El Zombo Fantasma To The Rescue

One could easily say that what most films these days are missing is a caped zombie luchador. Luckily, there is one upcoming film in which that will not be the case. Kevin Munroe’s 2005 graphic novel, El Zombo Fantasma is about to be made into a movie. Munroe himself will direct and his production company, Death Ray Films is set to fund the flick.

Kevin Munroe has been busy, getting his hands into the movie industry. The comic book author recently created his production company, Death Ray Films, with Chris Patton and Robert Sanchez, whom you may know as the proprietor of IESB. Munroe is already directing the upcoming comic adaptations, War Monkeys and Dead of Night. Although fairly new to movies, it seems that the author has not strayed too far from his geeky past.

Now, another first for Munroe: one of his comics is being made into a flick. THR reports that El Zombo Fantasma is set to become a movie. The graphic novel focuses on the afterlife of Zombo, a luchador with a mystery to solve. Zombo was murdered after a fight, but didn’t quite move on. In purgatory, Zombo is told that, in order to avoid the flames of hell, he must be a mentor to a troubled teen in Los Angeles. Turns out that she is the reincarnation of an Incan goddess. The power that this young girl beholds has been coveted by Los Mascaras Negros for centuries and Zombo must learn how to protect her.

Munroe created the character and wrote the graphic novel along with David Wilkins. The two will produce the film together. Jose Martinez, who works with Maya, an entertainment group geared towards Latino fare, will also produce along with Kellvin Chavez, who heads up the website, Latino Review. Zombo has been dubbed the “Latino Hellboy.” Martinez claims that Zombo will further our goal of bringing Latino themes and Latino talent to the commercial market. We plan to blow this out in a big way." With superhero films being more lucrative than ever, what better way to expose the masses to the culture of Mexican luchadores.

We've got the movie's first teaser poster for you below, sent over to us by the aforementioned IESB head honcho Robert Sanchez. Take a look: