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'Walking Dead' Comics — Source of Multibillion-Dollar Franchise — Ends With Surprise FinaleOften described as "the zombie movie that never ends," The Walking Dead has has finally defied its core premise by… well, ending. The Image Comics and Skybound Entertainment comic book series, first published in 2003, has reached its conclusion, in a fashion that mirrors the ways in which main characters were regularly killed off: with no warning at all.
Creator Robert Kirkman and artist Charlie Adlard concluded the industry-changing comic book series with Wednesday's The Walking Dead #193, an extra-sized edition that plays out as a sprawling epilogue to Rick Grimes' story. The series finale comes just shy of a landmark 200th issue; what's more, the ending has arrived without any advance warning, to the point that Kirkman and Skybound solicited several subsequent issues with cover art from Adlard. Those covers and solicitations were created to preserve the secret behind the series finale, according to Kirkman himself.
Even with the surprise demise of the comic book, The Walking Dead franchise continues onward. The flagship AMC series launches its 10th season in the fall, with series leads Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride still along for the ride, even as Danai Gurira's Michonne plans to exit in the season ahead. Fear the Walking Dead is currently in the midst of its fifth season. Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes will fight again in a series of movies for AMC, written by Scott M. Gimple. A third Walking Dead series has been announced, focusing on a young generation of survivors in the apocalypse, with filming set to begin this summer.
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