The Walking Dead Creator Originally Lied About Its Story To Get It Greenlit

the walking dead comic

Although The Walking Dead didn't invent the zombie genre, the post-apocalyptic comic book series made a huge impact on fans who loved nothing more than reading about the living dead. Now, it seems strange to think of a world where Kirkman's The Walking Dead didn't exist, but due to the oversaturation in the zombie media throughout the decades, there was a time when that was a possibility.

Created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore in 2003, The Walking Dead comic series featured numerous deaths and different fates than characters from the popular television series of the same name. Even so, the main premise was largely the same as it followed Sheriff Rick Grimes, who wakes up from a coma only to find he has been placed smack bang in the middle of a horrifying zombie apocalypse. After finally finding safety in other survivors, like his son Carl, Shane, Daryl, and Carol, he then becomes their leader as he takes them on a dangerous road of survival which sees a lot of tragic events unfold.

The Walking Dead Almost Didn’t Happen, but Kirkman Told a Lie To Save It

the walking dead comic

As highlighted by Screen Rant, The Walking Dead almost didn't happen due to Image publishers wanting the series to go down a different route in a bid to stay away from the zombie trope. In a 2018 panel, Kirkman said that the only way to get his comic greenlit was to tell the publishers that The Walking Dead's story was going to be about aliens rather than zombies so that they would agree with its arc. Kirkman said that he initially pitched the zombie idea to Image, but they didn't buy it due to it lacking substance, which is understandable given how much has been told about zombies over the years, as what could Kirkman tell that would be different?

"And then when it came out, Eric Stephenson was reading the first issue, and he said, "So I read the issue, and it was really cool, but I didn't see any hints to what the alien invasion stuff is. Did you hint anything about that? Was there something I didn't notice? What's going on?" And I said, "Oh well, I gotta be honest with you…that stuff's not going to happen. I was kind of fibbing a little bit, and I really just want to do a straight zombie book." And at this point, the book was being pretty well received and there was a lot of buzz about it. So Eric wrote back something like, "Well that's good, because I was kind of reading the book thinking, hey he might ruin this by putting aliens in it."

Thankfully, Kirkman's lie paid off and Image eventually bought the idea of Kirkman's 'Walking Dead', which many fans of the comic and series are pretty grateful for, as are Image. Kirkman said that he would later bring up the joke about the real cause of the zombie apocalypse being started by aliens throughout the years. However, as silly as it might sound, it would be a funny way to explain the outbreak if Kirkman ever wanted to continue The Walking Dead's comic books, steering the story in a completely new direction. In The Walking Dead #75, Kirkman included the alien joke that many fans take seriously, which saw the Governor returning from the dead with cybernetic upgrades and asking Rick to surrender to the alien overloads. Needless to say, it was an April Fools' prank.

The Walking Dead Deluxe #107 will hit shelves on February 19, 2025, and The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 is expected to release in Spring 2025.

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The Walking Dead Creator Originally Lied About Its Story To Get It Greenlit

The Walking Dead Almost Didn’t Happen, but Kirkman Told a Lie To Save It

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