Interview (Written): Robert Kirkman (“The Walking Dead”)
A Rolling Stone interview with Robert Kirkman, comic-book writer and creator/executive producer of The Walking Dead.
When did the idea that dead might rise and walk among us come across your radar?
I wasn’t allowed to see horror movies as a kid — my parents would rent them and watch them in the basement, and I’d hide behind the couch and sneak peeks. So there was always a fascination with them. One night, after I’d moved out of my parents’ house, there was some local Fox affiliate that happened to be showing Night of the Living Dead. I remember thinking, “This is crazy. There are people trapped in this house and zombies are trying to get in.” Then I’d heard George Romero had made sequels; I bought them and must have watched them every night for months.
Have you ever talked to George Romero about this? Or compared zombie notes?
I would love to do that. I watched him go into a bathroom at Comic-Con one time, when Walking Dead was still [just] a comic, and I thought: Should I be that guy and try to talk to George Romero? I waited for a bit for him to come out, then I had to go do a panel or something. I don’t know if he even likes the show. I took this thing he developed and turned it into a goofy soap opera, so … I’m a firm believer that, you know, Stephanie Meyer is to Bram Stoker as Robert Kirkman is to George Romero [laughs].
Why do you think a zombie show hit such a nerve with mainstream culture?
It’s the global economic crisis, income inequality, the post-9/11 world. Everyone is scared shitless. It’s not the worst time ever to be alive, but you know, it’s tough out there. I feel like if you worry everyday about the world around you and then you go home and watch a guy get chased by zombies — it’s like, well, could be a lot worse. Listen, if I could wave a magic wand and make the world a better place and make Walking Dead less successful, I would wave it without hesitation. I feel like I’m a misery profiteer sometimes.
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