Robert Kirkman has admitted that creating fake covers for The Walking Dead and fooling fans into thinking the long-running comic series was going to continue was a "questionable decision."
Kirkman caused a stir by getting artist Charlie Adlard to create fake covers for Issues #194-#196 -- a decision he's now explained to CartoonistKayfabe. "That was a lot of fun, and I'm surprised that we pulled it off," he said. "Years of interviews, where people would be like, 'When's The Walking Dead going to end?' I would just go, 'Never. It's just never going to end, it's going to go on forever.' And in my head, I'm like, '24 issues... 16 issues... 12 issues... 8 issues,' as the years went on. And I feel bad about that, and I don't enjoy lying, but to preserve a surprise like that? I feel like it's important."
The Walking Dead debuted in 2003 and ran for 193 issues. Focusing on the aftermath of an apocalyptic event that saw zombies roam the world, the series largely centered on the character of Rick Grimes. Although Kirkmanrepeatedly teased Rick's death and promised the series would continue to run for years after he was gone, readers were shocked when the creator pulled the plug just one issue after Rick's demise in Issue #192.
Kirkman went on to reveal only about six people knew his plan to end The Walking Dead with Issue #193, meaning some of his biggest stockists were unimpressed with the stunt. "The downside to that, though, is that the largest retailers are DCBS and Midtown Comics, and they do a ton of business through mail order," he explained. "So your most valuable retail partners who order the most books had taken a ton of orders for issues that no longer exist, and they had to cancel those orders and refund those customers. So that part was possibly a miscalculation on my part." Kirkman's lengthy goodbye letter revealed how he'd wanted to replicate the feeling of a shock death by ending The Walking Dead with no warning.
Despite promises of life beyond Rick, The Walking Dead bowed out with Carl Grimes reading the story of the heroic sheriff to his own daughter/Rick's granddaughter Andrea. The so-called "lost covers" teased storylines that never existed, including an expanded role for Sheriff Kapoor and the eventual death of Carl, with Sophia and Andrea standing by his graveside.
Whether it was a stroke of genius or unfair on the comic's fanbase, Kirkman maintains it was worth it in the end and he was right to end The Walking Dead the way he did.
(via ComicBook.com)