Live Recap: Robert Kirkman & Skybound NYCC Show Floor Panel
ComicBook.com is live at the New York Comic Con event spread between the Javits Center, Madison [...]
ComicBook.com is live at the New York Comic Con event spread between the Javits Center, Madison Square Garden, and the Hammerstein Ball Room. The four-day event will cover topics from Nickelodeon to Netflix and everywhere in between with live panels, celebrity interviews, breaking news and more.
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*** 12:30 p.m. ET Robert Kirkman panel on the show floor ***
Kicking off the panel, the audience is introduced to the titles we'll be talking about. Brandon Thomas, writer of Horizon, is here to talk about the comic which just hit its third issue. Kirkman chimes in and says he thinks the comic is "great" and applauds how the human beings act horribly.
Thomas starts to discuss how much he appreciates the fan reception so far. The first big bad of Horizon has been introduced in issue #3 and he is excited to explore the future with him. Sean Mackiewicz, editor, also discusses his excitement about Horizon.
As a group, the four guests tease a big announcement coming at this convention.
Thomas gets back to Horizon and is hesitant to reveal and potential spoilers. "I feel like me and Juan are starting to understand each other," he says about writing the scripts and concludes by highlighting the Negan Kills variant cover.
Previewing issue #4, Thomas talks about crazy action sequences and chase scenes which will start there. Mackiewixz adds that there are "cool concepts."
The next topic is Outcast. Issue #21 was just released. The group jokes about Kyle kicking someone 21 times in the issue. The attention turns to the TV show which Kirkman says is "knee deep in production" for Season 2. He goes on to discuss how they are peeling back layers of characters and the possession of the story. "We're hitting the point in the series where we're putting people through the paces," he says.
The discussion begins to compare Outcast and The Walking Dead, with Kirkman explaining that you can kill a zombie and be done with it but a possession will stick around.
Next up is Max Landis' Green Valley. Mackiewicz points out that Skybound has been more secretive with this book than others. He credits that to Max's writing. It is a 9 issue run with the first issue publishing yesterday.
Finally, it's time to talk about The Walking Dead. They joke about revealing the major death from yesterday's issue #159. Kirkman explains the Whisperer War, going into detail about how this group wears zombie masks to blend in with the dead. "A few deaths along the way," Kirkman teases.
Now, the jokes about Gabriel's brutal death in #158 come out and Kirkman calls it an "extra sad death" before laughing about how no one knows he died.
"I'm already working on what happens after Whisperer War," Kirkman says. "We have this big event that's in a way leading to an even bigger event."
Kirkman calls the Whisperer War, "really dense issues," as a result of the 16-panel grids but says it is worth the work because the readers are happy. "It's great to get back to that place where it takes a long time to make an issue."
"It's a really great way to show how dense this fight actually is," the writer goes on.
Kirkman discusses the evolution of Negan in the comics and how he has turned into an anti-hero before concluding "there's a chance" that we see it on the TV show. The host jokes that they could kill Negan four episodes into Season 7 and put Dwight in charge of villainy but Kirkman shuts it down, saying, "We love Jeffrey Dean Morgan too much for that."
Wrapping up the panel, the panelists discuss they're busy schedules at New York Comic Con.
