The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman announces sequel comic: “Negan Lives”

Robert Kirkman, the creator or The Walking Dead comic book on which AMC based its wildly popular show, has returned that his series will return for one final bow with a special one-issue sequel comic titled Negan Lives, which will to tell the story of what exactly happened to the barbed wire baseball bat-wielding villain Negan at the end of the main series.

The oversized 36-page comic comes from Skybound Entertainment and Image Comics and is set to release on July 1, but will be a comic store exclusive. That means it will be unavailable as a digital edition. Main Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard is returning to illustrate this one-shot.

“I’ve been inspired by Steve Geppi and Diamond’s efforts to shine a light on how essential the Direct Market is to our beloved industry with their #backthecomeback campaign,” Kirkman explained. “While Charlie Adlard and I had laid the series to rest, this felt like something special we could do for the store owners who made our series a success to begin with. To that end, I’m happy to report that 100% of the revenue generated from this book will go to the stores selling it. The retailer community does backbreaking work to get comics into the hands of our loving fans, we should all be doing more in these trying times to show them how appreciated they are.”

If a sequel comic was ever in the pipeline, it was always going to follow Negan. We’ve already had one successful Negan spinoff series titled Here’s Negan in 2016. While Kirkman never confirmed that he was working on this new book, he loves to tease fans, even if it doesn’t always go as planned. At the end of Issue 193, which was the final issue of the original series, Kirkman left an author’s note on the last page, explaining to fans that the series had ended and thanking all who had helped him make the comic what it is today. However, on the final line of that page, he also wrote, “P.S. Negan Lives.” And now he does.

Kirkman also teased a Negan follow-up while speaking on a panel at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019. “Negan is alive … I think that’s a cool tidbit. He’s still out there, theoretically living in that farmhouse. There might be a story to be told there. It’s possible that’s my escape hatch if my career takes a nose dive when I’m 42. The joke is I’m very nearly 42.”

When we last saw Negan in The Walking Dead comic, he was ready to die. Maggie had the opportunity to kill him once and for all but decided not to, believing that if she did kill him, she would be giving him what he wanted. She decides to let him live with what he’s done. In his final page, Negan destroys his baseball bad Lucille in a fire.

Where will Negan go next? We’ll have to visit our local comic stores on July 1 to find out!

But if you’re going to do it, take precautions, including masks and gloves and such. The coronavirus is still out there.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels

h/t The Hollywood Reporter