Zombie Cop, a graphic novel from Jeff Mariotte, will be featured in the episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation airing October 15 at 9:00pm ET/PT.

Mariotte was contacted about having the graphic novel appear in the teaser segment of the CSI episode, which is the part that airs before the opening credits. "In the scene, someone's reading the graphic novel in a diner, and that serves as the lead-in to a gunfight," Mariotte explained on his blog. The process began on August 19. "It started on Wednesday, with an email from the publisher, forwarding an email from the show's property master, seeking permission to use the book on an upcoming episode," Mariotte said.

"I responded positively (of course!)," he continued. "By the end of business that day I'd had a conversation with the property master, signed the necessary paperwork, and the publisher had shipped copies of the book over to the production office." The scene was filmed last Friday.

Mariotte has existing connections to the franchise. "I used to edit a line of CSI comics," he explained. "I've met Anthony Zuiker, the creator of the hit franchise, been a guest on the set of CSI: Miami, and written graphic novels based on CSI and CSI: Miami. I wrote a CSI: Miami novel called Right to Die that came out last year."

Mariotte's first CSI novel, CSI: Brass in Pocket, was released this week. "I'm just wrapping up the final polish on the next one, CSI: Blood Quantum," he added. However, these connections had nothing to do with Zombie Cop's inclusion in CSI. "[T]he property master who selected the book was unaware of all that until we talked on the phone," Mariotte said. "He just liked the cover and title and thought it was an appropriate way to lead up to the gunfight."

The original blog post can be found here.

Discuss this news item at Talk CSI!
 Add CSI Files RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a Desperate Housewives fan? Then visit GetDesperate.com!