The Walking Dead: Robert Kirkman on Status Quo-Changing New Arc

CBR

The Walking Dead: Robert Kirkman Talks Status Quo-Changing New Arc

By Albert Ching

Published Oct 12, 2017

The next story arc of The Walking Dead comic book is called New World Order, and Robert Kirkman tells CBR what to expect.

The Walking Dead comic book is approaching its 15th year of publication, and things aren't slowing down, with the six-part "New World Order" arc set to start in January 2018.

"New World Order" starts with The Walking Dead #175 by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard, and is billed by Image Comics and Skybound Entertainment as featuring "all new friends, all new enemies, all new threats." Kirkman talked to CBR about the arc last week at New York Comic Con, and what's in store from the "real game changer" of a storyline.

"They're going to be getting to the Ohio colony that Eugene has been talking to on the radio for like 25 issues or so -- it's been a fairly long-running subplot," Kirman told CBR. "Things are going to be drastically different. It's a group of people living in an a pocket of civilization that is unlike anything we've seen before, and will change the status quo of the book. It's really going to ramp things up and move things into an exciting direction."

At NYCC, Image Comics released Adlard's cover to Walking Dead #175, which visually recalls the cover to 2006's The Walking Dead #25, the first part of "The Best Defense" arc.

"You see on the cover, these soldiers are wearing this zombie-proof armor -- we purposefully mirrored the cover to Walking Dead #25 where we introduced the riot gear from the prison," Kirkman said. "We're kind of revisiting that concept, but on a much larger scale, because we're encountering a group that has machining capabilities, and they can actually manufacture things. It's going to be a real game changer for the series, and I'm really excited. There are going to be a lot of new characters introduced, and a lot of things going into a pretty interesting direction."

This news comes during a busy period for both Kirkman and the Walking Dead franchise. Last week, Kirkman announced his first new comic book series in three years, Oblivion Song, illustrated by Lorenzo De Felici and scheduled to debut in March. At NYCC, it was announced that an as-yet unnamed character from either AMC's The Walking Dead or Fear The Walking Dead would cross over to the other show -- the first such interaction between the two TV series.

"New World Order" starts right about when 2018 does -- The Walking Dead #175 is scheduled for release on Jan. 3. Keep reading CBR for more from Kirkman, discussing the origins of Oblivion Song and what fans can expect from the new series.