Walking Dead

Geek Punditry #179: Robert Kirkman is a Bastard (and Why That’s a Good Thing)

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A few months ago, I blogged about the goofy fan theories that certain TV shows aren’t really over when their last episode airs, that the studios might be holding back a “secret” final episode. This was – and is – an idiotic supposition, because the world of entertainment in the modern age is utterly averse to surprising their audience in any conceivable way. Movie trailers guard no secrets, casting announcements clue us in to what could have been surprise character reveals YEARS before a TV show is released…it’s irritating as hell. But this week gave me a nice reminder that there is, thankfully, one exception to that rule, and his name is Robert Kirkman. This week, Kirkman did something vile, insidious, and totally cruel to his fans…and we love him for it.

The face of Evil.

Here’s a crash course for anybody who doesn’t know the name. Robert Kirkman is a comic book writer who came to mainstream prominence when his two most successful comic books were made into television shows, those being the hit zombie series The Walking Dead and the animated superhero show Invincible. Kirkman has since blown up from being a mere writer to being a serious player in the entertainment world, with those two properties still making waves and lots of other things in the works. He still writes comics, but he also manages his own studio, Skybound Entertainment, which produces (through Image Comics) not only his own work, but works of other creators and a host of licensed comics as well. 

Kirkman is one of the few people left in the world of entertainment who actually seems to value surprising his audience, as he has done several times. When issue 193 of The Walking Dead comic book came out, fans were stunned to realize that – unannounced – it was an extra-length issue. We were even MORE surprised when we reached the end and found the announcement that it was the LAST issue. Unlike most comics (or TV shows, for that matter) that make a big deal out of their finale, announcing it well ahead of time to build up hype, Kirkman floored all of us by not telling us the biggest thing in comics was ending. He even had released fake solicitations and covers for issues 194 and 195, knowing perfectly well that those issues would never be published, just to throw us off the scent. It was a zombie story, after all, and just like in a zombie story anyone can die at any time, the same was true for the series. 

“Oboy, I hope this sets up another epic, long-lasting story arc for one of my favorite comic books.” –Me in 2019, about to get a shock

This wouldn’t be the last time Kirkman did something like this. In 2020, while everybody was having an existential crisis in the midst of the pandemic, Kirkman decided he was going to have a little fun. Without warning he dropped issue 17 of a comic book called Solid Blood. This was surprising for a few reasons. Not only was it totally unannounced, but the previous 16 issues of the series did not exist. This was a reimagining of the character who eventually became Michonne of The Walking Dead, played up as if she’d been in a science fiction series that had been running for a few years. It was weird and wild, and it came at a time when weird and wild was particularly appreciated.

In 2023, Kirkman pulled off perhaps his biggest surprise coup when he announced a new ongoing science fiction series called Void Rivals. Even though I hadn’t ordered it, when the first issue dropped the manager at my local comic shop (BSI Comics in Metairie, Louisiana, and they deserve the shout out) reserved one for me because he knew I’d want it when the big secret of the book became public, which is another reason it’s important to find a good comic shop with a great staff. Void Rivals was a sort of space opera, with two protagonists from warring races trying to overcome the biases of their respective cultures. Interesting, but nothing world-changing.

Until the last few pages, when the two of them suddenly stumbled upon an enormous robot with a very familiar red symbol on his chest: it was Jetfire the Autobot. It was a Transformer. And Void Rivals, the text at the end of the comic book announced, was actually the beginning of a new publishing initiative Kirkman was calling the Energon Universe. It was part of a shared universe with rebooted versions of the Transformers and G.I. Joe, both of which launched new ongoing comics within the next year. The three titles (and assorted miniseries and one-shots) share a universe, and although each can be read on their own, reading all of them paints a more satisfying, complete picture of the universe. This wasn’t the first time that Hasbro, the toy company that owns the two franchises, had attempted to create a shared universe among their properties, but it has by far been the most successful. The Energon titles have become a sales juggernaut and are driving people into comics shops who haven’t read comics in years, decades, or in some cases, EVER. And plans are in the works for an animated series based on this universe, which will presumably incorporate all three titles, and more.

Only a true imp would dream of this.

