The writer and co-creator of Image Comics’ The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman, is infamous for killing off fan-favorite comic characters without warning, and in a response to a letters page query posed to him years ago, Kirkman reveals the original survivors he admits he killed too early!
Admitted to in the “Letter Hacks” column at the back of The Walking Dead #29, by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard, this issue takes place at a time when the iconic and sadistic villain called The Governor was still a thorn in series protagonist Rick Grimes’ side. Having been captured and tortured (at least in Michonne’s case) in an attempt to find the location of Rick’s prison where the rest of his ragtag group of survivors reside, Rick is appalled at the ruthless nature of The Governor and the lengths he’s willing to go to get his way.
And as the issue concludes with a patented Walking Dead cliffhanger, enticing readers to come back next month, the Letter Hacks page opens up a discussion about the series’ recent past, specifically about the people who have met a bloody — and premature — end. Asked whether writer Robert Kirkman was ever angry at himself for killing off a character too soon, Kirkman answers with more than a few names, one, in particular, being a character that was offed during the opening issues of the series, well before the artist switchover from Tony Moore to Charlie Adlard occurred.
Saying that he would have liked to keep all of the now-deceased characters around “for at least a little longer,” Kirkman lists off more characters than fans might have expected given his penchant for killing basically anyone and everyone without notice. Telling fans that he’d have kept alive early characters such as Andrea’s sister, Amy, original survivors of Jim, Allen, Donna, and some of Hershel’s kids (of whom Kirkman says he killed “SO MANY”), Kirkman finishes his answer with the name drop of Shane, Rick’s best friend, and eventual rival who died at the hands of a young Carl, turning him into Rick’s personal zombie in the process. And this was Kirkman’s list with over one hundred and fifty issues still left to go in the series!
While Kirkman doesn’t seem to see these deaths as big issues as “when they gotta go they gotta go,” admitting that a divisive character like Shane could have stuck around to muck things up longer, and that he probably killed off too many of Hershel’s kids to keep him believable (Kirkman also admits that it’s “unrealistic to have that guy forming sentences” after what Hershel went through), are interesting facts for fans to know. And although Kirkman wishes he’d been able to do more with these now dead or zombified characters in the comic, he was able to get a redo once AMC’s The Walking Dead show hit the air, allowing Shane specifically to live well past his comic book expiration date.
So while at this point, nothing can change the fate of these now undead or just plain dead characters, it’s still interesting to know that Robert Kirkman didn’t always want things to turn out the way they ultimately did. This ground-breaking zombie series may be long over in comic book form, but at least fans got a few alternate and extended appearances of characters taken too soon on The Walking Dead’s popular television adaptation!
