Rick Grimes goes up against more than just a ravaged world filled with the undead in Rick Grimes 2000 - a sci-fi spin-off from The Walking Dead that follows the same characters in an even more extreme alternate reality. Now, Rick Grimes 2000 will be collected in a hardcover collection of the Skybound X series, a five-issue miniseries following Rick Grimes as he not only battles zombies, but also aliens. Originally a joke by its creator and helmed by the creative team behind Invincible, fans should be very excited for this stylish new collection. 

Rick Grimes 2000, which was originally published in five separate issues in sequence under Skybound X, was created by Robert Kirkman with art by Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn, and David McCaig. The story opens similarly to Rick’s origins in The Walking Dead, waking up in a hospital bed to find the world gone to hell. This time, however, Rick is met not just with zombie hordes but with alien invaders who are collecting people not yet infected with the zombie virus and turning them into super-soldier cyborgs for their own benefit. Rick, who has unknowingly received such enhancements, aligns himself with a freedom-fighting group to fight against the would-be alien overlords. 

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“The entire concept of Rick Grimes 2000 began as a gag many years ago,” says Kirkman in a press release from Image Comics, which shares the collection's cover art (below) ahead of release. “It’s been thrilling to take that and tell one of the wildest and most fun stories we’ve ever told.” Kirkman seemingly did not have high hopes for the success of Rick Grimes 2000, but he makes it clear that success wasn’t the main goal with this book, instead just a desire to take his characters and throw them into a whole new world of gruesome adventure. While the popularity of this spin-off may have initially been a shock, Kirkman is thankful to the fans for making it a reality, “I am so glad that our community has enjoyed this completely different take on the Rick Grimes character and can now collect every page of this zany, outlandish adventure.”

Rick Grimes 2000

The series stems out of a joke Kirkman told whenever asked about whether the series' premise was strong enough for its indefinite run, claiming that in The Walking Dead #75, he'd include an alien invasion just to keep things fresh. Rick Grimes 2000 pays off on that promise, even giving Rick the Walking Dead equivalent of a lightsaber, as seen in the hardcover collection's art.

Image and Skybound Comics are teaming up for the release of the hardcover collection of Rick Grimes 2000. The non-canonical Walking Dead spin-off is perfect for horror and sci-fi fans who love gratuitous violence, characters with cybernetic enhancements, and evil alien overlords with nothing good in store for humanity! The Walking Dead spin-off Rick Grimes 2000 will be available digitally and in comic shops June 1, with a wide release in bookstores June 7.

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Source: Image Comics