The Walking Deadwas originally planned to be a tie-in to the classic zombie film byGeorge A. Romero,Night of the Living Dead. Robert Kirkman’s iconic comic series is famous for reviving interest in zombies, particularly the slow-moving ghouls featured in George Romero’s original film. However, whileThe Walking Dead- by Kirkman and artists Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard - became famous for paying homage to Romero’s famous 1960s film, Kirkman originally planned for the series to be tied directly to the events of the movie.
According toComic Book Resources, the original plan forThe Walking Deadwas for it to be a continuation of Romero’s famous ’60s horror film. In its original pitch,“the book was set in the 1960s, even including the newscaster from the original film.“Due toNight of the Living Deadbeing in the public domain, Robert Kirkman saw this as an opportunity to help boost the comic through name recognition, especially since he wouldn’t need to pay anyone royalties at the time.
Had Robert Kirkman kept his original idea for the series intact, the comic would have ended up being incredibly different once the first issue hit comic stands.
By bindingThe Walking Deadto the continuity established in Romero’s original film,the execution of the series would have made it completely different from how fans remember it today.For starters, the comic would likely have been restricted to a short period of time.The original film’s endingsuggests that the zombie problem was turning a tide by morning with a firing squad successfully overpowering, killing, and burning the living corpses. Had the comic been a tie-in, it would face the pressure of addressing this story beat.
Limiting what would becomeThe Walking Deadto being a tie-in toNight of the Living Deadput the story at risk.
By far the biggest change, though, would be the way the comic depicts zombies. Zombies in the originalNight of the Living Deadappear more like hypnotized ghouls with very little gore hanging from them, making them indistinguishable from the human characters and playing into the social commentary present in Romero’s film. While they would have “originally devolved” over time, which is a concept that did eventually make its way to the final comic, there’s no denying thatthe main draw of the series would be completely differentfrom the rotted corpses fans know them to be now.
The Comic Gets a Major Overhaul Following Some Helpful Criticism
When sharing his concept with Image Comics co-founder Jim Valentino, he received some praise for wanting to bring back zombies through the comic medium. However, limiting what would becomeThe Walking Deadto being a tie-in toNight of the Living Deadput the story at risk. So, Valentinto suggested thatit would be a better idea to “come up with his own original concept, and thus Kirkman would own it entirely.“It was a helpful piece of constructive criticism that helped Kirkman get on the path to creating one of the most influential horror comics ever made.
The entirety of the originalWalking Deadcomic by Kirkman, Moore, and Adlard is available now in a variety of collected editions from Image Comics/Skybound.
Another piece of advice Valentino gave to Kirkman also helped giveThe Walking Deadits own sense of identity through its zombie design.He was told to make them look more like zombies that fans were familiar withto help grab their attention from the start. This choice ultimately worked to the comic’s benefit as the zombies' morbid designs made them feel original for the comic they came from. There’s nothing quite like the Walkers and their biologyfromThe Walking Dead, and they never would have come to be without Valentino’s advice.
While Robert Kirkman ended up abandoning the idea of making a tie-in toNight of the Living Dead, the influence of the beloved film continued to live on through the story.One ofThe Walking Dead’s biggest twists - that humans turn into zombies no matter how they die - comes straight fromNight of the Living Dead.This influence is shown when a little girl’s mother comes back, despite being killed by a trowel and not bitten. The series even makes a reference to the movie whenrevealing the origin of the zombie apocalypse.
It’s amazing to see how the original plan forThe Walking Deadcontinued to live on through the story, even after the major changes made in the development process. It shows just how influential Romero’s work has been over the years, especially given its status in the public domain that allows fans to create their own zombie stories. DespiteThe Walking Deadgrowing to be its own take on the genre, its original plan to be a tie-in toGeorge A. Romero’sNight of the Living Deadhelped the comic get on the right track and tell one of the greatest modern zombie tales of all time.
Sources:Comic Book Resources,Royal LaKill Inc. (YouTube)
The Walking Dead
The Walking Deadis a massive multimedia franchise that began with a comic book series created by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. The franchise gained widespread popularity with the launch of the television seriesThe Walking Deadin 2010 on AMC, which chronicles the lives of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies, referred to as “walkers.” The success of the original show has led to numerous spin-offs, web series, video games, novels, and other media. The franchise explores themes of survival, human nature, and the breakdown of society in the face of an existential threat, making it one of the most successful and influential horror series of the 21st century.
