George A Romero needs no introduction. He’s the man who’s masterminded zombies in film for years and today sees the continuation of his work in Marvel Comics “Empire of the Dead: Act Two.” Alot has changed since he first created the world of the living dead so many years ago in Night of the Living Dead. 

The comic sees the evolution of both his world and his zombies. It’s an exciting new chapter that cannot be missed for fans of zombies. The legendary creator sat down with me to talk about his new comic project, which is hitting shops today.

Bloody-Disgusting: Empire’s Act One ends with a giant tease of the mayhem that’s about to be reigned down on New York City. Why is it that in all of your living dead stories settlements fall to ruin because of the actions of men and not of the monsters?

George A Romero: Not to split hairs, but you know, I never think of zombies, my guys anyway, as monsters. They’re our neighbors, relatives, friends. It’s just that they’re dead, that’s all. But yes, you’re right, it’s the living who usually end up causing the most destruction in my stories. The zombies are pretty basic organisms, you know?

They have simple needs. But the humans — they make everything complicated. They’ve got big ambitions. Prejudices built up over a lifetime. And they’re horrible at communicating with each other, at getting along. So even in a world where everything has changed, where danger is everywhere, the living go to war against each other, instead of figuring out the best way to survive.

Bloody-Disgusting: “Empire of the Dead” seems to be working on a much larger scale than your other zombie stories. Was that part of what drew you to doing this as a comic book?

GAR: I love comics, always have, since I was a kid growing up in the Bronx. When I first started thinking about the idea that became “Empire”, I wasn’t thinking about it as a movie. It was always going to be a comic book. I mean, a good story is a good story, no matter which medium you tell it in, right?

But how the story is told is different whether it’s a film, a play, a tv series, an opera. So I wanted the challenge of writing a comic book, of telling a big story with a lot of characters, and action, and an unlimited budget. It’s been a lot of work, but I’m enjoying it.

Bloody- Disgusting: The protagonist, Penny, in “Empire of the Dead”, is a much different character than you typically see in these kinds of stories, particularly in the way she sees the zombies. Why is she the only one trying to co-exist with them?

GAR: Well, as you know, she’s a doctor, so she’s not going to let all those years of med school go to waste! And she has a family history that inspires her not to be violent and vengeful, but to believe that the living dead might be capable of doing more than eating human flesh. She thinks like a scientist, so she’s able to get past some of the conventional wisdom everyone else has bought into. She wants to find out what makes the zombies tick, instead of just killing or isolating them, or trying to find a cure. There is no cure. So the best thing to do is look for a way that the living can co-exist with the dead. And that becomes her life’s goal.

Bloody-Disgusting: The idea of zombie intelligence, which you explored a bit with Bub in “Day of the Dead,” is one of the biggest focal points of “Empire of the Dead”. Will Act Two bring a further evolution of the zombie as we know it?”

GAR: Turns out Penny is right about the dead having more to offer than a healthy appetite. It’s not really that they’re becoming more intelligent, but that their memories of who they were and what they did when they were alive are reawakening. So thoughts, ideas, emotions are starting to churn inside them.

That could make them easier to get along with, or a lot more threatening, depending on how you look at it.

Bloody-Digusting: Was adding Vampires an attempt to keep the zombie genre fresh for yourself, or always an intended direction for your world?

GAR: You know, it just made sense to me that two kinds of living dead should get to know each other. They’re both hard to get rid of, they both need the same food source, and they’re both pretty dangerous. So it’s a natural (or unnatural) situation that allows me to play with a whole new set of rules.

Bloody-Disgusting: What lies in wait for us with Act Two, and what are you most excited for people to see in this new chapter?

GAR: The blimp!

Here’s a monster preview of issue #1. Don’t miss it.