Yes, more, because Transformers and G.I. Joe are not the only two toy lines Hasbro owns, and speculation began running rampant about which other Hasbro properties could potentially become part of the Energon Universe. And Kirkman did what Kirkman does better than anybody: he lied. He told us that there were no plans to add any of the other Hasbro lines. But then some of the books, specifically G.I. Joe, began to incorporate characters from Hasbro’s M.A.S.K. series. This wasn’t a huge surprise – M.A.S.K. (although never AS popular as G.I. Joe or the Transformers) has a pretty large following, and there have even been efforts in the past to reboot the Mobile Armored Strike Kommand as a subgroup of the G.I. Joe team, so nobody was TOO shocked when it was announced that M.A.S.K. would join the Energon Universe in June as the fourth series.

Or “Muh-Muh-Muh-M.A.S.K.”, as it’s pronounced in the original French.

This Wednesday, M.A.S.K. #1 came out, and it took part in a current comic book practice that, frankly, I kinda hate. They released it “Blind Bagged,” in sealed plastic, so that you don’t know which cover of the book you’re getting until you open it up. I’m not a huge fan of variant covers in the first place, so I just asked the friendly folks at BSI to put aside the standard, non-bagged cover for me. Alas, do I kind of regret that now. Because the Blind Bags, in addition to having M.A.S.K. #1, ALSO have one of three randomly-inserted BONUS comics in them. Some comics come with an early printing of M.A.S.K. #2. No big deal – I can wait for that issue to come out, since I’ve already got it ordered. Others came with a one-off book called M.A.S.K. Origins, which apparently collects all of the M.A.S.K.-related scenes from the previous Energon titles, for those who like to keep score. Neat, but I’ve already read all of those books, so it’s not really necessary.

But the third book. Oh, the third book. Robert Kirkman, you magnificent son of a bitch.

The third book you might randomly pull in a blind bag is ROM #1.

People who grew up reading this comic are too old to be shocked this way, Kirkman.

ROM is – like G.I. Joe and the Transformers – a toy line that was fleshed out in the 80s by a Marvel comic book series. UNlike G.I. Joe and the Transformers, the ROM toy line kind of fell flat and ended rather quickly. The comic book, however, was a smash hit, outlasting the toys by several years and still being a favorite of a lot of readers today. Unlike M.A.S.K., there had been no indication that ROM would be added to the Energon Universe, making this issue the biggest surprise since Jetfire showed up in Void Rivals #1.

Now, this is not to say I’m thrilled about how this came about. Making the book a blind bag exclusive is certainly going to drive up sales – but odds are most comic shops are ALREADY sold out of these by the time you read this. Copies of the issue are going for $50 on eBay and, much as I would like it, I have absolutely no intention of buying it for that price. (And if my wife is reading this thinking about Father’s Day, I am begging her NOT to spend that much money on this particular book.) If you’re the sort of person who, like me, just wants to READ all of the books in the Energon Universe, it’s somewhat frustrating to know this one is floating out there somewhat out of reach. As of this writing, Kirkman hasn’t announced any plans to reprint the book for a wider audience (although one would think it’d be foolish not to), nor has he said if there will be further issues of ROM, although he says that the character’s story is going to continue in the pages of Void Rivals. 

I’m hoping that there WILL be SOME edition of this book that I can get at a reasonable price sooner rather than later.

But even if there isn’t, I find I have to admire Kirkman’s desire to use surprise to create an event. He could have told people ahead of time that ROM was coming back. He could even have teased that it would be found ONLY in Blind Bagged copies of M.A.S.K. #1. But doing it the way he did got people talking in a way that no other announcement could have done. 

So now the question is, what’s next for the Energon Universe? There are still plenty of other Hasbro properties that could potentially show up. Another less-remembered toy line, Visionaries, has had its home planet of Prysmos name-dropped in an Energon book – is that a hint that those characters may turn up next? How about the fan-favorite Micronauts (like ROM, a well-regarded series better remembered for its comic book than the toy line), or the U.K.’s G.I. Joe-equivalent Action Man, both of which were part of previous efforts at a Hasbro universe? Honestly, at this point ANY toy line owned by Hasbro feels like it could potentially show up, from Battle Beasts to Jem and the Holograms. (And the only reason I’m not including My Little Pony or Dungeons and Dragons as possibilities is because, at the moment, both of those are licensed to other comic book publishers.)

