ULTIMATE NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD Comic Series On The Way

Comic Book Ultimate Night of the Living Dead Night of the Living Dead about 9 years agoby Ben Pearson

George Romero's Night of the Living Dead is the movie that (ironically) gave birth to the zombie genre as we know it today. Dawn of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead, The Walking Dead, and everything in between owe Romero's film a debt of gratitude, and it's impossible to measure the pop culture footprint that has been left by the influence of the original 1968 movie.

Now a company called Double Take is launching Ultimate Night of the Living Dead, with three new comics that are set in the universe of the first film.

Writer Jeff McComsey is working on two of the three new comics, Rise and Z-Men. Here's the synopsis for Rise:

They're coming to get you Barbara. Follow our favorite siblings, Barbara and Johnny, from the classic 1968 Night of the Living Dead film as they try to survive beyond the night at the abandoned farmhouse.

Here's what Z-Men is all about:

Dead and/or alive. LBJ orders the Secret Service to bring him back a Zombie. It’s 1966 and the Oval Office is in an uproar; there’s been a spree of mass murders in Western Pennsylvania (and reports of the dead returning to life). President Lyndon B. Johnson assigns the head of the Secret Service to send agents into the field to investigate. Agents Stuart and Clancy are given the opportunity to serve their country and see if the zombie apocalypse has indeed begun.

And finally, here's the synopsis for Home, written by Peter Aquero:

A happy family, a lovely spring evening, and Zombies. Home follows a working-class farm family through the events of the zombie apocalypse in western PA. On the night the dead rise, the Foster family has gathered for a quiet Sunday dinner. Oblivious to the horrifying events that will soon unfold, Paul Foster takes his wife and two young children into town, leaving his teenage daughter home alone with her boyfriend. As his small town falls into chaos, Paul has to keep his family together and somehow get back home to his daughter, who is left to fight her own battles.

Of those three, Z-Men sounds like it's right up my alley. A presidential order to see if the zombie apocalypse has begun? Come on, you know that's going to be awesome. And this section from the press release indicates that there's much more zombie craziness on the way:

Much more than just a singular launch, this marks the first releases in a major initiative surrounding the classic horror franchise, which frightened moviegoers all around the world and made zombies a household name. Having commissioned a new generation of writers to breathe new life into the classic franchise, [Double Take] has a dozen series in the works – some following characters from the film in surprising new directions; other stories are all new.

A dozen new series? Whoa. But perhaps even more interesting is the fact that they'll soon be looking for collaborators. So if you're an artist or writer who knows Romero's world inside and out, you may be able to work with them on an upcoming comic. (The original movie is in the public domain, so stories set in that universe are essentially fair game.) For more information, be sure to visit Double Take's website.