Menurut pengumuman oleh Image Comics melalui laman Bleeding Cool baru-baru ini, komik THE WALKING DEAD akan berakhir secara mendadak minggu ini dengan penerbitan isu #193 nukilan penulis tersohor Robert Kirkman dan artis legenda Charlie Adlard.
Bleeding Cool melaporkan bahawa komik 71-muka surat The Walking Dead #193 adalah isu terakhir untuk siri komik berumur 15 tahun ini – walaupun isu #194 dan #195 telah pun diumumkan untuk bulan Ogos dan September 2019 melalui majalah PREVIEWS oleh Diamond Comics Distributors sebelum ini.
Selepas pengumuman isu terakhir ini dibuat oleh Image Comics, komik The Walking Dead #194 dan #195 yang diumumkan untuk bulan Ogos dan September telah pun dibatalkan oleh Diamond Comic Distributors.
“I’m upset, too. I’m going to miss it as much as you will, if not more so. It breaks my heart that I had to end it. and we have to move on but I just love this world too much to stretch things out until it doesn’t live up to what I want it to be.
I hope you understand.
I hope you. dear reader, know how much I appreciate the gift you have given me. I got to tell my story exactly how I wanted to, for 193 issues, and end it on my terms, with no interference at all along the way… at any point. That’s such a rare thing, and it doesn’t exist without the unyielding support this series got from readers like you.
Thank you so much.”
Robert Kirkman, Tentang Pengakhiran THE WALKING DEAD Dengan Isu #193
Penerbit Image Comics, Eric Stephenson mengesahkan pengumuman berita ini dengan membuat penyataan tersebut:
“For a monthly comic book to progress and change the way The Walking Dead has is completely unique, and what’s more impressive is that it has done so for its entire 193-issue run without relaunching or rebooting.
Robert Kirkman has told one story and told it well for over 15 years, and while most comics are based on the illusion of change, The Walking Dead has happened in real time – characters have ages from children to adults, they’ve lost limbs, they’ve lost eyes, they’ve lost family members and friends, they’ve died.
Not ‘died’ in the nudge, nudge; wink, wink way that Superman, Captain America, and Wolverine ‘died,’ but in as real a manner as can happen in a fictional story.
The series is concluding with the same finality and while that will no doubt be disappointing for some, in the big scheme of things, it’s a remarkable achievement for Robert and his collaborators.”
Eric Stephenson, Penerbit Image Comics.
Pengumuman ini mengejutkan ramai peminat tegar The Walking Dead kerana pelan asal pencipta Robert Kirkman adalah untuk menulis siri komik ini sehingga isu #200. 48 jam selepas pengumuman pengakhiran The Walking Dead #193 menular di laman media sosial, Robert Kirkman dan Eric Stephenson menjawab pelbagai persoalan yang dimiliki oleh peminat tegar siri komik zombi yang popular ini.
“As I worked to come up with ways to expand the story, none of it felt right.
Everything felt like an unnecessary detour… it was, for lack of a better word, filler. The harder I tried to come up with new places to go, the clearer it was to me that this is what this story needed… it needed to end.
I’ll say it again, I love (loved… oh, god, I’m not ready for past tense) writing this series. I really don’t want it to end. In fact, I’ve been… kind of unsettled since I wrote the script for this issue. The whole thing just feels… weird.
In a way, killing this series has been a lot like killing a major character. Much, much harder… but the same feeling.
I don’t want to do it. I’d rather keep going… but the story is telling me what it wants and what it needs. This needs to happen. Whether I want it or not.”
Robert Kirkman, Tentang Pengakhiran THE WALKING DEAD Dengan Isu #193
Eric Stephenson juga menyentuh tentang komitmen yang dibawa oleh kumpulan kreatif Kirkman dan Adlard selama 15 tahun berturut-turut untuk mencipta suatu karaya asal berterusan yang sememangnya unik di dalam industri komik USA zaman sekarang:
“The Walking Dead has always been full of twists, but one thing that has never been surprising is Robert Kirkman’s absolute commitment to telling the best story he could on his own terms.
Other comic books traffic in the illusion of change, but Robert and his collaborators embraced actual change, so it’s only fitting that The Walking Dead end by confronting the biggest change of all—a resolution to the story Robert began over 15 years ago.
It’s testament not only to Robert’s and Charlie’s abilities that The Walking Dead #193 is such a fitting farewell, but also to the possibilities available to anyone in the creative community when they are allowed to tell stories the way they want.”
Eric Stephenson, Penerbit Image Comics
Siri komik ini adalah tunjang utama kepada francais berbilion ringgit yang telah diadaptasikan menjadi lima siri TV dan terjual sebanyak 50 juta isu komik di 60 negara di seluruh dunia. Komik The Walking Dead #193 di pasaran sejak 3 Julai 2019. Kesemua isu percetakan pertama kini sudah habis dijual di The Last Comic Shop – Malaysia, namun percetakan kedua isu #193 bakal distok kembali pada bulan hadapan.
Dapatkan pencetakan kedua komik ini bulan hadapan dengan membuat pra-tempahan anda di The Last Comic Shop – Malaysia!
