For bonus points, the first zombie in Xanth was a frog; having thus discovered his zombie-making powers, the Magician in question promptly started helping folks out by “making zombie animals to guard their homes, or fight their battles” – and of course eventually built himself a big fine retinue of zombie servants: zombie people, sure, but also everything from zombie wolves and zombie bats to a zombie serpent and even a zombie tree.
(And like the man said, it’s an over-the-top fantasy setting, so the Zombie Master of course set himself up with a zombie swamp monster to guard his moat, plus a zombie ogre to pitch in on land, and a zombie roc to help out in the sky…)