And it’s not like Energon is the only trick Kirkman has up his sleeve, either. He’s publishing a pair of Invincible spin-offs right now and has a new superhero comic book called Terminal dropping in a few months. What surprises could await us there? Furthermore, his Skybound Entertainment also publishes licensed comics with properties as diverse as Creepshow, LEGO, and the Universal Monsters, and at this point I don’t know what to expect next from ANY of them.

This is why I admire Kirkman. Not because he’s a good writer, although he is that. Not because he’s a good businessman, although he has proven himself quite adept there as well. But because he actually has cultivated an environment in which even someone like me, who reads most of the stuff he produces, can be surprised at ANY MOMENT. That’s exciting. That’s thrilling. That’s the sort of thing that’s got me wondering if I should call up BSI and tell them to put aside a Blind Bag of Terminal #1, if they’re going to do that this time.

Because I don’t know what’s coming next.

And in a world where every movie trailer gives away the whole plot and comic book publishers are announcing the aftermath of their major crossover events before the major crossover event even begins (lookin’ at YOU, Marvel, with your Avengers: Armageddon series), the idea that there’s SOMEBODY out there who finds value in keeping his audience on their toes is actually pretty joyful. 

Blake M. Petit is a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure series Other People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon. He’s also started putting his LitReel videos on TikTok. Seriously, Erin, get off eBay. $50 is too much. 

Geek Punditry #91: What Measure Horror?

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As part of my Pregaming for Scary Season, my wife suggested I watch the new movie Abigail. I’d heard mixed things, but between her recommendation and the fact that it was by the same writing and directing team responsible for the last two Scream movies (which I greatly enjoyed), I decided to give it a shot. I’m really glad I did. Abigail is about a group of crooks hired to kidnap the ballet-dancing daughter of a wealthy man. As they hold her, awaiting their ransom demands being met, they begin to fall prey to a series of increasingly unlikely mishaps. 

Mishaps like a grande jeté gone horrifically wrong.

I don’t want to tell you anything more about the plot. If you’ve seen the trailers, you probably already know the biggest twist in the film, because the idiots in marketing gave it away even though the film is structured in such a way that it seems quite clear it was intended to be a surprise. I’m just going to say that I recommend you NOT look up the rest of the plot if you haven’t seen it yet and just watch it with an open mind. It’s a great, original twist on an old trope.

It got me wondering why so many people on the internet were down on it, though. I thought the movie was loads of fun. So I went back to find some of the complaints about the film and the major one seemed to be that it wasn’t SCARY enough. 

Guys.

Okay, it’s not a movie that will make anybody wet their pants. There are a couple of jump scares and a LOT of gore, but nothing in it is going to keep me awake at night. But the thing is…is that REALLY the only metric by which a horror movie should be measured? 

I suppose part of the question is what exactly one expects from “horror.” If you go by the strict definition of the word, yes, “horror” is supposed to be scary. But if I’m being honest, guys, there are very few movies that I find legitimately frightening. I’m not trying to sound like some macho jerk, like I’m above being scared. I get scared all the time. There’s a fair in town this weekend and I need to make sure we go on the day Erin is off work because I’m far too scared of heights to take our son on the Ferris Wheel. It’s just that jump scares and gore — while effective in the moment — are not the sort of thing that linger in my psyche. Stories that I find REALLY scary are the ones with unsettling or disquieting implications for the human monster. 1984, for instance, terrifies me. And I know enough about the movie A Serbian Film to know that I never, ever need to watch it. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just take my word for it. Don’t look it up. Seriously.)

From left to right, least scary to most scary.

Gore, similarly, only bothers me when it gets too “real.” Historically speaking, the gore in a lot of horror movies has been so over-the-top as to become comical, almost cartoonish. The things that Jason Voorhees does to a camper are largely impossible, and thus, not particularly disturbing to me. The stuff that IS disturbing is the stuff that – again – I don’t care to watch, like the wave of “torture porn” that was popular after the first Saw movie. Which is ironic, as the original Saw is actually relatively light on gore. The franchise didn’t get particularly bloody until the sequels, when it began to ride the trend of torture porn that was popularized by the over-the-top IMITATORS of the first film, who took it to ridiculous extremes.

