Robert Kirkman, author of The Walking Dead, joins us this week on io9's Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast to talk about zombies, comics, and AMC's The Walking Dead television series.


The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy is hosted by John Joseph Adams and David Barr Kirtley.


You can download the MP3 for this episode here, subscribe to The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast feed here, and browse other episodes here.

Read on for this episode's fabulous SHOW NOTES!

0:00 Introduction

0:25 Dave and John introduce the show

1:32 Old episodes of GGG to return on io9

Interview: Robert Kirkman

02:17 Interview begins

02:29 Why does The Walking Dead emphasize survival so much?

3:09 How much thought and research does Kirkman put into survivalism?

4:26 Don't use The Walking Dead as a manual for survival for medical school or during a real-life zombie apocalypse

4:45 The strained emotions of the characters in The Walking Dead

5:49 Taking refuge in a prison

7:18 Has Kirkman spent time in prison?

7:34 The origins and development process of The Walking Dead television series

8:54 Kirkman's involvement in the production of the TV show

10:00 Changes made to the The Walking Dead in its transition to television

11:20 Jumping the shark and Ryan Ottley's color story issue of The Walking Dead

14:06 Upcoming The Walking Dead novels

14:51 Kirkman's take on variations on the zombie myth

15:49 Will The Walking Dead see more supernatural elements in the future?

16:47 Kirkman's short story "Alone, Together" which appears in The Living Dead 2. Writing prose vs. comic books


18:34 How did Kirkman break into comic books?

19:13 Starting from the ground up and publishing his own comic book

20:45 Advice for aspiring comic book writers

21:48 The current state of the Comic Book industry

23:38 Does the Comic Book industry work hard enough to appeal to a younger audience?


24:37 Kirkman's other (non-The Walking Dead) projects: Invincible, The Astounding Wolf-Man and Haunt

26:43 Any upcoming projects for Kirkman?

28:00 Kirkman loves The Living Dead anthologies!

29:40 Think Kirkman's as grim as his stories in The Walking Dead? Think again. Humor writing


30:14 How would Kirkman fare during a zombie apocalypse?

31:03 End of interview

31:15 Ad Spot for Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey

Dave and John talk about Zombies!

32:21 what if Zombies invaded the set of Big Brother? Dead Set (TV Series)

38:02 Where do survivors get weapons during a zombie apocalypse?

39:26 When does Luke Skywalker gets a chance to use the loo?

40:33 Why do so many dumb people get stuck in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?

41:55 Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated

43:04 John and Dave's zombie panel and The Horde

43:46 Chainsaw Maid and Chainsaw Maid 2

44:19 Zombiefest 2008 in Pittsburgh

44:53 John and Dave discuss The Walking Dead television series on AMC

47:07 Does The Walking Dead rip off 28 Days Later? Or stay true to the roots on the sub-genre? Dave talks about The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham


49:08 Fast zombies or slow zombies?

49:51 Conveniently placed gun or zombie-in-waiting?

51:09 The uncompromising nature of The Walking Dead

51:50 Ad Spot for The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten by Harrison Geillor

52:34 Dave and John discuss episode 2 of The Walking Dead

53:06 How do zombies know who's human?

53:46 The "One Unreasonable Guy" syndrome

55:53 "Realistic" zombies?

56:31 Sex during the zombie apocalypse? Really?

57:38 Like the show? Haven't watched it? Either way, you should definitely check out the comic


58:14 The Walking Dead is John's favorite piece of zombie entertainment

58:54 Planning to pick up the comic now? Image is re-releasing the series in a weekly format!


59:39 Don't have AMC? Watch The Walking Dead through iTunes instead

1:00:33 Show wrap-up

Thanks for listening!


John Joseph Adams is an anthologist, a writer, and a geek. He is the bestselling editor of the anthologies By Blood We Live, Federations, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Living Dead (a World Fantasy Award finalist), Seeds of Change, andWastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse. His most recent books are The Living Dead 2 and The Way of the Wizard, and he is currently assembling several other anthologies, including Brave New Worlds and The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination. Barnes & Noble.com named him "the reigning king of the anthology world," and his books have been named to numerous best of the year lists. In addition to his anthology work, he worked for more than eight years as an editor at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction,and is currently the editor of Lightspeed Magazine and Fantasy Magazine.


David Barr Kirtley has published fiction in magazines such as Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, Lightspeed,Intergalactic Medicine Show, On Spec, and Cicada, and in anthologies such as New Voices in Science Fiction,Fantasy: The Best of the Year, and The Dragon Done It. Recently he's contributed stories to several of John's anthologies, including The Living Dead, The Living Dead 2, and The Way of the Wizard. He's attended numerous writing workshops, including Clarion, Odyssey, Viable Paradise, James Gunn's Center for the Study of Science Fiction, and Orson Scott Card's Writers Bootcamp, and he holds an MFA in screenwriting and fiction from the University of Southern California. He also teaches regularly at Alpha, a Pittsburgh-area science fiction workshop for young writers. He lives in New York.

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