Martin Goodman's 1950s operation and the direct precursor to Marvel — launched Menace in March 1953 as a direct response to the critical and commercial dominance of EC Comics' horror line, with editor-in-chief Stan Lee writing the entire run through issue #8 and pairing himself with Golden Age veterans to match EC's practice of tailoring specific artistic styles to specific stories. For the first six issues, Lee's creative partner was Bill Everett, the 1939 creator of the Sub-Mariner, who drew both the covers and one interior story per issue; their collaboration on issue #5's 'Zombie!' represents the high-water mark of that pairing. The series carried an 'Authorized A.C.M.P.' seal — the essentially unenforced predecessor to the CCA sponsored by the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers — meaning Menace #5 technically claimed compliance with a voluntary code even while publishing content the later, stricter CCA would explicitly prohibit.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Simon Garth, the Zombie (Earth-616), along with his daughter Donna Garth and antagonist Gyps — though none of the three characters are referred to by name until Tales of the Zombie #1 (1973).
- Written by Stan Lee and illustrated (interior story and cover) by Bill Everett, the Sub-Mariner's creator; the lead story 'Zombie!' runs seven pages and is set in the Louisiana bayou and French Quarter of New Orleans.
- The issue is an anthology: additional stories include 'Crack-Down!' (art by Joe Maneely), 'Nightmare!' (art by George Tuska), and a science-fiction piece 'Rocket Ship!' (art by Russ Heath), all scripted by Lee.
- Published by Atlas Comics under the Hercules Publishing Corporation indicia, cover-dated July 1953, with a release date of April 21, 1953 per Marvel Database records.
- The Comics Code Authority, adopted by the industry in 1954, explicitly prohibited zombies in Code-approved comics, effectively shelving the Garth character for nearly two decades after this debut.
- Roy Thomas revived Garth in Tales of the Zombie #1 (August 1973), co-scripting with Steve Gerber and publishing a slightly altered reprint of the Menace #5 story — Garth's hair was updated to a 1970s style — immediately following a new 12-page prequel drawn by John Buscema and Tom Palmer.
- The 'Zombie!' story has been reprinted multiple times: in Zombie #1 (1973), Tales of the Zombie Annual #1 (Summer 1975), the German Gespenster Geschichten #1075 (1974 Bastei Verlag), Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Menace Vol. 1 (2009), and the Marvel Horror Omnibus (2019).
- Simon Garth subsequently appeared across decades of Marvel continuity — including Daredevil Annual #9 (1993), Spider-Man Unlimited #20 (1998), multiple Marvel Zombies crossovers, and a MAX-imprint miniseries (2006–2007) — making him one of the most durable characters originating from the Atlas horror era.
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Space Worlds #6 (1952)
Reprinted in Zombie #1 (1973), Zombie #2 (1973), Star Wars Weekly #110 (1980), Curse of the Weird #4 (1994), Thrill Book! #[nn] (2004), Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Menace #1 (2009), Marvel Horror Omnibus #[nn] (2019), Atlas Creator Collection #3 (2026), Gespenster Geschichten #1075
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