The Walking Dead Creator Dislikes “Lame” Term for Zombies

“Have you not experienced a herd, yet?” That’s the question asked of Rick Grimes’ group of survivors in The Walking Dead #53, where they meet Sergeant Abraham Ford and companions Rosita Espinosa and “Doctor” Eugene Porter. A purported scientist on a mission from Houston, Texas, to Washington, D.C., with information about the cause of the zombie apocalypse, Eugene claims to know “exactly what caused the dead to start walking.” In The Walking Dead #54, Abraham warns Rick’s group about a “herd” of the dead — what Rick’s people call “roamers” — and explains the terminology: 

Most of them can’t walk a straight line and are as dumb as a post — they’ll lose interest or walk off in the wrong damn direction. But sometimes… not every time… one will walk by another one — and that one will get up and follow. Then they’ll meet more and they’ll meet more, and more and more and more. You see where I’m going? They’ll form a big group — and sometimes these groups will encounter another group — and they’ll merge. What you end up with is hundreds of these undead f***s — walking, nonstop, following a sound they’ve all forgotten. They’re walking because everyone else is walking, and everyone else is walking. Because they’re walking. They’re stupid as f***. But these f***ing massive groups of roaming zombies, did you call them roamers? That’s cool. These f***ing groups are called herds. At least — that’s what we call them. They’re bad f***ing news.

In the Cutting Room Floor with Robert Kirkman bonus feature in The Walking Dead Deluxe #54, on sale now, Kirkman breaks down “the birth of the ‘herd’ terminology, frequently used in this series and the TV show.”

“Fun fact… in hindsight, ‘herd’ makes me think of cows, which, well… isn’t very threatening,” Kirkman writes. “So, I very quickly came to dislike the term. It just started sounding… LAME to me pretty quickly. To be honest, I shudder a bit when I hear it or read it.”

Kirkman continues, “The main reason for that is that almost IMMEDIATELY after it started appearing in print, I realized ‘HORDE’ would have been a MUCH better name. Ugh.” Kirkman notes that when introducing a later community near the end of the comic book, “I had them refer to herds as hordes, so I kind of fixed it… but not really. Herds. Sigh.”

The Walking Dead Deluxe #55 goes on sale January 18th from Image Comics. Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD and follow @NewsOfTheDead for more TWD Universe coverage.