…The Dead Will Seek A Cut: Tony Moore Sues Robert Kirkman Over The Walking Dead

UPDATE, 2/11/2012, 12:30ish: Robert Kirkman’s calling the lawsuit bullshit (Well, he said, “ridiculous,” but my word’s better), saying that his contract with Moore gives Moore 60 percent of the net on The Walking Dead comics and 20 percent of the net on the TV show, and that Moore’s been paid accordingly. Now, as you can see in the conversation in the comments, generally a percentage of the net in Hollywood usually falls somewhere between jack and shit, but it, and Kirkman’s assertion that both he and Moore had lawyers when they made the deal, clarifies the situation a little bit. (Update via Comic Book Resources)

There are reasons why my default answer to nearly any question is: “I’m not answering any Goddamned questions without my lawyer here,” and here is a prime example:

Robert Kirkman, the famed comic book writer who helped create AMC’s hit zombie series The Walking Dead, has been sued by a childhood friend and collaborator who claims he is entitled to as much as half the proceeds from the lucrative franchise.

If you’re only a fan of the AMC Walking Dead television show and not as familiar with the comic, I won’t even tell you to fuck off to some other comics Web site, but I will acknowledge that you might be responding to this news with a resounding, “…who?”

Tony Moore was a longtime collaborator of Kirkman’s, doing art on early Kirkman-written indie comics like Battle Pope and Brit. Moore also did the art on the first six issues of The Walking Dead before being replaced by still-current artist Charlie Adlard, and Moore continued to do Walking Dead covers for another 18 issues before leaving completely to work on books for Vertigo and Marvel. Kirkman has implied that Moore went off the book because he was late… now I’m inferring that Moore’s position is that he was “late” because Kirkman fucked him without contraception.

The Walking Dead Experiences “Growing Pains”

If you were a fan of The Shining‘s trailer recut as if for a romantic comedy, then you’ll enjoy this mash-up of The Walking Dead‘s Season 2.5 credits and the theme to Growing Pains.

As the user who uploaded it to You Tube, mastadroo wrote:

Zombies, laughter, and love. Heartwarming.

Indeed.

via Comics Alliance

Recommended Daily Allowance of Carnage

Man, what a busy week. It’s the end of the busiest season for Amanda and me at our respective day jobs, which sadly are not in the comics industry… but then again, that should be obvious considering that we still have jobs.

But as kicked as our respective asses are, we can finally relax for a single evening, because it is Wednesday, which means that this…

…is the end of our (admittedly meager) broadcast day.

But it’s only an evening of rest, because there’s just too much good shit in there to try to review this week: check out that new story about the unkillable, walking dead: Carnage USA! We also have a zombie story to read!

There’s also a new Battle Scars, a J. H. Williams’ Batwoman, the latest New Avengers, and Palmiotti’s and Gray’s The Ray #1!

All of which means that this is gonna be a busy week trying to review it all… but first we need to read some of it. So see you tomorrow, suckers!

Walking Into View, or: Boom! Headshot!

Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead comic book, has stepped up in the world. At our first SDCC in 2006, when Kirkman also hosted his first Spotlight panel, he told us in the crowd that he’d brought a deck of cards to play Solitaire in case no one showed up. I may also have seen a copy of Hustler and a sock stuck under the table, but that was a long time ago and it’s safe to say I was hung over at the time. Because God knows I’m hung over now.

Anyway, that was five and a half years ago. Now, Kirkman’s the writer and Executive Producer of The Walking Dead TV show – the biggest hit in the history of cable TV – with all the perks that entails. Big house? Sure… although the poor fucker lives in Kentucky, where you can live like a coke dealing hip hop star for about $12.75 American. Bling? Yeah, if he wanted it, but I’m guessing the poor man gets enough attention from Bear… enthusiasts as it is. Bitches? Well… kinda.

I say “kinda” because Kirkman’s gonna be a guest on The View later this morning.

Meet The New Boss…

So after a long morning complaining that money ruins comics…

…we must end our broadcast day with a pile of comics released today that prove that paid comics on proven properties can, in fact, pique the interest.

Just look at this take! We’ve got Astonishing X-Men with Art Adams art (Not a palindrome, no matter what Mr. Adams would like you to believe), Wolverine and the X-Men, new Walking Dead, Green Wake (Which, despite the fact that you just heard about it, you should be reading), Brian Azzarello’s and Eduardo Rizzo’s Spaceman, and a ton of other good shit that we will try like hell to read and review for you!

In the meantime, it’s beer o’clock, which means: see you tomorrow, suckers!

George Romero Only Likes Some Of The Zombies, Some Of The Time

According to recent tweets by CNN GeekOut! and Newsarama, last night’s season two premiere of The Walking Dead was watched by over 7 million viewers. Huge numbers! Wow, who didn’t see it last night? Well, me – but I had an excuse. I was catching up on Red while the DVR was recording The Walking Dead. Insert your “geriatric killers are kind of like zombies” joke here.

But, you know who also didn’t watch The Walking Dead last night?

George Romero.

Yup, the father of modern zombie horror as we know it is not a fan of The Walking Dead.

Right There On The Shelf: The Walking Dead #89 Review

EDITOR’S NOTE: This review may contain spoilers. Such as the fact that zombies have taken over the world. Tread lightly.

There’s been a lot of handwringing in the comics / zombie community (Which is a small community, but they throw great parties… except at the end your dick rots off. And not because of the zombie thing. But I digress.) about how AMC fired The Walking Dead showrunner Frank Darabont – about a week after he hyped season two at SDCC, no less – and how that and threatened budget cuts meant that the The Walking Dead was doomed.

And as someone who watched that show from the first episode and who bought season one on Blu-Ray the day it came out, allow me to go on record to say: who gives a shit?

Sure, the show is fun, and anything that puts comic stories in front of Joe Blow can only be good for the industry (Ghost Rider movies excepted), but the show was only ever second fiddle to Robert Kirkman’s original comic book. And if you’ve ever seen the show and you haven’t checked out the comic book? Well, that’s stupid. And you’re stupid for not doing it.