It’s October, Halloween is happening, I’m talking about
zombie movies for literally the whole month, and the Walking Dead is on every Sunday. Given that, of course I had to dedicate a listicle to the
best zombie book covers. The only
thing is that there are as many zombie comics as there are stars in the sky and
it’d be nearly impossible for me to cull through all of them so I’m narrowing
my list to just one zombie comic.
It was originally meant to be Walking
Dead before I remembered Walking Dead’s
covers are incredibly bland so instead I fell back on my standard answer to
most comic book questions: the ‘70s.
I’ve mentioned before that in the ‘70s an agining audience forced DC and
Marvel comics to experiment more with what content they were putting out. DC started releasing its classic horror
anthology comics again and Marvel released a whole ton of horror comics
including Tomb of Dracula, Frankenstein, and today’s topic Tales of the Zombie, and the covers by
the brilliant artist Boris Vallejo.
Like a lot of Tales of
the Zombie covers this one is paying homage to the tropes and trends of
previous eras, in this case it’s the pulp adventure stories of the ‘40s. That might seem like an odd choice but
it fits Marvel’s zombie being a voodoo zombie rather than an virus or radiation
zombie like in Romero’s work. What
I love about this cover though is the amazing size of the zombie compared to
everyone else. This isn’t even a
trick of proportions of perspective, he’s clearly towering over every one of those
sailors while seemingly rescuing the redheaded woman. Also, this is the best cover so far for making out the eerie
ghostliness of the zombie’s eyes that makes him even more threatening. Combine that with the dripping sea gunk
as he emerges out of the murky green depths and this guy is terrifying,
especially since him coming out of the sea seems to imply there really is no
stopping this thing.
9.
To be sure, all the Tales
of the Zombie covers are pretty awesome. The visual design of the titular zombie is just amazing, the
perfect blend of that grizzled, ghostly zombie grey with a hint of voodoo
around his necklace and soulless white eyes. Additionally that logo is just fantastic and the tag line
“He Lives! He Strikes! No Grave Can Hold Him!” is just pure gold. This cover has the vibe of real,
classic zombism about it and there’s a kind of antiquated vibe that adds a nice
hint of creepiness to the proceedings.
If you can’t tell the zombie has kidnapped some nameless woman while
making his way through a supremely creepy looking morgue. The covered bodies lining the pathway,
complete with freaky hanging lights, really makes for a macabre image but the
police officers and morgue attendant put this visual into the realm of iconic
for me. I love the very ‘20s/’30s
look of the officers, it makes the whole thing seem weirdly more plausible and
creepy, also that exposed moon and cloudy sky is a great touch of flavor. Finally the color balance here is just
stunning, especially given there are really only 4 colors featured here. The blue/gray of the zombie complements
the steely blue of the officer’s uniforms and the slate turquise of the night
sky while the sallow yellow of the lights blends with the dull brown of the
walls nicely, all of it punctuated by the Doctor’s white coat and the woman’s
red dress.
8.
This is probably the most overt the voodoo elements of the Tales of the Zombie mythos ever got in
the covers. In case it’s not
obvious that’s clearly a voodoo doll being gripped by the unseen hands of the
cover and being used to strangle the mysterious black haired woman that
punctuates most of these covers.
I’m fairly certain that woman is actually the zombie’s daughter from
back when he was a man but my research was not forthcoming. Still this is an awesome cover mainly
because it has some of the crispest and clearest color work.
The zombie’s visuals have never been
this clear in all their gray Hulk inspired glory. Seriously, the tattered white shirt and blue jeans combo is
totally in line with what the Gray Hulk wore for the longest time in the comics
and gamma radiation would explain the zombie’s fluctuating size. I really like the way he’s emerging
from the swampy waters with gunk clinging to his body. I’m not sure where this is meant to be
set as the clinging algae and rising mist makes this look like a swamp but the
barren, skeletal trees imply somewhere further north, which is a pretty well
realized combination actually. The
swamp gives it that eldritch, foreign vibe while just looking at those dead
trees makes me shiver.
