Image Comics and Skybound Entertainment have unveiled some covers for the upcoming event Skybound X, which includes a cover featuring the "future" version of Rick Grimes battling against Negan. Skybound X is a five-issue event that will be expanding The Walking Dead universe as well as other series from Image and Skybound. Every oversized issue will have a chapter of “Rick Grimes 2000,” which features Rick Grimes from the future, a version that first appeared in a story within The Walking Dead #75. That version, which saw Rick Grimes don a superhero costume and fight aliens, was part of an alternate gag ending in the issue.
Skybound X promises to unveil more fan-favorite characters and introduce newcomers like Everyday Hero Machine Boy and Sea Serpent’s Heir to the universe in each issue. Clementine from The Walking Dead by Telltale Games will be making her comic book debut in Skybound X. New stories from the series Assassin Nation, Excellence, Ultramega, and Manifest Destiny are also featured in Skybound X. The talented list of creators involved includes Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, Tillie Walden, Donny Cates, Joshua Williamson, Chip Zdarsky, James Harren, and Daniel Warren Johnson.
The new covers unveiled by Skybound Entertainment, along with a few interior pages in The Walking Dead's classic black-and-white style, are posted below. The main cover for Skybound X #2 by Cliff Rathburn shows us more of “Rick Grimes 2000” with Rick suited up. The main cover for Skybound X #4 by Charlie Adlard will definitely get people talking, featuring Rick in costume fighting against Negan, who is sporting a glowing red version of his barbed bat Lucille. The last cover revealed was the variant cover for Skybound X #5 by Chris Schweizer, which shows The Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton.
Starting on July 7, 2021, the first issue of Skybound X will have five covers and feature stories by Robert Kirkman, Tillie Walden, James Harren, and Chris Dingess with artwork by Tillie Walden, James Harren, and Matthew Roberts. The next issue, releasing on July 14, 2021, includes stories by Kirkman, Chip Zdarsky, Joshua Williamson, Irma Kniivila, and Tri Vuong along with art by Ryan Ottley, Ramon K. Perez, Andrei Bressan, Vuong, and Kniivila. Skybound X #3, which comes out on July 21, 2021, features the writing talents of Kirkman, Daniel Warren Johnson, and Kyle Starks complemented by artists Ottley, Daniel Warren Johnson, Erica Henderson, and Cory Walker. The fourth issue has stories written by Kirkman, Donny Cates, Brandon Thomas, and Mairghread Scott with art by Ottley, Lisandro Estherren, Khary Randolph, Pablo Tunica. Finally, Skybound #5 closes out the event on August 4, 2021, with the tag-team writers Kirkman and Sean Mackiewicz alongside artists Ottley and Niko Walter. The wide array of talented writers and artists in this event is amazing, with Robert Kirkman as the only writer connecting every issue.
The first issue of Skybound X will be a whopping 52 pages with each following issue set at 44 pages. The series feels like a mix between an Elseworlds experiment and a genuine look at the future of Image Comics and Skybound Entertainment's properties. It will be interesting to see the fan reaction to the book since it heavily features the future version of Rick Grimes, which didn't receive the warmest of welcomes when he was introduced back in The Walking Dead #75 as part of a joke. Now that it's taking center stage in this event, will people be changing their tune and clamoring for a true ongoing series with the adventures of a costumed Rick Grimes at the helm? Only time will tell what Skybound X will bring to the table of not only non-canon Walking Dead stories but the Image Comics/Skyound Entertainment Universe as a whole. It's truly a celebration through time itself for the company.