I might have to turn in my Zombie Response Unit badge for this but, in Night of the Living Dead doesn’t it mention something about a satelite coming back to Earth and possibly that being the cause… so the Romero-vese isn’t completely devoid of explanations.
I’m pretty sure that was just speculation, which would be in keeping with the consensus on this here thread. I could be wrong, though.
Yeah, Max Brooks had something going with the Zombie Survival Guide–it was a new and creative way to reframe the genre. But that, too, was a little too handy in offering up the explanation of why people rose from the dead, with that Solanum crap.
That man from Land of the Dead was from the wealthy part of the city and I assume that he and his family were insulated from the dead world.
Marc