[1] The character later became well known for starring in the black-and-white horror-comic magazine series Tales of the Zombie (1973–1975), usually in stories by Steve Gerber and Pablo Marcos.

Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Roy Thomas plucked the character Simon Garth, the Zombie, from a pre-Comics Code horror tale in Menace #5 (July 1953), published by Marvel forerunner Atlas Comics, and brought the character into modern-day continuity in Tales of the Zombie #1 (August 1973).

Tales of the Zombie published the last work of Golden Age great Syd Shores, Captain America's first penciler following Jack Kirby's departure from the character in 1941.

At the time of that appearance, the Zombie remained unearthed, and controlled by his daughter Donna, who pledged to have him eliminate other such enthralled undead.

Despite his zombie state, he retains some vestige of his soul: for instance, when under the control of the Amulet, he has been forced to hurt or even kill people he has come to care about (such as Philip Bliss and Layla).

Garth was compelled to travel to the island nation of Taino in the Caribbean Sea, where he told Black Talon about the zombie plague.

[10] The Zombie was later recruited by Phil Coulson to join his incarnation of the Howling Commandos in order to fight Dormammu's Mindless Plague.

Simon plants paint bombs in the money bags that only he can defuse, so he and Layla are kidnapped and accidentally brought into the zombie quarantine zone, thinking that the barriers were to stop the robbers from escaping rather than to keep the undead in check.