The Walking Dead: The Real Reason Daryl Dixon Isn’t in the Comics

“Daryl in the comic series… is unlikely.” That’s what Robert Kirkman wrote in a 2012 issue of The Walking Dead when asked if Daryl Dixon — the crossbow-wielding fan-favorite played by Norman Reedus on the AMC television show — would ever appear in the Image comic book. Just one issue earlier, in The Walking Dead #98, Kirkman introduced a new character who also had a crossbow for his main weapon, also wore a sleeveless leather vest, and who also would eventually become Rick Grimes’ right-hand man: Dwight.

“Is he related to a certain someone in any way? Officially, no,” Kirkman writes in the Cutting Room Floor section of this week’s The Walking Dead Deluxe #98, which reprints the 2012 issue in color for the first time. “Since Daryl Dixon was created for the show, AMC owns Daryl outright. And since I still own TWD as a whole and actually compete with AMC on licensing, they were always very adamant that I could never do anything with Daryl in the comics. Since he was a licensing goldmine for them.”

“That’s why you never see Daryl in any of the various video games that are based on the comics, but he’s usually front and center in the games AMC makes… like Survival Instinct,” Kirkman continues, referring to the TV-based 2013 video game about the Reedus and Michael Rooker-voiced Dixon brothers. The poorly-received game served as a prequel to the first season of the television series, which introduced Daryl in a first season episode written by showrunner Frank Darabont and writers Jack LoGiudice and Charles H. Eglee.

While Daryl would never appear in the 193-issue run of The Walking Dead comic book, longtime series artist Charlie Adlard has drawn Daryl in his style, and The Walking Dead Deluxe cover artist David Finch featured a comic book version of Reedus’ Daryl (exclusively debuted by ComicBook) on the Skybound-published art book The Art of The Walking Dead Universe.

In 2018, Kirkman explained that “legal issues” and “likeness rights” prevented the AMC-owned character from making an appearance in the comics. “I would never have done it because it would feel wrong to bring the work of so many other people into the comic,” he wrote later in a 2023 issue of TWD Deluxe. “I never wanted the show to change the comic, since the comic is what made the show possible, and I worried it could turn into a snake eating its own tail.”

The Walking Dead Deluxe #98 is on sale now from Image Comics.