Walking Dead Comic Book Covers To Die For

The Walking Dead comic book covers are the finest examples of how good cover art can sell a book. I was one of the lucky few that ordered issue #1 of the comic when it first came out. There wasn't much of a description as I remember; just your standard "humans surviving in a world of zombies" line. At the time there wasn't any zombie books really being published and the the big zombie revival hadn't hit the public yet. I was a huge fan of the genre and I seriously considered getting the issue. What finally convinced me to spend my hard earned money on the new series was the cover art. The worst thing about a good zombie movie is that it ends; this comic book series offered hope of an endless tale of survival in a terrible world.

The first issue finally came and it was everything that I dreamed it would be. From that point on I was a fan. None of the descriptions for future issues were really that descriptive, in fact, sometimes they just consisted of a single sentence. One thing always made me look forward to the next month and that was the amazing comic book cover art that appeared on every issue of The Walking Dead. It was compelling and always wanted to make me buy it just to see what happens next. Isn't that what makes a good comic book cover? Enjoy the lens.

For the sake of simplicity I'll go ahead and tell you who the cover artists are on the series so I won't have to keep repeating them over and over. Practically every one of The Walking Dead comic book covers were done by one of two artists.

Issues #1-24 by Tony Moore.

Virtually every cover starting with #25 was done by Charlie Adlard.

Above artwork courtesy of miss_millions / flickr.

The first issue that started it all. I love the look on Rick's face as he turns to face the oncoming hoard. He has a look of dogged determination and nothing was going to keep him from finding his family. (October 2003)

As a horse lover myself this issue really jumped out at me. You can really see just how nervous both Rick and the horse is as they pass unspeakable horrors. (November 2003)

I found this cover a little humorous, myself. The look Carl is giving is almost the exact same as Ricks while the wife is not as confident. The minute I saw this one, I wondered if that was a real pistol in Carl's holster. (December 2003)

I don't know what it is about winter scenes, but when they're done right they look incredible. I love the fact that you can actually see the breath of the living and not the dead. (February 2004)

Silhouettes can make an ordinary image so powerful; would this cover seem as compelling if we saw all kinds of detail in the subjects? I don't think so. At first you might think those are zombies in the background, but on closer inspection you realize that it's the rest of the group. (March 2004)

Wow! What can you really say about this cover other than you notice it quickly. I've actually seen a few of these issues with autographs by the creators on them - in red ink. They look really cool. I would love to hear the back-and-forth between the writer and the artist of this series on how they create such amazing comic book covers. (May 2004)

I had to really look at this cover art a minute before I understood it. Rick has no idea that a walker is sneaking up behind him, does he? The fact that the fly doesn't bother the zombie is even more disturbing. I guess they really don't feel anything. (June 2004)

One of the walking dead's strongest advantages is that they don't need sleep or rest. How can they even sleep when out in the open like that? I wonder if they took some kind of pill to help them. I'd be awake at every little shuffle or scrape. It probably would have been a good idea to put up some kind of warning system (bell on a string, etc.). (August 2004)

If I'm not mistaken this is one of the few times I've ever seen the sunlight blown out like this. It's a good look that any human coming out of a dark room into daylight can relate to. It's also used effectively on the first episode of the TV show. I love the fact that the walking dead books don't try to sugar coat the violence that exists in their world. (October 2004)

A beautiful iconic shot that wants to make you feel that our heroes are safe - for now. (February 2005)

The minute I saw this, I knew I had to get it. So many questions were popping into my head. Are they friends? Did the woman find them like this and added the chains or remove the arms and lower jaws before putting on the chains? Are they for hiding her human scent from other zombies? (May 2005)

There is no other cover in the series that conveys complete loneliness more than this one. I often wonder if she can hear the moans of the dead outside. (June 2005)

You can just tell that someone has plans to kick some butt. Planning on doing something and actually getting it done can sometimes prove to be quite difficult, of course. (January 2006)

You can just see that little Carl is very quickly becoming a man from this artwork. Determination exudes from both mother and child while facing their enemy. (January 2007)

A very powerful vision of love in terrible times. Rick's missing hand is hard to miss and adds to the cover greatly as does the black background. (May 2007)

Man, this is a powerful piece of artwork to me. Imagine having the steel to get that close to a walker and looking it straight in the eyes. I wonder if he knew her. (August 2007)

This cover art made me think, "The zombies don't need help in killing all the humans, do they?" (February 2008)

One thing I can say about this series is that the writer and artist aren't afraid to make the kids grow up fast. Walking Dead comic book covers such as this should be shown to kids as a learning aid. (June 2008)

The readers finally get to see what the major cities look like. (January 2010)

I want to know exactly what happened to this zombie to make it look like it does after seeing this cover art. That's why I buy the issue. (August 2011)

I love large collections like this. You usually have two types. One is quality all the way: oversized art, premium paper, etc. The other (which is what this one is) is a decent collection of a whole lot of issues for a decent price.

Michonne is one bad-a$$ character. I hope the TV show has her on there at some point. (December 2011)

Notice all of the white space at the top of the comic. This reinforces the title perfectly in my opinion.

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