The Walking Dead #1

History

Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore — childhood friends who had already self-published Battle Pope together under their Funk-O-Tron label — first pitched the concept to Image Comics as a follow-up to George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, set in the 1960s; Image co-founder Jim Valentino pushed them toward an original property so the creators could own it outright. A revised modern-setting pitch was rejected as too generic, so Kirkman added a fabricated hook — that the zombie plague was the advance wave of an alien invasion — with no intention of ever using it, purely to get the book approved and published. The issue shipped on October 8, 2003, drawn entirely by Moore in black-and-white with gray tones, with Kirkman himself credited as letterer and editor; Moore drew interiors for issues #1–6 and continued as cover artist through issue #24, after which Charlie Adlard took over interior duties.

Trivia · 10 facts

• First appearance of Rick Grimes — Kentucky sheriff's deputy who wakes from a gunshot-induced coma to find civilization overrun by the undead.
• First appearance of Morgan Jones and his son Duane Jones, who rescue Rick and explain the state of the world — Morgan would recur as a major character throughout the series.
• First appearance of Shane Walsh, Rick's former partner, who appears in the opening flashback sequence; Shane becomes the series' first major antagonist.
• Published October 8, 2003 by Image Comics; written and lettered by Robert Kirkman, with art, inks, and gray-tone colors all by Tony Moore — the only issue where Moore handled every visual element.
• The series was conceived as creator-owned from the start, at the suggestion of Image co-founder Jim Valentino, giving Kirkman and Moore full ownership of the property.
• The initial print run was approximately 7,200 copies distributed to North American comic shops — an extremely modest debut for what would become one of Image's flagship titles.
• The first printing contains a notable production variant: the 'MATURE READERS' cover warning appears in black lettering on some copies and white lettering on others, the result of a printing-plate correction mid-run.
• The issue has been reprinted in numerous formats, including an Image Firsts edition (2010), a full-color 10th Anniversary Special Edition (October 9, 2013), an Artist Proof Edition (2015), and The Walking Dead Deluxe #1 in full color (October 7, 2020) — with over 90 reprints and special editions documented in total.
• A five-page preview of the series appeared the same day in Capes #1 and Agents #6 (both with September 2003 cover dates), giving those issues a technical prior-appearance claim that collectors have long debated.
• The AMC television adaptation, developed by Frank Darabont and premiering October 31, 2010, adapted the material from issues #1–6 as its first season, bringing the debut issue's story to a global mainstream audience.

Full credits

Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers