While most fans' minds might be reeling from the reveal that Shiva is an alien tiger and that the zombie virus was unleashed on Earth by aliens, they might have missed the other bombshell that Shiva drops. Shiva finally names the zombie virus: "The Walking Death."
The Walking Dead's Infamous Virus Finally Gets a Name, and "the Walking Death" Is Perfect
"Small Bites" by Derek Hunter from The Walking Dead Deluxe #109 by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Dave McCaig, and Rus Wooton
When the TV show was airing, there was no official name for the virus at the beginning, but because of how fans are, they demanded one. No one would be satisfied watching the first season of The Walking Dead if they didn't have at least some grasp of why there were zombies in the first place. So, to placate fans, the virus was officially given a name in Season 1, Episode 6 of The Walking Dead: "TS-19." This episode revolved around Rick Grimes and his group learning all about the virus in the CDC, the last place on Earth that seemed to have any answers as to the nature of the now-named Wildfire Virus.
Named "the Wildfire Virus" on the Show, The Walking Dead's Disease Is Way Different From Most Zombie Viruses
It Has One Key Difference
The Wildfire Virus/Walking Death is one of the most dangerous zombie viruses in fiction. One of the big questions that most people ask in any zombie story is how the American military loses against a bunch of shambling corpses. The American military has machine guns, things that can turn human beings into mulch in seconds. Surely a single soldier with one Gatling gun could wipe out hundreds of zombies on their own. Some stories have tried to get around this "plot hole" by making the zombies significantly faster and more aggressive, such as in 28 Days Later.
The Walking Dead's co-creator Robert Kirkman actually came up with a pretty genius way to keep the zombies in The Walking Dead threatening without turning them into super-fast or super-strong ultra-predators. Instead, Kirkman's solution was simple and elegant. The virus is transmitted through the air, and, by the time the story starts, it's already infected everyone on Earth. Every single human is infected, and when they die, they will become a zombie. There are thousands of deaths alone in America every single day for one reason or another. Each one would be a new zombie, and that spread would be practically impossible to contain.
"The Walking Death" Is More Deadly Than Any Other Virus in Fiction
There's No Real Way to Deal With It
The Walking Dead’s depiction of the undead is clearly inspired by many classic horror movies, many of which have aged particularly well.
Fans once wished for a name for the zombie virus, and now they finally have two different ones, and both are pretty apt descriptors of what the virus did. They could either use the Wildfire Virus from the TV show, likely named due to the fact it spread throughout humanity like a wildfire and was just as destructive. Or, they can use the brutally direct and apt name of the Walking Death, which was the name revealed by an alien tiger. Either way, fans finally know the true name behind the horror in The Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead Deluxe #109 is available now from Skybound Entertainment!
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