In the zombie-ravaged comic book world ofThe Walking Dead, Rick Grimes and his band of survivors mainly moved between a select few locations, with most of their stories taking place in temporary homes that lasted up until the undead hordes arrived to tear it all down. Finding shelter in multiple cities and towns across various states,Rick’s creator, Robert Kirkman, once explained why his characters never went beyond America, with his reasoning revealing exactly what his priorities were while writing his zombie epic.
StartingThe Walking Deadin Rick’s hometown of Cynthiana, Kentucky, Kirkman then brought him on a harrowing journey across post-apocalyptic America, dragging him into the abandoned city of Atlanta, through Washington D.C., onto the grounds of Alexandria, and even over to Ohio wherethe Commonwealth resided.
Responding to a fan question in the “Letter Hacks” section ofThe Walking Dead Deluxe #98, who asks, “…are you going to show how different parts of the world are doing?”Kirkman responds by saying, “locations don’t interest me as much as characters,”a concise explanation for barring international travel for his cast.
Following up this initial question with a more pointed one asking if the whole comic was “going to stay here in the United States??” Kirkman elaborates on why he wouldn’t introduce new locations — in the USA or otherwise — simply for the sake of doing so. Saying,“I’d never randomly cut away to different characters in a different region for no reason,” this logic, coupled with a “characters first” mentality, makes sense for Kirkman’s writing styleas at the core ofThe Walking Dead’s story, location doesn’t mean a thing if there aren’t compelling characters interacting within them.
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The Walking Dead isn’t easiest comic world to live in with Rick and his group of survivors not utilizing bikes for a specific creator-defined reason.
While the prison and Hershel’s farmareiconic comic locations, their popularity stems from the people they met there and the intense events that occurred on their grounds — the Governor and the Greenes being of particular note. Yet despite all of Kirkman’s talk about locations not being a major priority while writing, it’s worth noting that in 2016’sThe Walking Dead: The Alienone-shot— the only issue Kirkman didn’t author himself — writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Marcos Martín took the zombie action overseas to Barcelona, Spain, giving fans the sole comic location not set in America.
Meanwhile,on AMC’sThe Walking Deadtelevision show, fans have experienced more locations than what the comic offered, withDaryl Dixon’s recent spinoff seriesseeing this original made-for-TV character travel abroad to Paris and continue his fight against the undead, giving the franchise a completely new playground to explore while bringing some much-needed change of scenery to the proceedings. ThoughThe Walking Deadcomic never needed to be a global-hopping narrative, it’s interesting to learn of Robert Kirkman’s aversion to writing a story like that, making this series one that rightly puts characters over locations before anything else.
The Walking Dead Deluxe #98is available from Image Comics.
The Walking Dead
The Walking Deadis 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 seriesThe Walking Deadin 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.
