Robert Kirkman & Tony Moore

This image was made by The Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

The Walking Dead

Vice: You do something pretty amazing in this comic in that it’s very text heavy, and usually when I see a comic with that much text in it I want to hang myself. But I find your writing pretty breezy and compelling. I couldn’t put the book down. I can only think of a handful of comics that have accomplished this: Alan Moore’s From Hell comes to mind. Do you take any inspiration from non-comic writers? People that write, y’know… what do they call ’em? Books?

Robert Kirkman:

The Walking Dead

You and artist Tony Moore are longtime friends and collaborators. You created The Walking Dead comic together. What prompted Tony to leave the series? Any drama, I hope?

Men cry a lot in this comic. Are you an emotional guy? Me too. I see a Pillow Pals commercial on TV and I’m a total wreck for days. Do you want to go on a cry date with me?

Did you get to have a lot of creative input into the TV show or did you just grab the cash and yell, “I’ll see you assholes later!” and then peel out on your Kawasaki Ninja and spray “fuck you” gravel in director Frank Darabont’s face?

Help us wade through the shit and tell us some more awesome comics to read.

Y: The Last Man

Planetary

Chew

Criminal

Savage Dragon

Look, talking about comic book lettering is about as exciting as watching paint dry on a butter churn. Let’s get back to talking about authors. Who do you like? Harold Robbins? Tom Clancy? Jackie Collins? I want names.

There’s that scene in the comic (and the TV show) where the people cover themselves with a zombie’s guts before walking through the streets of Atlanta to hide from the other zombies’ keen sense of smell. Does this mean that if a zombie was chasing me and I blew a big, greasy deathfart it would think I was a zombie too and leave me alone?

How far ahead do you plot out the series? Do you have an ending in mind? Do you ever see a time where you’ll be too old and senile to write it and someone else will have to take over, or will you end it before then?

The Walking Dead

Name one of your comic book artist heroes who you met that turned out to be a total dick.

Byrne

What are the other comics that you’ve written that are equal to or better than The Walking Dead?

The Walking Dead

Haunt

Invincible

The Walking Dead

I have an idea for a TV show about a helicopter with these really big testicles that hang down which it uses to bonk people on the head. It’s kind of like Airwolf meets Boogie Nights. It’s called Ballscopter. The next time you see Frank Darabont can you just pass this idea along to him? Y’know, see if he’s into it.

TONY MOORE

The Walking Dead is probably one of the best comics series in the last ten years. Please explain to the readers how you go about making a comic that doesn’t totally suck shit.

The Walking Dead

This is a previously unseen drawing by Cliff Rathburn. Thanks to Sina M. Grace for image assistance.

You and Robert Kirkman have been comic collaborators for quite a while. What are some comics that you guys have done together which will never become huge TV sensations?

Battle Pope

The Tick

Pope

I’ve collaborated a few times with other artists. It always starts off cool, but then I quickly become irritated and want to get the fuck away from the other guy as quickly as possible and then talk major shit about him on the internet. Which collaborations made you do this, too?

Did you have any creative input into the storyline of The Walking Dead comic? Or did Kirkman just hand you a script and say “Get to work, slave!”?

This book has a fuckload of awesome zombie violence, but were there things in TWD that you hated drawing? Like, did you ever wake up in the morning and think, “Shit! I gotta draw another four-page scene of some dude crying and talking about his feelings! Goddammit!”?

After all the success that the book has had are you pissed that you left it, or are you all like I don’t give a shit, I get paid anyway?

Charlie Adlard took over drawing TWD after you. Do you like what he’s done with the book?

If you were on a boat with Kirkman and Charlie Adlard and you and Adlard fell out of the boat and were drowning, who do you think Kirkman would save?

What comics are you working on now and when will they become TV shows?

Fear Agent

Flash Gordon

Buck Rogers

The Exterminators

X-Files

The Walking Dead

List the 250 biggest assholes in the comics industry and please write a paragraph or two explaining why.

Lowest Comic Denominator

Klassic Komix Klub

Tumbleweeds