Warning! Spoilers for The Walking Dead comic book below!
One of the most shocking comic moments over the last decade is when Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead, surprisingly ended the series without any prior warning. Now, in a new interview, Kirkman admitted that ending the series prematurely could accurately be described as "the greatest trolling ever," but said it ended up being a great gift for the fanbase.
The Walking Dead comic by Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard spawned one of the biggest franchises in the world, as the Image Comics series has been adapted into live-action series on AMC Television, with multiple spinoffs, video games, and novels. The television series is currently in its 10th season and will conclude after its 11th in 2022. In 2019, after 193 issues, The Walking Dead comic book came to a shocking end without any previous indication it was going to conclude. Kirkman even set up fake solicits for issues #194 and #195 to keep readers off the scent of the book's true end date.
In an interview with Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin on the "Fatman Beyond" podcast, Kirkman discussed the decision to not tell readers about the series ending when it did. He said that calling it a great bit of trolling would "be accurate, and I do enjoy that to an extent," but added that concluding the book without warning was the best thing he could have given fans. He said that by not revealing the series was ending, it allowed The Walking Dead to avoid "a year of bulls**t," and the endless speculation that would have come with it. Kirkman said, "I think [revealing the end date] completely ruins it... or at least tempers the way you experience it."
Kirkman is right on the money about the potential volatility surrounding fan reaction had he revealed the date ahead of time. Part of what made The Walking Dead's comic ending so good was that there was no expectation it was happening. So, as the comic reached its surprise conclusion, readers were forced to deal with it head-on. For a series that's run hundreds of issues, it was best to avoid prolonging it and setting up readers to be disappointed since their ending that they would have speculated on would never fit the actual ending.
The Walking Dead is one of the greatest modern comics ever. It also (as Kirkman mentioned in the interview) was the story he wanted to tell with no interference - which is a rarity in any pop culture media. Sure, ending things abruptly might have left a sour taste in fans' mouths who were disappointed at the time, but the decision turned out to be the perfect cap to an iconic run for The Walking Dead.
Source: CBR