Additionally, the off panel murderer is very well realized and a nice
gimmick that tends to work great with comics.
7.
As I mentioned back on #10 almost every cover of Tales of the Zombie seems to exist as a
platonic form of the very idea of zombies. It’s actually a pretty bizarre experience as the covers all
predate the rise of the zombie horde and infected runners as the preferred
visual iconography endemic to a zombie attack so they instead draw from the
Gothic horrors of the past blended with the rising creepy tropes for teens from
the ‘50s and ‘60s and a dash of “exotic” horror owing to the Caribbean origins
of the zombie. For instance, the
cover explicitly describes this zombie, named Simon Garth in what, I assume,
was an attempt to make him less terrifying, was resurrected with voodoo
magic. This is an explicit
distancing of the book from the Romero zombies that premiered in Night of the Living Dead. The graveyard setting is a great
example of that chilling, Gothic horror I mentioned especially with all the fog
and eerie moon in the distance.
Meanwhile, Zombie Garth’s victims seem to be the Scooby Gang if they
interbred with Archie and friends, though I have no idea why they were having a
cook out in a cemetery at night, they kind of brought this on themselves in
that regard.
6.
I have no idea what’s happening in this cover, I only know
that it’s amazing. I love that the
zombie himself is always drawn in the most fantastical action poses but this is
probably the best one of the whole bunch.
I’m guessing his arms are spread wide like that because he’s throwing
open a pair of doors but he honestly looks more like he’s addressing some kind
of congregation of the undead.
His
huge size is still on display only this time it’s his legs that are amazingly
elongated, making his torso look strangely stunted in comparison. Actually, it might just be that all of
his appendages are weirdly elongated and it’s just that his head and torso are
scrunched together in the center.
Honestly the zombie doesn’t even look menacing or deadly here, he looks
like he’s about to re-enact the speech from Warriors
or burst into a musical number.
I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be daytime with a thick haze outside or
if the town in the background is meant to be on fire and that’s the orangey
glow but the whole thing is incredibly creepy as a backdrop for the zombie’s
grand entrance. I’m also fairly
certain the cowering woman in the red dress is the same woman the zombie was
carrying around in cover #10, suggest to me he just dumped her down on the
floor before throwing his arms wide apart. Throw in the three amazing captions they felt the need to
slap on this cover and this may be one of the best zombie images ever.
5.
Back to the gothic horror tropes of the previous covers and
man does this cover ever sell it.
It’s nice that they pulled out all the stops for this “super annual,”
though I’m not exactly sure what makes it a super annual other than having an
amazing cover. The visual of a
zombie emerging from his grave is a pretty classic one that’s actually
strangely rare in most zombie films.
A lot of that comes from how we’ve taken to making zombie movies
nowadays as all the emphasis on ‘the infected’ makes us more prone to only
having the living be zombies.
We
don’t even see any zombies emerge from their graves in the Romero zombie
series, the only time I can think of it is in Return of the Living Dead, which was played more for comedy. This cover is a absolutely terrifying visage
of that moment, to the point that I have to wonder if that actually is Zombie
Garth’s grave or if he was buried in weight like a trap door spider. I mean, there’s nothing in the
foreground to suggest this is a cemetery or that anyone would be buried here,
unless of course the weirdly long haired gravedigger and his lantern toting
associate were the ones who put Garth in the ground in the first place. Incidentally that lantern adds to the
creepy air of the design here and works well with the overall archaic design of
the entire Tales of the Zombie
oeuvre.
4.
This is actually the most iconic image related to the Tales of the Zombie series, even
appearing as the cover for the Tales of
the Zombie essentials collection.
