Today, the zombies from George A. Romero's classic 1960s horror film rise once again in ten separate first issues of Double Take's Ultimate Night of the Living Dead comic book series. Daily Dead recently chatted with Jeff McComsey, writer of Z-Men and Rise, who discussed expanding on Romero's living dead world, further exploring the characters of Johnny and Barbara, and much more.
Do you have fond memories of watching Romero's Night of the Living Dead in your formative years?
Jeff McComsey: I saw it at a pretty young age, probably in the mid-’90s. I remember we rented it on VHS and watched it a couple of times. It wasn’t until I was in college and we watched a bunch of old movies when we really got into it. And now since I’ve watched it professionally, I’m still impressed with what Romero did. I love people who do a lot with a little, and he certainly did that. You can just take away its cultural impact and just look at the film and how it stands by itself. He did a lot of really cool stuff without a whole lot of money, which I totally admire.
Double Take's overall Ultimate Night of the Living Dead series contains ten separate stories in one shared universe. What was your experience working with that type of interconnectivity and attention to detail?
Jeff McComsey: Knowing that it was going to be a big shared universe, it was exciting to be there at the beginning and come up with some of the rules and the stories we had. Our initial goal was to establish these characters in their own right and then have them cross over into these different worlds so that it feels like this big cohesive universe. And they came up with a lot of cool devices for that. There’s a big hospital that crosses over in a bunch of different stories. Obviously if a crisis happened like in Night of the Living Dead, it’s not hard to come up with a reason for people to check into the hospital. To me, it felt like a really good novel that jumps around to a lot of different points of view that all coalesce at the end.
Many readers will be drawn to Rise because it focuses on two key characters from Romero's film: siblings Johnny and Barbara. What was your experience writing new takes on these beloved characters?
Jeff McComsey: It’s funny because even though Johnny is known as one of the main characters, he’s really only on the screen for about five minutes—first when he gets killed early on and then when he shows up as a zombie.
And Barbara, she’s a main character, but she doesn’t really have many real lines—she’s pretty much scared shitless throughout the entire movie. Because these were main characters, it was a lot of fun—I had free range to develop their personalities and their characters, because we don’t even know what their last names are [in the film]. It was fun knowing that they’re brother and sister—it made for a much more fun couple than a romantic lead. It’s a very fun dynamic with the brother and sister team.
We really don’t know what happens to Johnny in the film, so that was a great way to get the readers who are familiar with Night of the Living Dead onboard, to follow Johnny and see what’s going on around the events that we see in the movie.
Originally, we had done a lot of different story meetings about Johnny and Barbara. At first it was challenging to figure out what their real motivation was, and it wasn’t until we decided that they were in town just to visit their father’s grave. So if you go somewhere and the Night of the Living Dead happens, the only thing you want to do is to get the hell out of there.
So early on we realized that that would be their initial motivation, to get the hell out of there as fast as they could. But once we start throwing things at them, there are obstacles to achieving that and it just felt really natural.
Both of your stories, Z-Men and Rise, take place in 1966. Did you have to do a lot of research to properly portray that era?
Jeff McComsey: Definitely in Z-Men, because there’s a lot of times in Z-Men where we’re sitting in the oval office with LBJ [Lyndon B. Johnson] and they’re getting information and deciding what to do. I’m a big fan of historical fiction, so I definitely had some starting-off points for these characters. And just being a big film guy, one of the things I love about watching old films are the little turns of phrases you pick up on. So it was really just a culmination of stuff that I’ve been back-braining for years.
I did do some direct research with LBJ, Robert McNamara, and Curtis LeMay—all three are very interesting characters in and of themselves. It was funny, though, because it was actually very easy to put words in LBJ’s mouth, which surprised me. He’s kind of a caricature of himself. With LBJ, there’s a lot of stuff that has come out just in the past few years that give you a sense of what he was like and what he sounded like.
Z-Men and Rise are going to be three-issue miniseries, essentially. What you’re reading now is the first issue and there will be two more issues. LBJ definitely plays a huge part in those three [issues of Z-Men]. There’s a big event that happens at the end of the third issue and after that we’ll come back with the next three-issue miniseries and we’re going to jump ahead. But LBJ will definitely be a very big character for these first three issues.
Z-Men features a great back-and-forth between an Odd Couple-esque duo of Secret Service agents, Clancy and Stuart. Did any partner pairings from pop culture influence you while writing those characters?
Jeff McComsey: Whether it was intentional or subconscious, I thought of Murtaugh and Riggs from Lethal Weapon, especially when they first meet and they don’t get along. I like how they’re two different characters. Imagine the difference between Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath back in the day. Clancy is very much a straight-edged guy, spit and polished with a high tight haircut and horn-rimmed glasses. Whereas Agent Stuart—we wouldn’t consider him liberal nowadays, but at the time [1966] he’s much more liberal than anyone he works with. He’s kind of an oddball at the Secret Service, while Clancy is your reserved, standard issue Secret Service agent.
Stuart has a bit of a drinking problem and it probably got him in trouble in his job. With Clancy, I felt like he was a Secret Service agent under Kennedy, who hated J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and a lot of times they were at odds with each other, so in my mind, there was something that happened where on behalf of Kennedy, Clancy did something that ran afoul of Hoover, and instead of getting rid of him they buried him in the motor pool.
They’ve both been relegated to the motor pool for things we don’t cover in the story, but they muffed up and this is their sentence. They’re no longer in the field. So when they get the opportunity to do something directly for the President, they jump at it.
