George A. Romero Writing “Empire of the Dead” Comic Book

(Photo: Arthur Suydam, Marvel)

Zombie movie god, George A. Romero is branching out. The horror enthusiast is writing a new comic book series entitled, “Empire of the Dead” that is set to take place in New York City. The 15 issue miniseries comic books come from Marvel Comics and will be debuting in January.

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.

Why Romero chose New York City is quite simple if you ask him. The author and movie maker explained,

“I could never afford to shoot there,” Romero, 73, says with a laugh.

He also went on to explain why he decided to do a comic this time rather than another film in the beloved horror franchise.

“It’s a comic book, which means we don’t have to go out and shoot the stuff. You can let your imagination run wild and do pretty much anything you want, assuming it’s within the bounds of decency.”

In “Empire of the Dead,” Romero approaches an essential question that the zombie genre always presents. Could zombies coexist with humans if the undead became more intelligent?

“These zombies are starting to show sparks of real care and concern for each other,” Romero says. “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.”