When I spoke with George A. Romero back in August, he gave me a status update on his upcoming zombie comic book series for Marvel and let me know that it may not make its original 2013 release window. Now set for release in January 2014, new details have emerged on the 15-issue comic book series, officially titled Empire of the Dead.

It has been announced that the series will give us a look at the zombie apocalypse in New York City and USA Today learned some new information:

USA Today: "It's still the major metropolis everybody knows but a few years into its zombie apocalypse. Some things have reverted to a prior state — there are sheep grazing in Central Park's Sheep Meadow. Yet there are strong social and political elements: The mayor is one of the main characters and a female member of the living dead starts to show some real smarts."

Romero: "It's basically Chicago or Detroit. The city isn't destroyed, but it's just running on its engine, corrupt and no holds barred. It's a little bit like the Old West.."

When I previously asked George A. Romero about his zombies evolving, he let me know that they're going to be evolving a bit further in Empire of the Dead. Here are some more details from the new reveal:

"These zombies are starting to show sparks of real care and concern for each other... I'm not going to go all the way to Omega Man where they take over the world, but I'm having a lot of fun with it. We've got some new rules and new characters, and we're taking it in a completely different direction."

Apparently, there's also a major twist in the comic book series that we'll hear about next week at NYCC. We've included a piece of teaser artwork below from Alex Maleev, who is working on the entire series. You can catch up on our previous interview with George A. Romero by visiting:

http://dailydead.com/exclusive-interview-with-george-a-romero/

Source: USA Today