Z-Men was a pitch that I submitted very early on. We didn’t have a title for it at the time (Z-Men was Double Take’s idea, which I liked). Initially, they wanted me to do Rise, which is the one we were definitely doing because it followed Johnny and Barbara from the original, so we had to have that story. In addition to that, I pitched them this Z-Men idea about two bumbling Secret Service guys set in the middle of all of this.
It ended up working out because through Z-Men we could do these Washington D.C. scenes that really helped encapsulate the whole world and the initial response. D.C. makes a lot of decisions that really dramatically affect characters in this world, so it was cool that we get insight into that, we get to watch the decision process.
Did any historical horror comics influence the style of Ultimate Night of the Living Dead?
Jeff McComsey: I’m a big fan of the EC Comics and all that kind of stuff from back in the day, different horror comics like Eerie and Creepy. They’ve handled Ultimate Night of the Living Dead really well so that it will blend in nicely with those. The idea is to—after those first miniseries—jump ahead, so I think it’s also going to change—not drastically—but there will be some slight style changes that will help reinforce that jump.
What would you tell people who enjoy Romero's Night of the Living Dead but are hesitant to revisit that world in Ultimate Night of the Living Dead?
Jeff McComsey: If they enjoyed the original film, there are so many aspects that we’ve exploded out here that they can play with and see if they like. The thing that I like the most about the original Night of the Living Dead is the scene at the end where you’ve got all the news reports and all these pictures of people in Washington D.C. and the interviews with all of the generals and scientists—I love that kind of stuff and they just tease it out to you in Night of the Living Dead. In this series, we really expand upon it and give you the background, so you can enjoy that.
With the respective ten first issues of Ultimate Night of the Living Dead now available from Double Take, what do you have on deck that you can share with our readers?
Jeff McComsey: I have a book called Mother Russia, which is the first full-length FUBAR story. It just came out as a three-issue miniseries and the full graphic novel is in previews for pre-order right now, so that’s exciting. The next volume of FUBAR should be in stores in about three weeks. It’s called FUBAR: By the Sword and that one follows all of world history. It’s like 45 different stories and there are about 100 different artists and writers involved in it, so I can’t wait for that one to drop.
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"About Night of the Living Dead
As you may know, the 1968 film is in the public domain. All of us here at Double Take admire and respect the creators, cast and crew, but, no one affiliated with the Night of the Living Dead film is in any way involved in the creation of 2T’s stories.
2T’s 1st stories start in the world established by the Night of the Living Dead. Then we let our imaginations and our zombies run wild. Mostly, our creators are telling new stories starring new characters. But, if you love the classic film, you won’t be disappointed; you can follow your favorite characters from their first appearances, through their dying breaths, to their first baby Zombie steps.
The 10 books include:
Rise
Format: Monthly (print and digital)
Print Price: $2.50
Release date: June
Writer: Jeff McComsey
Artists: Kurt Tiede, Frederica Manfredi, Vladimir Popov
#1: Sister’s KeeperThey'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.
Home
Format: Monthly (print and digital)
Print Price: $2.50
Release date: June
Writer: Peter Aguero
Artist: Julian Rowe, Monica Catalano, Javier Mena
#1: Lighter Than AirA 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 Sundaydinner. 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.Z-Men
Format: Monthly (print and digital)
Print Price: $2.50
Release date: June
Writer: Jeff McComsey
Artists: Kurt Tiede, Alisson Rodrigues, Max Flan
#1: Nervous in the ServiceDead 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.Lab
Format: Monthly (print and digital)
Print price: $2.50
Release date: September 16
Story: Bill Jemas, Michael Coast, Julian Rowe Script: Brian Finkelstein
Artists: Julian Rowe, Joseph Cooper, Tanya & Richard HorieEven a brain a-day won’t keep this Doctor away.
Spring
Format: Monthly (print and digital)
Print price: $2.50
Release date: September 16
Writer: Bill Jemas, Michael Coast, and Jessica Lee Williamson
Artists: Kurt Tiede, Alejandro SicatHot sun, hot babes, and the cold decaying flesh of the zombie horde. It’s co-eds vs. the undead.
Home
Format: Monthly (print and digital)
Print price: $2.50
Release date: September 16
Writer: Bill Jemas, Julian Rowe, Peter Aguero
Artists: Julian Rowe, Monica Catalano, Fernando MelekA happy family, a lovely spring evening, and Zombies.
Remote
Format: Monthly (print and digital)
Print price: $2.50
Release date: September 16
Writers: Michael Coast and Colin Mitchell
Artist: David WilsonAs ghouls surround her station, KBRF Radio ace DJ Samantha stays on the air all night. Will Rock & Roll save her soul?
Medic
Format: Monthly (print and digital)
Print price: $2.50
Release date: September 16
Story: Bill Jemas, Michael Coast, Julian Rowe Script: Brian Finkelstein
Artist: Julian Rowe, Marco CastielloDoctors, and nurses, and zombies, oh my!
Dedication
Format: Monthly (print and digital)
Print price: $2.50
Release date: September 16
Writers: Michael Coast, Matthew Summo
Artist: JJ DzialowskiThanks to some hungry customers, the closing shift at George’s Market has turned into the graveyard shift.
Soul
Format: Monthly (print and digital)
Print price: $2.50
Release date: September 16
Writers: Michael Coast, Julian Rowe, Bill Jemas
Artists: Julian Rowe, Ricardo Sanchez, Tamara BonvillainThe posse shoots to kill, but Ben survives. Too bad it’s all-downhill from here."
To read our previous coverage of Ultimate Night of the Living Dead, visit:
To learn more and read preview pages from select issues of Ultimate Night of the Living Dead, visit:
You can also learn more about Double Take's Ultimate Night of the Living Dead by visiting:
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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