Issue(s): Tales of the Zombie #2
Cover Date: Oct 73
Title: "Voodoo island! / Night of the spider!" /"
Credits:
Steve Gerber - Writer
Pablo Marcos - Penciler
Pablo Marcos - Inker

Review/plot:
The main story here continues to feature Simon Garth, aka the Zombie.

And he's literally just a zombie. As such he has no emotions and very little intelligence. And being dead, he doesn't feel pain. He's pretty similar to the Man-Thing. The difference is that straining deep beneath the surface is some flickering remnant of the man that he used to be, at least enough for him to try (ineffectively) to get help.

But even when fighting his daughter - transformed into a giant spider by the local mad scientist! - his old personality doesn't assert itself too much.

The degree that it does assert itself, though, and how it exerts itself, is interesting, and it's a very interesting differentiation from the Man-Thing. As we saw last issue, Simon Garth is not a nice guy. And while he's fighting his spider-daughter, he starts equating its smothering effects to all the women in his (former) life. All this pent up rage towards women.

The zombie has headed to Haiti on the vague notion that his former friend Anton Carter can help him.

He doesn't know that his daughter is also staying with Carter (and she reverts to human form with no memory of having been transformed into a spider, killing the mad scientist, and fighting her zombie-father). Carter isn't yet able to help Garth, but he is able to identify the half of the medallion pair that Donna lost last issue as the Amulet of Damballah.

It's worth noting that the voodoo spirit Damballah will actually make a number of appearances in the Marvel universe, even in some Brother Voodoo stories published concurrent to these Tales of the Zombie issues, but to my knowledge Damballah is not actively invoked in the use of the Amulet this series; i'm thinking in the context of determining whether or not Damballah should be considered to be having behind-the-scenes appearance here, and saying that the answer is No.

Another longer term element in this story is a Mr. Six, who has hired two goons that have failed to acquire a ring from a grave. They were stopped by Simon Garth before he snuck on the boat to Haiti.

Mr. Six isn't happy about that, and he knows his "master" won't be, either.

Most of the magazine is filled with generic horror stories (which are quite enjoyable, for what it is worth), and reprints, including:

"Voodoo unto others" - a new story by Tony Isabella & Winslow Mortimer
"Acid test!" - a reprint from Menace #5 (incidentally the same issue as Simon Garth's origin story from last issue)
"Twin burial" - a new story by Chuck Robinson & Ralph Reese
"From out of the grave!" - a reprint from Adventures Into Terror #29

There's also a text piece introducing Brother Voodoo (who does not appear in this issue; we're told to watch out for his debut in Strange Tales #169), and a tribute to Bill Everett, who died after last issue, which revived his old zombie story, saw print.

To keep things from getting too muddled, i won't be covering the reprints and non-continuity stories.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The majority of the issues of this magazine take place in relatively close succession, although not necessarily directly after each other. So while i pushed issue #1 forward in publication time to line it up with Dracula Lives #2, i've pushed this issue out even further knowing that the series will eventually catch up to publication date due to the bi-monthly schedule and the fact that the stories take place soon after each other.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Essential Tales of the Zombie vol. 1

Unlike nearly all of Marvel's short-lived monster series, the Zombie actually would get a satisfying conclusion to his story. A brief attempt was made almost immediately to bring him back, but low sales on most of Marvel's b&w mags in general stopped this.