Coming from Image Comics, The Walking Dead was one of the most successful zombie comics ever made and helped revitalize the genre, even spawning several different successful TV shows. But that's after Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore altered their pitch after Image rejected their original idea, and if they had stuck with their original pitch, The Walking Dead's legacy would be very different.
Originally, writer Kirkman intended for the series to focus on a zombie apocalypse that destroys the world, but that apocalypse would've taken place over decades, and the world in question would have been very different. Instead of a modern day Earth, the story was meant to take place on a futuristic utopian version of Earth.
In Kirkman's original pitch, while exploring outer space, the government discovers a strange mineral that transforms people into zombies. As the government often does, their first idea was to use this as a potential weapon of war. They intended to use the mineral in bombs, allowing them to make anyone not killed by the initial blast into zombies.
The Walking Dead Almost Went In a Completely Different Direction, Embracing More Science Fiction
The Series Would Be Unrecognizable To Fans Today
The government's idea didn't go according to plan though, as few things do in zombie media. The mineral would instead end up infecting a good portion of society, with citizens transforming into ravenous zombies that attack the utopia. The comic would then showcase the fall of this utopia over several decades. Each story arc would be set in a different time period and focus on a different group of characters. One of Kirkman's brilliant ideas was that each arc would be entirely self-contained, meaning someone could pick up any time period and read it from start to finish to get a full story.
Looking for more science fiction comics? Check out Invincible, also by Kirkman and artist Ryan Ottley, available now from Skybound Entertainment/Image Comics.
The Walking Dead, as fans know it today, starts like most zombie media does: with a zombie apocalypse that wipes out the majority of humanity. This apocalypse is swift and brutal. One of the major reasons the "walkers" in this universe are so dangerous is because everyone is infected. It doesn't matter how someone dies, as long as their brain is intact at the time of death, they will reanimate as a walker. It was a brilliant way to explain how the world was destroyed so quickly and utterly.
After the apocalypse, the story follows a group of survivors led by Rick Grimes as they try to find safety from both the walkers and from other humans. The story takes them all over America, and they meet a host of characters and lose a ton of friends along the way. One of the things that made The Walking Dead stand out was the brutal deaths that the series was infamous for. While the story was certainly entertaining, it wasn't the first idea that Kirkman had for his zombie magnum opus.
Kirkman's Original Idea for The Walking Dead Was Fascinating
Fans Can Hope That He'll Return to It Some Day
Unfortunately for everyone, as cool as Kirkman's original idea sounds, Image just wasn't interested. The comic premise was rejected and Kirkman was sent back to the drawing board. Unwilling to give up on the idea of his zombie epic, he retooled it into the story that readers are now familiar with. But the original idea still has plenty of things about, and it could still work if it was revitalized. One of the most fascinating aspects of zombie media that is rarely explored, which Kirkman seems to agree with, is what happens after the zombie apocalypse.
Most zombie media just focuses on the immediate end of the world. Often, the zombies just show up one day and obliterate everything before anyone can react. The original idea for The Walking Dead was to show a slow fall into chaos, and ultimately how society would prevail against the zombie threat. It's a great idea, and it's unfortunate that Image wasn't onboard with it. While The Walking Dead is a fantastic comic series as is, it's not exactly as genre-pushing as Kirkman's original plans.
Walking Dead's original opening would have skipped the franchise's most iconic moment - but there's a good reason it was considered.
Kirkman has often toyed with both science fiction and zombies in the same story. There are a few points in The Walking Dead's history that this combo was teased, such as the infamous ending of The Walking Dead #75, which ended with the cliffhanger of the Governor, now with cybernetic enhancements, returning from the dead. After he brutally murders Michonne, he orders Rick to kneel and surrender to the new alien overlords who had used the zombies to weaken humanity enough for an invasion.
Rick Grimes 2000 Is a Bizarre Sci-Fi The Walking Dead Spinoff
By Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn, Dave McCaig, and Rus Wooton
This story was included as part of a bonus ending for #75, but it eventually became a spinoff called Rick Grimes 2000.This story was an absolute fever dream of ideas which included things like Rick Grimes using a laser sword to battle a cyborg Governor and Alpha and Beta merging into a giant zombie to battle a giant cyborg version of Michonne. While it doesn't sound as nuanced as the comic that Kirkman originally pitched, it's likely as close to zombie-meets-futuristic-Earth as readers are going to get anytime soon.
Rick Grimes 2000 let Kirkman explore all the absurd science fiction and alien invasions that he wanted.
What The Walking Dead ended up being is still a genre-defining piece of comics work. It has spawned several TV shows and even video games. There's no denying the impact that the comic has had on the medium and the genre, but one can't help but wonder what would have happened if Kirkman had to go with his original idea. It's possible that there would be more zombies crossed with science fiction in pop culture if Kirkman had gotten his way. The success of The Walking Dead not only spawned TV shows based off Kirkman's work, but it also inspired some copy-cat zombie shows as well.
The Walking Dead Could Have Pushed the Genre in a Different Direction
Zombie Media Would Be Very Different If It Had
It's honestly not that surprising that Kirkman originally wanted to explore aliens and a utopian Earth as his original The Walking Dead idea when looking over his work history. Invincible is another major Kirkman creation and many of the characters in that comic are aliens. Rick Grimes 2000 let Kirkman explore all the absurd science fiction and alien invasions that he wanted. That Kirkman's original plan isn't what readers got, then, isn't particularly surprising.
While The Walking Dead has become a major reviver for zombies in the 21st century, Robert Kirkman originally wanted it to tie into a classic film.
Part of being creative is having to refine ideas over time. Very rarely does the first draft of an idea end up going to page, as one can tell in Kirkman's Invincible TV show right now. While the Invincible comic is undeniably good, the TV show feels like a second pass at it: a refinement of the ideas that Kirkman originally brought into the comic. With The Walking Dead, Kirkman, unfortunately, didn't get a chance to refine his idea. Instead, he had to go with something entirely different to get the comic published. While The Walking Dead is fantastic, it could've been a lot different.
The Walking Dead #1 is available now from Image Comics!
The Walking Dead is 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 series The Walking Dead in 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.
Upcoming TV Shows
More Tales from the Walking Dead Universe
The Walking Dead is 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 series The Walking Dead in 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.
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