It’s easy to see why this vision of the walking dead would be such a
commanding image in the character’s canon; it thoroughly sums up the entire
ethos of the whole series. The
spooky fog, blended perfectly with that watercolor technique, shrouding the
entire wilderness with what looks like a graveyard dotting the foreground.
This is also probably the
clearest and least decayed the zombie’s ever looked as, aside from the grayed
skin and the white eyes, he looks like he just died yesterday. Zombie Garth is also missing the voodoo
amulet that resurrects him most of the time and his proportions are more
restrained, even if he’s still drawn like a serious giant. Finally, we’ve got the prerequisite
“endangered young woman in far too little clothes.” This is the most gothic-esc we’ve seen the trope so far
given this woman’s…generous proportions and nightgown while being dragged away
by the zombie. This is also the
same basic color scheme I used for the ‘Month of the Zombie’ logo and pretty
much exactly where I took the inspiration from.
3.
I absolutely love how, even in the midst of what seems to be
a sprawling metropolis, Tales of the
Zombie still needs to relate things back to graveyards, scantily clad
women, and voodoo, it’s like they feel maked without those elements. Speaking of this is the most scantily
the dark haired woman has ever looked in this covers which adds some very
troubling implications about what was happening between her and that guy the
zombie is strangling. What I really
love about this cover though is the realization of the city skyline that makes
up the background.
I don’t know
what Tales of the Zombie’s obsession
with unnatural sky color is but I can’t deny it works for them because that is
one of the most hellish and terrifying zombie towns I’ve seen outside Nightmare City. Honestly, if a cover’s whole purpose in
existing is convincing me to read the comic this is probably the most
successful one there is, if only because I desperately want to know if the
comic behind this cover could live up to an amazing title like “voodoo
island.” I’d also like to know if
that guy lurking behind the zombie is just a very confused bystander or a
fellow member of the walking dead.
2.
I sincerely doubt this cover was made for comedy but damn if
it’s not the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s another dive into the deep end of the gothic horror
iconography pool only with the added wackiness of amazing captions and weird
proportions. Seriously, if it’s
not clear, both the zombie and the door he’s somehow tearing apart are huge in
this cover, just look at the scared wedding guest to his bottom right to get a
sense of how big he actually is.
Additionally, I like that this church seems to be both incredibly short,
shout, and unornamented as there are no windows anywhere and the alter is only
about 3 rows from the door.
All of
that is just gravy though compared to the amazing combination of zombie and
caption on this cover. The zombie
looks amazing, probably the best he’s ever looked in any of these covers with
those creepy exposed ribs and sunken in face really giving him the look of a
decayed and rotting monster. What
really pushes it over the edge though is the combination of caption and
situation “For 24 Hours Simon Garth Walks Again,” which suggests to me that
immediately open returning to life Simon Garth was compelled to ruin this
wedding for reasons forever unknown.
I mean, I’m assuming that’s his wife and he’s breaking up this wedding
for legitimate reasons but for all we know he just wanted to ruin this couple’s
big day.
1.
I admit, this cover is very similar to cover #5 with the key
difference of being infinitely more polished. Getting the full view of the zombie emerging from his own
grave, headstone and all, in the midst of what has to be the 7th cemetery
we’ve seen is just amazing, especially with the look of muffled hatred and fury
on his life. This is the most
emotive the zombie has ever looked and that emotion is a hatred for the living
that knows no bounds.
Conversely
this cover actually features the least amount of fog of any of the covers and I’d
argue is all the better for it.
The fog in previous covers added to the atmosphere but here the visuals
feel so much purer and crisper without that element, especially the eerie
coloring that dots the graveyard and the cloudy night sky. I also absolutely love that guy who’s
just abandoning the hippie chick to her zombie fate, no time for love when the
undead are involved I guess. I
still can’t really think of a good reason why these two would be skulking
around a graveyard with a shovel and flashlight in the dead of night so chances
are they both deserved zombie justice but that’s still a pretty dick move on
his part.
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