The big news out of Image Expo this week was that The Walking Dead comic book series would start a big 12-issue story arc this October. Titled All Out War, new issues will be released every two weeks for six months straight. We gave you the first details and teaser art from All Out War and Robert Kirkman talked about planning the new arc during a recent interview. He also discusses the end of The Walking Dead and aspects of himself being in characters like Negan:
[via MTV Geek] All Out War: "Well it’s something that’s been on the books for a while, it’s something that’s been in the plan for years and years. You know, I never thought "The Walking Dead" would last this long, but even in the earliest days of "The Walking Dead "I always thought “it would be amazing if I could get to a point where there were pockets of civilization that could each other for resources.” You know? Like telling the story and knowing where it was going to go, that you know, it would be like “oh these people are hunkered down in a prison, trying to find food…and they’re traveling a long distance and oh, they found this place that’s actually like a little pocket of civilization and oh there’s other pockets of civilization and now they have to face this.” I knew that arc, you know? But I didn’t know that I would ever get to tell it. And so now that we’re at this point, I think that there’s some really cool stuff coming and I couldn’t be more excited about it."
Planning an End Game: " Well I think people have invested a lot of time in "The Walking Dead." And a lot of emotional stuff. So people are invested in "The Walking Dead" and they wanna know that the guy that’s doing it isn’t just spinning his wheels. They want to know that it’s going somewhere. And so I think they don’t want it to end, or I hope they don’t want it to end, but they do want to know like “listen, when I’ve been reading this book for 30 years, and it finally ends, am I gonna feel like it was worth my time, or do you have no f**king clue what you’re doing? Tell me now so that I can get out.” And it’s like a tough thing. I do plan for it to go a long time, and I do have an idea of what I think will be a very significant ending and a really cool way to tie it all in and make it, you know, a huge body of work. I think that’s really the cool thing about this...
...I know how the next 12 people who die die, and why they die, and what happens after that. I know who lives to the end and I know why they live to the end and how they live to the end and what happens in the end. And you know, that may be 200 issues, it may be 50 issues. But it’s probably going to be a lot. I’m hoping. But I think when it’s all said and done it will make sense and it will be a satisfying ending, but the longer a series runs, the less the chance that it’s going to be a satisfying ending, so I dunno. It may be a disappointment to some people, but hopefully it’ll at least make sense and be a cool way wrap all that up, so we’ll see."
Putting Bits of Himself into His Characters: "There are aspects of me in every character I think. I think that, like, the nonsensical comments that Negan makes are the kinds of things that I’ll do in conversation. So there are bits of me in Negan. A lot of people have talked about like the way I talk…I’m not like sadistic, and I don’t cuss quite as much as him, but I will sometimes be like “wanna get pizza? Why do people eat pizza? I don’t know what’s wrong with pizza. You wanna get pizza?” So there’s a little bit of me there. But there’s a little bit of me in Rick Grimes and like, Glenn’s history, like I was a pizza delivery guy. I wasn’t a pizza delivery guy, I worked at a pizza place for a while. So there are little bits and pieces here and there thrown in there. But I mean that’s true of any writer. Most of the characters in "The Walking Dead" it’s like, you know, this is what I would do, this is what I wouldn’t do. Like, I would react this way, so I’m going to do it this way, you know, it’s all based on my experience. So I think it’s inevitable that there’s going to be bits and pieces of you that seep in there. But I don’t think anyone who reads "The Walking Dead" gets an accurate picture of who I am because constantly at conventions, people are like “Robert! You’re…you’re cracking jokes and stuff? I read this book and it seems like you’d be this brooding crazy person. You seem like a nice guy and you’re kind of funny and I dunno, I did not expect this.” And it’s like, well, I put it all on the page, you know? There’s a darkness inside of me and I put it all there so it’s not here."
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To read the rest of the interview, head on over to MTV Geek. More details on All Out War will be available at Comic-Con later this month and we’ll be covering the event live to bring you all of the latest news on The Walking Dead. Catch up on our coverage of the comic book series by visiting the following links:
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