Pssst…It’s Actually About Aliens

Interesting Fact:The Walking Dead was originally about aliens.

It’s well known that The Walking Dead started out as a comic book. What is slightly less well known is that Kirkman pitched this concept as a story about alien invasion. Executives at Image didn’t think the whole zombie angle had quite enough punch, which led Kirkman to say “Well what if it was really about aliens?” Image Comics immediately jumped on board with this idea, unaware that Kirkman had absolutely no intention of incorporating extraterrestrials. From that simple lie a flagship comic book series was born culminating in a hit TV show. Who says honesty is the best policy?

Also, on a side note, there are in fact two other, admittedly little known, zombie properties that also carry The Walking Dead name. The first, a 1936 film, stars Boris Karloff as–you guessed it–a zombie. The other is a comic book series also called The Walking Dead, published by the now defunct Aircel comics in 1989–predating Kirkman’s Walking Dead by some fourteen years.

So there you have it. The Walking Dead‘s Journey is paved with deception and re-purposed material. That’s a tongue in cheek comment by the way. Please don’t misunderstand. I am no way knocking Kirkman. In fact, I applaud him for taking an idea long forgotten (twice) and breathing new life into it. I admire his tenacity and willingness to do anything to get this story published.

And, just for laughs, Kirkman includes a hiliarious alternate univers side story, in issue #75, where this turns out to be exactly the case. You can find this brief extract below. Read and enjoy!