Robert Kirkman

It only took half a season, but The Walking Dead is finally ready to “Rise Up” against Negan and the Saviors when the AMC horror flagship returns in 2017. Following last night’s trailer, The Walking Dead is seeing red in the first Season 7B key art, while Robert Kirkman teases the mystery man (or woman) spying on Alexandria in the post-credits.

On November 20th, 2002, Image Comics released the first issue of a new comic called Invincible by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker, about a teenage superhero whose father was one of the most popular heroes on the planet. Over a decade later, Invincible himself became something of a phenomenon, as the series became one of the most popular creator-owned superheroes of all time in a run of comics that refused to settle for status quo.

Next year Image Comics is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and to celebrate the occasion, Robert Kirkman's Skybound imprint will release issues of its three cornerstone titles for only 25¢ each. Outcast, Invincible and The Walking Dead all start brand new stories in February, and fans will be able to check them out for a fraction of their usual cost.

AMC isn’t one to look a rotting gift horse like The Walking Dead in the mouth, extending its highest-rated series so long as creator Robert Kirkman provides comic source material. That relationship doesn’t necessarily extend both ways, however, as Kirkman acknowledges AMC has zero input or foreknowledge of any potential story shakeups.

There’s been a bit of back-and-forth surrounding Negan’s victims from last night’s Walking Dead premiere, as some suggested they’d yet to choose the big death before this summer, while cast have claimed to know even longer. Now that the truth is finally splattered out in the open, showrunner Scott M. Gimple and creator Robert Kirkman say the doomed pair was chosen years in advance.

Walking Dead companion series Fear The Walking Dead wrapped up its second season with a few hints of the world leaning farther into the zombie apocalypse, but fans will always wonder if the two series would ever cross over. Robert Kirkman even offered a tantalizing hint at New York Comic-Con, suggesting a Fear-ful origin for one of the comics’ current villains.

Even as Walking Dead comic fans knew it to be coming, AMC viewers may have been taken back by the Season 7 trailer appearance of “King” Ezekiel and his pet tiger Shiva. Season 7 brought the creature to life with animatronics and CGI, while creator Robert Kirkman admits he wrote the tiger in to see how a TV series might handle it.

Whether or not The Walking Dead turns into a 50-year franchise like Star Trek, the AMC series will inevitably either conclude before, or extend beyond Robert Kirkman’s comic source material. Whenever we get to that point, Kirkman at least confirms the two mediums will craft different endings, so as not to spoil one another.

On October 1st, 2003, Image Comics published the debut issue of The Walking Dead, a black and white zombie comic by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore. Despite all odds, the series grew and grew to become one of the most successful independent comics franchises of all time, with spin-offs in television, video games, novels and more.

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