As the full-color Deluxe reprint of The Walking Dead has progressed, creator Robert Kirkman has offered an incredible wealth of behind-the-scenes insight into the iconic zombie series, including previously unknown details about how the conclusion to the story began to take shape in his mind. According to Kirkman, even before the series’ gamechanging 100th issue, he was thinking of how Walking Dead would end.
In the annotations to The Walking Dead Deluxe #84 – written by Robert Kirkman, with art by Charlie Adlard, full color by Cliff Rathburn, & lettering by Rus Wooten – Kirkman revealed the subtle nod toward the story’s eventual endpoint, in a seemingly throwaway line from Eugene.
“This is a story people are going to tell,” Eugene says to Rick, in the middle of a battle against a zombie horde. In this way, Robert Kirkman slyly injected the idea that he was thinking about the post-zombie future of Walking Dead’s world – though no readers picked up on this clue at the time.
The Walking Dead’s ending, with issue #193, provided a gentle coda to the otherwise bloodthirsty series, depicting Carl Grimes’ attempt to raise a family, and live a quiet, “normal” life as society rebuilt post-outbreak. As explained by Robert Kirkman, he originally envisioned a much sadder ending for the series. Kirkman’s original idea was that humanity could only inevitably be overrun by the zombies in time. Instead, he ultimately chose to author a radically different future for humanity – one in which hope, scarce as often was in the series, prevailed in the end.
In any case, at what would turn out to be almost the exact mid-point of The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman had settled on at least one thing for certain: the series would end with a glimpse of the future, whatever that future amounted to. Eugene’s line in Walking Dead #84 was what Kirkman called “the first hint“ at how he’d end the story. He noted:
With this in mind, Walking Dead fans can be expected to clamor to re-read the series once more, in order to find what other signposts pointing toward the ending might have followed this one.
The Walking Dead Deluxe has been essential reading for fans of the franchise. More than just for the opportunity to experience the black-and-white story rendered in full, evocative color, the Deluxe reprint has offered creator Robert Kirkman’s immeasurably valuable recollections of how the series was written, step-by-step, issue-by-issue. By calling out Eugene’s line in issue #84 “the first hint” toward the series’ future, Kirkman has ratcheted up anticipation that he will likely dissect further hints in subsequent installments, giving fans a progressively more nuanced understanding of the story in the process.
Throughout The Walking Dead, even when he made creative decisions that were surprising, or even vexxing – or that some readers might have disagreed with, such as Negan’s survival – Robert Kirkman’s choices were always deliberate. It will be fascinating to continue exploring how his story unfolded, and its arc became more concrete, as The Walking Dead Deluxe continues to be published with fresh batches of annotations from its creator, thrown like chunks of meat to the franchise’s ravenous hordes of readers.
The Walking Dead Deluxe #84 is available now from Image Comics.