Unconfirmed rumor has it that this Sunday’s season finale of AMC’s The Walking Dead will reveal the first glimpse of the TWD comic’s ultimate zombie-slaying character, Michonne. This is the moment every Walking Dead fan has been waiting for and multitudes of fingers are crossed hoping it happens.
But one Michonne related rumor that is definitely true, is that the April issue of Playboy, that hits newsstands this Friday, will have a six-page Walking Dead story unveiling the untold origin of the badass-babe with the samurai-sword. This new chapter is written by TWD creator Robert Kirkman with art by Charlie Adlard.
The printing of a relatively mainstream comic story on the pages of Playboy strikes me as a first and I think finally proves that comics, as well as their primary audience, have grown up. Although I’m sure some will say that reading Playboy is NOT a sign of maturity. Didn’t Fredric Wertham warn us about this? One thing is for sure, this Friday the clerks at the 7/11 are never going to know what hit them.
It’s always nice to see comics getting additional exposure (no pun intended!), but I’m not sure if I’m on board with this move by Kirkman. I just don’t know if Playboy is a good place to be featured. The content of the story might require it to be published in a mature setting, which is understandable. But at the same time it feels a little like trading one ghetto for another.
That’s not to mention the blatant cash grab this appears to be, seeing as how Kirkman had previously said he wasn’t interested in doing flashbacks or spin-offs of the series. And fans are going to have to pay $6 for six pages of a comic? The entire first TPB only costs $10.
It’s always nice to see comics getting additional exposure (no pun intended!), but I’m not sure if I’m on board with this move by Kirkman. I just don’t know if Playboy is a good place to be featured. The content of the story might require it to be published in a mature setting, which is understandable. But at the same time it feels a little like trading one ghetto for another.
That’s not to mention the blatant cash grab this appears to be, seeing as how Kirkman had previously said he wasn’t interested in doing flashbacks or spin-offs of the series. And fans are going to have to pay $6 for six pages of a comic? The entire first TPB only costs $10.