By David Nieves

There are spoilers for the more recent issues of Walking Dead in this article.

Robert Kirkman welcomed a crowded room of fans for a Q&A for the ages as his creation, The Walking Dead, celebrates ten years this year. The line to ask questions was almost as backed up as the line to get in the panel.

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Kicking things off, a fan asked about the ever-sore subject of Glenn’s death and how it would affect characters going forward. In typical Kirkman fashion, all characters have to suffer. “Some stuff will come up with Maggie”, Kirkman expressed. He noted killing Glenn would be a huge factor in All Out War this Fall.

The next fan wondered if Kirkman had a favorite character? “I’ve had favorite characters in the past and I’ve killed them.” Kirkman joked. “My favorite characters historically have been Tyreese and Axel… and all the other dead ones.”

When asked if Carl would ever have peers his own age around, Kirkman doomed some characters, ” If they survive the war there’ll be quite a larger cast. Assuming they don’t die.”

Another fan asked for advice running the obstacle course at the baseball stadium. Like the man with the plan Kirkman simply said, “find dead spots and rest, find the people handing out water.”

One discussion he had with the crowd was about if fans could expect any sort of walker evolution. Kirkman explained, “The Walkers are not evolving. That’s a Romero trope that I think I should stay away from, because I’ve done enough of those. I’m taken enough from him.” In his view the living should adapt to the dead.

Asking a question for a friend who was a self-proclaimed “super fan,” an audience member wanted to know what the title of the series represented. Are the Walking Dead the zombies or the humans struggling to find a place in the world. “It’s whatever you want to think. It’s a play on words. It is kinda of about the characters, but I’m not artsy fartsy so it’s whatever you want it to be, I don’t care,” Kirkman answered.

There was an unprecedented moment in Walking Dead panel history where the line for questions actually finished and Kirkman tried to dismiss the panel early.

A fan amongst the new group of people asked about a teaser he received that simply read “Dead.” Wanting to know what it meant Kirkman said we’d get more information in the Skybound Panel.

Towards the end of the panel, Kirkman was asked what his favorite comic series and television show are? “Savage Dragon has been my favorite comic forever. Of new stuff, I really like Manhattan Projects and Saga. For TV, Breaking Bad. Sons of Anarchy is probably my all-time favorite, I think.”

At the very end Kirkman exhibited his joking displeasure with the crowd saying, ” I never prepare for these things! I rely on you people, and if we do this again next year, I expect better!”

With that, the panel came to a close.

David Nieves is a writer who has written for a number of sites, most recently at his blog Nuke The Fridge. He can be found on Twitter here!

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