Similarly, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts recently – Star Trek: The Next Conversation, featuring Matt Mira and Andy Secunda going through the vast Trek library an episode at a time – when Matt argued that he didn’t count The Walking Dead as horror because he doesn’t think zombies are scary. That’s kind of short sighted. Sure, ONE zombie isn’t going to be that terrifying. I think most able-bodied adults could survive a single zombie, unless it was one of those fast ones from movies like the Dawn of the Dead remake, but that’s going to open up an argument as to whether we should even count them as zombies at all, and that’s an entirely different column. But the horror of a zombie, from the earliest days of George Romero, comes because of the HERD mentality. One zombie? No biggie. Whack him in the head. A hundred zombies? Bring me my brown pants. It’s like a bee sting. Unless you’ve got allergies or other  medical conditions, a single bee is just an annoyance. But if an entire HIVE falls on your head, I don’t care how good a shape you’re in, you’re going to have a very, very bad day. 

“BOO! Did…did that scare…no? Okay, close your eyes, I’m gonna try again…”

I count zombies in the same category as any other movie monster, like werewolves, vampires, mummies, and my ol’ buddy Frankenstein’s creation. They are a type of creature, and while they certainly CAN be played for comedy (or any other genre, really – there are a shocking number of zombie romances out there), their ROOTS are in horror, and as such are part of the genre whether you, personally, are frightened by them or not. 

My point is, I don’t judge the quality of a horror movie by its ability to keep me awake at night, but rather by the same standards I judge any other movie: writing, acting, innovation, music, direction. And by those metrics, I consider Abigail to be a pretty successful film. It takes a very familiar subgenre of horror and does something with it that I haven’t seen before, which is a huge mark in its favor. The writing is strong, with witty dialogue and several moments that were genuinely funny. The performances were very good as well, particularly that of 15-year-old Alisha Weir as Abigail. (I should point out that she’s currently 15, probably closer to 13 when the movie was filmed, and entirely convincing as the 12-year-old title character.) It was also great to see current horror It-Girl Kathryn Newton playing against type. Movies like Freaky and Lisa Frankenstein have kind of given her a sort of 80s Winona Ryder “dark teen in a quirky horror movie” vibe, although it should be noted she’s also been in Detective Pikachu and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and thus far more than a one-trick pony. This movie keeps her in the same KIND of movie where she’s become a queen, but she gets to do a very different CHARACTER than she usually does, which was fun.

But a contingent of the internet seems to think I should disregard all of that because the movie didn’t make me toss and turn until 3 in the morning. (LIFE does that, I don’t need movies to do it.) And like everything else on the internet, I’m sure it’s a small minority of loudmouths who make these complaints. Most horror movie fans that I know are among the warmest, most welcoming people I’ve ever met. But there’s always that jerk who thinks that any movie made after they turned 17 is garbage, and will loudly voice that opinion.

The thing that really baffles me is that a lot of those people who whine about how “not scary” a movie like Abigail is are the same ones who will bemoan the days of Freddy Kruger and Michael Myers. Fellas, I hate to break it to you, but Freddy ain’t scary. Sure, the CONCEPT is frightening – a demon that has the ability to stalk you in your dreams, in the one place where you SHOULD be the most safe but, at the same time, are at your most helpless. That’s a terrifying thought. But go back and watch those movies. Robert Englund is a blast to watch. Heather Langenkamp deserves far more credit than she gets for being one of the all-time great Final Girls. And Wes Craven, of course, was a master storyteller. But I’ve seen every one of those movies multiple times, and I never even ONCE was worried that anything in them could possibly happen in my life. If I had, I probably never would have gone back to them again. 

“BOO! No..no good? Geez, you’re a tough nut to crack…”

Most horror fans are great, of course, but there are snobs in that fandom just like any other. And like a lot of snobs, there’s a recency prejudice that seems to lock a lot of people out of current stuff that’s really good just because they think that the stuff from their formative years is the greatest that will ever be. (I wrote about this with cartoon fans a couple of months ago. It’s the same concept.) So with October coming, with the glorious Creepy Movie Bacchanalia that we’re all going to indulge in impending in just days, here’s my message. Give stuff a chance. Try new things. Watch new movies – and I don’t just mean movies that came out last week, but rather anything you personally haven’t tried in the past. And don’t think that the ONLY thing that matters is that you get nightmares.

Sometimes, a scream can just be for fun.

Blake M. Petit is a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure series Other People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon. You can subscribe to his newsletter by clicking right here. He’s trying to do the math to figure out just how many monster movies he can squeeze in between now and Oct. 31. He’s terrible at math, but the only answer he can arrive at is “not enough.”