The Walking Dead
has killed off its fair share of characters over the years, with the brutal death of Glenn at the hands of Negan being one of the most memorable and bloody events in the comic’s almost 200-issue run. Being the one responsible for all the death and dismemberment that takes place on the page, The Walking Dead’s creator, Robert Kirkman, has revealed that despite all the harrowing situations he puts his characters through, their deaths affect him almost as much as if they were real people.
Premiering in 2003 and ending 193 issues later in 2019, The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard, reinvigorated the zombie genre, with its AMC-produced television series catapulting Rick Grimes and his fellow survivors into the pop culture stratosphere.
Introducing nearly as many characters as he kills off, series creator Robert Kirkman, in the “Letter Hacks” section of The Walking Dead Deluxe #110, admits that all this death isn’t always easy to deal with, as the killing of Walking Dead alums — specifically the death of Glenn — has left a lasting impact on the writer in unmistakable ways.
Robert Kirkman Doesn’t Regret Killing Characters, but It Still Affects Him Deeply
The Walking Dead Deluxe #110 – 2025 (Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and Dave McCaig)
Asked by a fan how much of an “emotional hit” Kirkman takes after someone dies and if he can “detach” himself from the event, considering it was all in service to Walking Dead’s overall narrative, Kirkman candidly answers that it’s downright “upsetting” to kill a character who he’s grown attached to. Making sure to clarify that “it’s not like a real person dying” but that it still “sucks,” Kirkman elaborates that Walking Dead deaths don’t hit him until he’s writing issues that the deceased character isn’t in, using the unexpected death of long-time Walking Dead character, Glenn, as an example.
“It’s upsetting. I mean, it’s not like a real person dying… but it sucks. It doesn’t really hit me until I’m writing issues they’re not in. From time to time I think about something to do with Glenn and I’m like, ‘Well, damn it.'”
Saying, “From time to time I think about something to do with Glenn and I’m like, ‘Well, damn it,’” Kirkman succinctly describes the empty feeling of never being able to revisit a character he’s already killed, losses which still cut him deeply today despite them being works of self-made fiction. Murdered by Negan in The Walking Dead #100 via a barbed wire-wrapped bat named Lucille to the head, Glenn’s death took everyone off-guard, further setting the precedent that no one was safe in this post-apocalyptic world while showing what lengths Kirkman would go to tell a tragically compelling zombie story.
The Walking Dead Has Killed off Many Characters to Service Its Brutal Zombie Narrative
Only a Handful of Them Made It Out Alive by the Comic’s End
Far from being the first or last character to have their life cut short in Walking Dead’s brutal comic book universe, Glenn dying was a perfect storm of violence, surprise, and emotional impact, and acted as a meaningful storytelling development that many other deaths simply don’t affect. Sunsetting dozens of different characters throughout the series — like Shane, Hershel, Tyreese, Lori, Ezekiel, Abraham, Dale, and Father Gabriel, to name a few — Kirkman was never shy when it came to shaking up the status quo, especially if it meant killing off people in service of better stories and more engrossing character-defining moments.
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To prove how much character deaths affect Kirkman, when staple Walking Dead hero Andrea died in 2017’s The Walking Dead #167, Kirkman dedicated a full-page letter to her passing, writing a eulogy that began with the words “I’m sorry.” Emphasizing how Andrea’s death felt like he had just “killed a close friend,” Kirkman continues by saying, “deaths in this series are never taken lightly,” and that he didn’t necessarily want to kill Andrea but knew it was something that needed to happen for the story to thrive — a testament to what these characters meant to Kirkman even in death.
No One Is Safe From Death in Walking Dead Continuity, Including Its Main Protagonist
Rick Grimes Died in The Walking Dead #192
But perhaps the only other comic character next to Glenn and Andrea who might have messed Kirkman up even more was the shocking death of Walking Dead’s main protagonist, Rick Grimes. Almost lasting until the series finale, the death of Rick was another necessary tragedy that helped pass the torch to Carl and the new world Rick had created. And while each of these deaths hit Robert Kirkman differently, The Walking Dead makes no apologies for the brutality in which it flourishes, ensuring that every demise is a shocking, emotional, and terrifying moment regardless of who bit the big one.
The Walking Dead Deluxe #110 is available from Image Comics.
The Walking Dead
- Upcoming TV Shows
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More Tales from the Walking Dead Universe
- First Episode Air Date
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October 31, 2010
Summary
The Walking Dead is 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 series The Walking Dead in 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.
