The Walking Dead 10th Anniversary New York Comic Con 2013 Panel

Originally written and published on zombietraining.com on October 16, 2013.

Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard walked onto the main stage to the loud cheers of nearly 2,300 fans at the opening of The Walking Dead 10th Anniversary Panel at New York Comic Con 2013. They began Friday’s panel by launching immediately into discussing their newest 12-issue story arc titled All Out War.

“We’re doing a lot of things to celebrate the 10th anniversary,” said Kirkman. “One cool thing we got going on is this new storyline called ‘All Out War’… Issue 115 came out on Wednesday (October 9)… We’re really excited about the fact that we’re sold out… we’ve also have had a pretty large print run on this one. We’ve sold over 352,000 copies of issue 115, which certainly took me by surprise. I’m really excited that we’re sold out… That’s our highest selling single issue yet.” Kirkman thanked the audience for hitting that big number, and then also announced that a second printing will be forthcoming and will have a “really cool gatefold cover.”

Those lucky to have attended this year’s New York Comic Con were able to pick up an exclusive, limited edition cover to issue 115 (pictured right), which also quickly sold out.

Kirkamn then began to talk about the ten different covers to issue 115 that made an interlocking poster, and what it represented before turning the conversation over to Adlard to explain the process. “Not easy at all,” Charlie Adlard stated about its creation, and went on to explain the arduous process of creating the ten interlocking covers.

Adlard, who has been penciling and inking the series since issue one, went onto discuss how he felt about not doing his own inking on the new arc series, since they brought in Stefano Gaudiano (Daredevil, Gotham Central, X-O Manowar) to take over. The audience was then treated to some artwork from the new issue, the first being a 4-panel in which Rick is leading a small army to fight his adversary Negan.

Kirkman went on to talk about the new arc covers again, giving the audience a preview of all twelve covers for “All Out War” on screen, stating that “these covers are colored by Dave Stewart… award winning colorist for Hellboy, and we’re really happy to have him aboard.”

The two then went on to talk about the release of 10th Anniversary edition of The Walking Dead Issue 1, where, “…you can see it for the first time in full color glory,” Kirkman stated. He also announced that he and his team were also excited about releasing the series in Spanish in the U.S. The first volume is in stores now. The second volume will come out in December, followed by a new volume every three months.

Another NYCC exclusive was The Walking Dead #1 10th Anniversary Black & White Cover Variant of the classic first issue in color. Only 2,000 were printed, and they also quickly sold out.

The Q&A session revealed some interesting insights from Kirkman and Adlard. Regarding the characters that have been killed off and what character that either of them missed, Kirkman replied, “I feel bad about almost every character we’ve killed off. I don’t enjoy that part of the book. It feels like a friend… but still, you don’t get to write that character anymore—especially when Rick died this last issue (joking). Adlard agreed, “I miss them all… It was tragic when Glenn died… and a few issues to Glenn dying, when Abraham dies (adding to Kirkman’s joke).

For the whole panel discussion, including the Q&A, can be found here: The Walking Dead 10th Anniversary New York Comic Con 2013 Panel