Since its initial release in 1968, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead has captivated audiences, and as part of the public domain, Romero’s classic film has been re-explored in other stories over the years. Sometimes these projects are ill advised, but with its impressive expansion of Romero’s zombified world, Double Take’s new Ultimate Night of the Living Dead comic book series is a reimagining worth reading.
The Ultimate Night of the Living Dead universe has kicked off with ten individual first issues for ten separate miniseries. Overseen by Double Take General Manager Bill Jemas, these respective series all take place at various times and locations within Evans County, PA on Sunday, April 24th, 1966: the day the dead rose to consume the living.
Jemas and his creative team of writers and artists offer readers an all-encompassing experience of Romero’s world. This is not a retread of Night of the Living Dead, but rather a reimagining of what was happening elsewhere during and beyond the timeline of the classic film. Think of it as a horror version of Marvel’s compelling What If comics that imagined new twists on old favorites. What if Ben had survived? What if Johnny’s head-to-tombstone fall wasn’t fatal? What if we hadn’t seen the last of Harry Cooper’s destructive nature?
Seeking to answer these questions, Ultimate Night of the Living Dead at times focuses on familiar faces from Romero’s groundbreaking film. Rise follows siblings Johnny and Barbara, Soul centers on the movie’s lone survivor, Ben, and Honor offers a closer look at Chief McClelland. Though it may seem surreal to see some of these characters beyond their hellish night at the farmhouse, their depictions on the paneled page should satisfy viewers who have long had those “what if?” thoughts while watching Romero’s film, as well as those who ever desired a direct sequel to Night of the Living Dead.
While it’s fun to see characters from the film, Ultimate Night of the Living Dead is perhaps at its most enjoyable when focusing on its abundance of new characters. The ten respective miniseries allow readers to witness a wide range of people at the outset of the zombie uprising—police officers, the nuclear family, scientists, a radio DJ, hospital staff members, and grocery store stockers are all represented. For the most part, these fresh characters are well-written and fun to follow, especially Jeff McComsey’s Odd Couple-esque duo of Secret Service agents and Brian Finkelstein's determined Dr. Grimes—someone who sets the living dead on fire first and asks questions later, proper funeral arrangements be damned.
Throughout its first ten issues, Double Take’s Ultimate Night of the Living Dead is an overall fun return to the zombified world Romero and John A. Russo first built with a minuscule budget and big imagination in the ’60s. While Night of the Living Dead purists may be hesitant about reading a new take on one of the greatest horror films ever made, rest assured that Jemas and company have included enough fresh material here to more than satisfy readers on the hunt for a new, engaging horror comedy comic.
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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