In 2003, Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore launched The Walking Dead comic book series at Image Comics. Seven years later, The Walking Dead became a blockbuster TV series on AMC. But the comic book series is still going, and it’s about to hit a major milestone.
Moore is returning to The Walking Dead after several years to provide one of the variant covers for The Walking Dead # 150. Moore originally left The Walking Dead as the interior artist after the sixth issue, but he remained with the book as the cover artist through issue 24, and he drew four additional covers The Walking Dead’s trade paperback additions.
What makes this such a surprise is that Moore and Kirkman had a falling out over compensation for The Walking Dead TV series, and Moore actually sued Kirkman. However, the lawsuit was resolved in 2012, and the former partners have apparently reconciled for the special occasion.
IGN debuted Moore’s cover for The Walking Dead # 150, which intentionally pays homage to Moore’s cover for the very first issue.
Here’s the two covers laid out side by side, courtesy of IGN.
Kirkman also released a statement about Moore’s cover.
“It’s indisputable that reaching issue 150 is a huge achievement in comics,” said Kirkman. “Charlie Adlard and Team Walking Dead have been working tirelessly for over a decade to get us to this milestone and now it’s time to celebrate… Additionally, words cannot describe how excited I am to have Tony Moore, artist of the first 6 issues, returning to provide a cover for this special event.”
The Walking Dead #150 will be released on January 13, 2016.
