This was actually a Friday Panel, but since it didn’t have that much actual “news” I wrote up other panels first. Also, I was tired. Sorry.
Editor’s Note: It may be fortuitous that this was pulled together for Sunday, the same day as the Season 4 Premiere of The Walking Dead TV show on AMC. What did folks think of “30 Days Without an Accident”? Ok, now back to the NYCC 2013 panel report of a decade of The Walking Dead in comics.
Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard held the entire room in the palm of their hand. The panel began with some announcements.
The Walking Dead #115 sold over 350k copies of #115. Highest selling single issue this year. Kirkman is holding out hopes that they can top it next issue.
Charlie has never not inked himself, in his 20 year career.
Zombies, as a threat in the title, are coming.
Walking Dead #1 color for the anniversary.
The Walking Dead is being released in Espanol in the United States for the first time.
The Art of Charlie Adlard, a book oddly enough featuring the art of Charlie Adlard, will be released shortly.
Walking Dead A Decade of Dead – Documentary by Hyndai. Doc will be available online next week.
Walking Dead Assault is now avaiable on all phones except for rotary.
Q&A Time –
Has Kirkman ever considered doing flashforwards for characters? Kirkman considers doing flashforwards is kind of like cheating.
What weapon, fictional or otherwise, would you select if there were a zombie apocalypse? Kirkman checked to see if Ultimate Nullifier was on the table. His back up would be a Cosmic Cube. Adlard picked a very sharp roatoring pen
A fan what characters they’d like to bring back if they could. Kirkman pointed out that it’s a lot of fun getting a chance to write for Tyrese again, via the tv show. Then he confessed “I’d like to write Axel again” because he had fun quirks. Charlie would bring back Dale or Douglas, because they had older faces, with literally more character.
A fan asked about the decision to do the book in black and white. Kirkman pointed out that black & white was the choice for practical reasons, namely budget. It’s also an homage to Night of the Living Dead. Saul Bass is one of Charlie’s heroes and the limited color palate is reminiscent of the restraint in Bass’ work.
A fan pointed out that the book used to be about people vs zombies, but now it’s people vs people. Kirkman responded that he likes that the zombies unified people, but eventually the status quo kicked in and people hate each other again.
A fan asked if there would be any more character spotlight specials. Kirkman replied that character spotlight specials will continue, but they are based on characters getting introduced on the show, as such he can’t reveal who the next one will feature. But it’s designed as a treat for comic stores, who likely have an influx of fans from the show and this allows them have something new that’s related to the show.
As an aside, virtually every big moment discussed in a question, was a spoiled moment for someone in the room. Kirkman loves that every panel someone brings up Glen’s death it gets spoiled for people. “You can bit torrent these comics.”
A fan asked if there was ever anything that they felt was too much violence. Michonne vs the Governor, the rematch, prompted Charlie to call up Kirkman to ask “do we really have to do this?” Kirkman’s rationale was that The Governor did truly horrible things to Michonne that weren’t shown, so he wanted to show the revenge she got him and perhaps make people question whether revenge is a good thing. But he conceded that they may have gone too far.
A Daryl fan asked when he’d show up in the comic. Kirkman responded that Daryl adds the unknown to the tv show, as such he won’t be in the comic.
A fan wanted to know if The Walking Dead would get a spin off comic. No spin offs for the comic.
A fan pointed out that The Governor and Woodbury were fleshed out in novels and wondered if that would happen with Negan. Kirkman admitted that there has been talk of Negan getting a novel. There’s a lot readers don’t know about him. It’ll probably be revealed in the comic.
A fan came up with a their that someone could have survived the Judith/Lori slaughter. Kirkman dashed those hopes by stating there’s zero chance that Judith and Lori are alive.
Who would you like to see survive? Kirkman – “Tyrese. Oops.” Charlie would like to see Michonne survive.
