A year after having wrapped up the original 193-issue run of his runaway hit comic book series The Walking Dead, creator Robert Kirkman has decided to reprint the series in style. Originally published in black-and-white throughout the entire run by Image Comics, Kirkman has announced that he plans to reprint the entire series in color as a deluxe edition called The Walking Dead Deluxe, issue by issue, giving new life and edge to the original art by Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard. And if that wasn’t enough, Kirkman also plans on giving a behind-the-scenes look into his creative process in the form of his own written plot-outlines for each issue in the series, promising surprising twists and turns that never made it into the books.
Kirkman apparently works in a draftsman’s fashion when composing his story beats, writing his story ideas out in simple pencil and paper before beginning the script in earnest At some point he pitched an idea called “The Cutting Room Floor” to Image, which would have collected his hand-written story notes and plot outlines to give fans of his hit zombie series a look inside his decision-making in the storytelling. While this idea was never printed, the new deluxe editions seemed like a fitting place to showcase the mind behind the madness.
The details on what these notes might contain had been murky until Kirkman gave an update at a virtual panel for Comic-Con@Home, in which he confirmed that his notes would provide alternate story ideas he considered while constructing the series. These include notes on the survival of characters gone too soon in the zombie apocalypse epic, including the temperamental Shane – Rick’s former partner and best friend – and Laurie, Rick’s wife, who died a famously gruesome death. “That’s mainly what the changes are,” he added, “people who didn’t die.”
The cool thing about that is that there are times in ‘The Walking Dead’ series where I completely change my mind and was like, ‘well, the story was going to go this way and now we’re going to go this way’. So over the course of this reprint series, I’ll be revealing little detours, little nooks and crannies that weren’t explored, little stories that could’ve happened.
Aside from further words about added commentary to these handwritten plot outlines, Kirkman also revealed that he had written each of the outlines with the same pencil, a mechanical one his father had gifted him in the 7th grade, and told the audience that he would not be able to write without it and further requested that if they see him with it to not attempt to steal it. “That may all seem like a joke,” he said. “It’s not.”
The first five issues of The Walking Dead Deluxe are set to hit stores October 7th, and will be available wherever comic books are sold.
