In 2016, Image Comics published The Walking Dead: The Alien , a spin-off story set in the comic book sequel The Walking Dead about Rick Grimes’ younger brother traveling around Barcelona, Spain at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. The creators were writer Brian K. Vaughan ( Y: The Last Man ) and cartoonist Marcos Martin ( The Amazing Spider-Man ). It was the first Walking Dead story not written by creator Robert Kirkman, who ended his comic book saga in 2019 after 16 years and 193 issues. Kirkman returned to write a Negan Lives one-shot comic in 2020, and in 2021, writer and artist Tillie Walden created a graphic novelClementine continuing the Telltale series, the Walking Dead video games.
While The Walking Dead may not survive another ongoing series, Kirkman doesn’t rule out returning to comic book continuity. In the latest issue of The Walking Dead Deluxe’s colorized reprint series , Kirkman has responded to fan mail regarding a sequel to the comic – something the creator has been talking about in past issues – even if Kirkman isn’t writing the book.
I suppose it sounds stingy, but I can’t imagine ever letting anyone else write a series in this world. It was hard enough to let Brian K. Vaughan write one issue. I definitely can’t imagine ever letting anyone do a full-fledged sequel. I would go back and write more stories myself before I let it.
revealed Kirkman in The Walking Dead Deluxe #61.
In October, Kirkman said there were no plans for a sequel to Negan Live , a one-shot comic revealing what happened to Negan after he disappeared from the flagship series in The Walking Dead #174. With the final season of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead approaching , Kirkman wrote in a recent issue of Deluxe that a comic book sequel or adaptation of the spin-off he co-created with Dave Erickson was “extremely, extremely unlikely.”
A new ongoing Walking Dead comic is also unlikely .
I gave this world 16 years of my life. Maybe sometime in the future I’ll do that, but I doubt I’ll ever come back to do a full series. But… I never say never. The closest we get to that is probably a brand new series from me that is completely separate from TWD , but has themes that TWD fans will enjoy .
Kirkman wrote in January’s The Walking Dead Deluxe #55
The Walking Dead Deluxe #61 is now on the racks from Image Comics .
