Today at Skybound Xpo, Skybound Entertainment chairman and The Walking Dead writer Robert Kirkman announced that his most famous zombie creation is being resurrected once more. The Walking Dead Deluxe will reprint the series on a twice-monthly basis, in full color for the first time. Each issue will be colored by Dave McCaig, and will also feature “Cutting Room Floor” bonus features from Kirkman, and a series of variant covers from big-name artists like David Finch, Julian Tedesco, and more.
The Walking Dead debuted in 2003, and ran for 193 issues before its surprise ending last year. Since the series’ conclusion, a few one-shots have been released, including a print version of spinoff story The Alien and the recent Negan Lives! special, the latter of which Kirkman said was inspired specifically by a desire to help retailers who may be struggling following the Diamond shutdown earlier this year. It seems likely that the decision to rerelease The Walking Dead in a new format was similarly inspired, and the inclusion of new bonus material will likely draw in fans who’ve already read the series as well. Kirkman said in the announcement for the reprint series that these colorized issues will not be collected “any time soon,” adding further incentive for readers to head to comic shops to pick up the single issues.
You can check out a few covers for the first issue, as well as a preview of the colorized pages alongside the full press release announcement, below. The Walking Dead Deluxe #1 will land in stores in October. And look for more coverage from Skybound Xpo all weekend on The Beat.
PORTLAND, Ore. [7.18.2020] — Read it again! Image Comics/Skybound Entertainment will revisit the historic independent series that took the entertainment world by storm 17 years ago—The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman (Fire Power, Oblivion Song) and Charlie Adlard (Vampire State Building)—with newly, fully colored issues. Featuring the stunning work of the masterful Dave McCaig, these new issues will launch in October with The Walking Dead Deluxe #1. Kirkman first announced the fully colored issues during Skybound Xpo, Skybound’s virtual pop-culture convention, earlier today.
This deluxe revival of the series will also feature a memorable array of variant covers—by such artists as David Finch, Tony Moore, Julian Totino Tedesco, and Arthur Adams—commemorating major character introductions and the series’ most memorable twists and turns. Each issue will include a new installment of “The Cutting Room Floor,” featuring Kirkman’s original handwritten plots along with commentary on abandoned storylines and plot points that may have changed along the way.
This definitive presentation of the story will NOT be collected into trade paperback any time soon, so fans and new readers should not trade-wait to experience this fully colored edition of the popular survival horror series. Issue #1 will be available on October 7. Each following month two issues will be released.
The Walking Dead Deluxe #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, October 7:
The Walking Dead Deluxe #1 Cover A David Finch & Dave McCaig – Diamond Code AUG200027
The Walking Dead Deluxe #1 Cover B Tony Moore & Dave McCaig – Diamond Code AUG200028
The Walking Dead Deluxe #1 Cover C Charlie Adlard – Diamond Code AUG200029
The Walking Dead Deluxe #1 Cover D Julian Totino Tedesco – Diamond Code AUG200030
The Walking Dead Deluxe #1 Cover E Arthur Adams – Diamond Code AUG200031The Walking Dead Deluxe #1 will also be available for purchase across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, comiXology, and Google Play.
Gotta milk the IP. For someone who claims to disdain film studios making comics, Kirkman is sure starting to act like an exec.
That’s rather bland color work. It doesn’t entice me to buy the comic. The covers look great, though. Why not color the interiors like the covers are colored?
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