Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead

Although I'm not a fan of Marvel Zombies (I realize I'm in the minority here, but while I love superheroes and I love zombies, for the most part I find that those are two great tastes that don't taste great together), I was happy to see Robert Kirkman receive the award for Best Comic Book for Marvel Zombies at Spike TV's 2006 Scream Awards this week... especially since he was the writer of two of the series nominated: Marvel Zombies and The Walking Dead (the other three nominees were All-Star Superman, Ex Machina, and Civil War).

While the Marvel Zombies series doesn't do anything for me (except for the covers... those are hilarious), Walking Dead is one of my all-time favorite comics. It also has the distinction of being the only series that I've only read in trade paperback format; knowing how much more I enjoy sitting down with an entire story-arc, I've avoided buying or reading any single issues, no matter how great the temptation.

Described by Kirkman as "the zombie movie that never ends," I think Walking Dead would make an awesome television series. Forget Jericho... post-apocalyptic scenarios are missing a crucial element if there aren't any undead stumbling around the landscape.

PopCultureShock.com interviewed Kirkman after the Scream Awards, claiming (and I assume they're correct) that this was the first time a comic book award was ever televised. You can check out the video on GooTube. Pictured above are the Walking Dead Torso Statuettes (click to enlarge) from The CS Moore Studio, due out in 2007. They're also planning a statue of the series' protagonist, Rick Grimes, based on the sketch to the left.

The long-awaited fifth Walking Dead trade, The Best Defense, was released at the end of last month (as I noted on Z Week), despite reports that it had been pushed back to December.

Z Week

I'm beginning to suspect that the comics industry is conspiring to bankrupt me by publishing zombie epics at an ever-increasing frequency.

Pictured here are 4 items that were all shipped this week: Marvel's Essential Tales of the Zombie Vol. 1, IGN's The Walking Dead Vol. 5, IDW's Zombies! #4, and the first issue of Zombie from Marvel's MAX imprint.

Combine those with such books as the new Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror, Ultimates 2 #12, Ultimate Spider-Man #100, a handful of "Civil War" tie-ins, Grant Morrison's Batman and a few other DC comics that I'm reading, and it's an expensive week.

Anyone else find themselves having to make an excessive outlay of cash yesterday? Because personally, I'm starting to feel like I'm working for the company store.

The Zombie Outbreak to End All Zombie Outbreaks?

Newsflash for my buddy Don, and any other fellow zombie fans out there:

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, is now out in stores, and thanks to this interview with the author, Max Brooks (son of Mel Brooks and author of The Zombie Survival Guide), I now want the book and the audiobook.

With a full cast featuring such voice talent as Mark Hamill, Henry Rollins, Ajay Naidu (Office Space's Samir Nagheenanajar), Alan Alda, Jurgen Prochnow, and John Turturro, how can you resist?

Are you prepared for a worldwide war against the undead? Check out the Zombie Squad website. If nothing else, you'll have the proper T-shirts for fighting off the living dead. And if you have friends or loved ones who are already infected, you can help them accessorize with Eastpak.

(Thanks to Victor for sending me the interview link above. And for more info on WWZ, check out my previous blog post on the subject.)