The Walking Dead comic saved its biggest plot twist for last in 2019, as The Walking Dead #193 turned out to be an un-publicized series finale. But as luck would have it, creator Robert Kirkman and artist Charlie Adlard aren’t quite done with this long-running zombie universe.
Today Image Comics and Skybound Entertainment revealed Negan Lives #1, a new standalone, 36-page special focused on the fan-favorite villain. This one-shot issue will explore what happens to Negan after his final appearance in 2017’s The Walking Dead #174, with the story taking place some time during or after the time gap introduced in issue #193.
Kirkman and Adlard are motivated by more than mere nostalgia for their long-running series. Negan Lives #1 is part of an industry-wide initiative to support struggling comic shops as they reopen and recover from the economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic (which included distributor Diamond Comics halting shipments for several weeks). Accordingly, Image and Skybound are making the issue entirely free to retailers, including waiving the shipping cost.
“I’ve been inspired by Steve Geppi and Diamond’s efforts to shine a light on how essential the Direct Market is to our beloved industry with their #backthecomeback campaign,” said Kirkman in Skybound’s press release. “While Charlie Adlard and I had laid the series to rest, this felt like something special we could do for the store owners who made our series a success to begin with. To that end, I’m happy to report that 100% of the revenue generated from this book will go to the stores selling it. The retailer community does backbreaking work to get comics into the hands of our loving fans, we should all be doing more in these trying times to show them how appreciated they are.”
Warning: The following paragraph contains spoilers for The Walking Dead #193!
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
When readers last saw Negan, a vengeful Maggie tracked down her husband Glenn’s killer, only to discover Negan had indeed been reformed by his time as Rick’s prisoner. No doubt the new issue will reveal whether Negan remains on a righteous path, how he reacts to Rick’s assassination and whether he ultimately finds happiness in a world recovering from the zombie apocalypse.
[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=the-walking-dead-which-major-characters-survived-the-final-issue&captions=true”]
Negan Lives #1 is priced at $4.99 and is scheduled for release on Wednesday, July 1. The release is timed alongside the debut of Kirkman and Chris Samnee’s new creator-owned series Fire Power, with both the Fire Power prequel graphic novel and the delayed Free Comic Book Day 2020: Fire Power #1 also releasing that day.
For more on The Walking Dead’s series finale, check out IGN’s The Walking Dead #193 review and learn how the series almost had a very different ending.
[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/25/why-the-walking-dead-season-10-finale-is-delayed-ign-now”]
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Negan Lives: The Walking Dead Comic Returns in July 2020