Oh my darling
Have you ever played a zombie game where you choose between treating others with humanity or becoming as monstrous as the undead cannibals that are threatening to eat you all? Me too. It’s a pretty neat trope, and from the looks of things, people are yet to tire of it.
That said, the last time the cliche really hit home for me was with the story of Negan in The Walking Dead comics. Not to spoil it, but writer Robert Kirkman avoided going down the usual “death-or-redemption” fork in the road that villains usually face at the end of their stories. At least, that’s what I thought happened. As I discovered this week, Negan’s adventures aren’t over yet. Last week, Kirkman and his team surprised his sizable fan base with the release of a new comic called “Negan Lives”. Even more shockingly, they did it for free, in an effort to help struggling comic book stores stay afloat amid the COVID-19 crisis.
The biggest surprise of all came in the form the tease at the very last page; a two-word promise from Kirkman at the end of the letters column stating “P.S. Clementine Lives”. At first glance, that might not seem like a big deal, but when regular The Walking Dead comics ended in 2019, the letters pages ended with the words “P.S. Negan Lives”. It doesn’t take a crack reporter to deduce what it all means.
Skybound brought Clementine’s story back from the brink of becoming vaporware after Telltale collapsed in 2018, so it’s quite in-character for Kirkman and his studio to usher the to lead of their beloved game series into the spotlight yet again. The least expensive way for them to do that would be through another one-shot comic, though I also wouldn’t be surprised to see her join the cast of one or more of The Walking Dead TV shows when they finally return to the airwaves. Either way, it will be great to see the only universally liked character from this multi-media franchise return to the fold.
