Empire of the Dead

[NDX]

George Romero brings the undead to the Big Apple, but not how you expect! According to comicbookresources.com and their weekly article Axel In Charge, Axel Alonso and Marvel Comics will be ringing an original zombie story to us, written by the one time master of undead himself George Romero.

Here is the segment of interview:

Well you've got celebrity news of another kind this week in the form of George Romero coming to Marvel to do an original zombie series. We've talked a lot in the column about your continued efforts to get big name voices from outside the comics space into the medium in this way. Is that how this series came about?

Alonso: First, let me come clean: I think every story is improved on by the appearance of a zombie! [Laughter] Look, the public’s ongoing fascination with zombies all goes back to the vision of George Romero, who singlehandedly created the genre and has been redefining it over several decades. So I’m thrilled to have George writing an original story for Marvel.

I reached out to George through a mutual friend to see if he'd be interested in writing an original story for Marvel. He mulled it over and found that he was. The result is "Empire of the Dead," an all-new, original series that adds to the tapestry he's been weaving in his movies. For decades, George has used the zombie apocalypse – and mankind’s new place in the food chain – to comment on human nature and modern civilization. Each time he has something new to say – and “Empire” definitely has something new to say. George wrote it himself – in screenplay format that we broke down into individual issues – and for the very first time, he is bringing the zombie holocaust to New York City, which has radically transformed as a result of all that’s happened. But that’s not all: George has injected this story with a killer hook that we’re going to reveal at New York Comicon – a game-changer that’ll knock people’s socks off.

"Empire of the Dead" covers by Alex Maleev (L) and Arthur Suydam.

And Alex Maleev is drawing this series, which I think must focus a bit on the realism side of George's style as well.

Alonso: Without a doubt. I've been dying to work with Alex for a while. He's one of my best friends in the industry – he lives a couple blocks from me, and our sons go to the same school – but the stars never align for us to work together until now. From the start, I knew he was the perfect artist to bring this story to the comic book page. Alex is a sophisticated and nuanced storyteller who possesses the uncanny ability to make environment a character – and that is essential to this story. [Laughs] You have never seen a New York City quite like this.

Obviously, more will be revealed in a week at NYCC, but I have to ask, will this be a standout in the comic world or just another piece of mindless zombie dreck the medium's been inundated with since the fad began with The Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies. Don't get me wrong, I love me my zombies, but so many of these books are horrible. Not even worth stealing, let alone buying.

How will this fair, or has the zombie craze finally jumped the shark?

Alex Maleev cover:



Arthur Suydam cover:

[endo]

Don't know how they'll do, but the art is awesome.