COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL: ROBERT KIRKMAN PANEL

By Billie Rae Bates

SAN DIEGO -- Image Comics partner Robert Kirkman -- riding the crest of the upcoming AMC television series based on his The Walking Dead -- opened up the floor to questions during his panel at Comic-Con International on Thursday.

Following are highlights:

* Skybound is a new imprint recently announced. Is it accepting pitches? "We're just starting out. We're going to try and start small, and come out with the strongest books possible. We're being very selective. But we're not accepting submissions right now. ... That's our mode of operation for now. ... Right now we kinda have more books than we can handle."

* The Walking Dead comic book: "There's cool stuff coming up in the comic book. Right now they're in the community. You can kinda see that things are getting pretty rough for Rick. ... There are still zombies in the book, and lots of them. That's something that everyone can look forward to. ... The Volume 13 trade will be out in November."

* First Skybound title, Witch Doctor: Brandon Seifert and Lukas Ketner talked about it. "It's a horror medical drama." It's been described as House meets Fringe, but that's not really accurate. "It's more of Dr. Strange meets Dr. House. ... It all has a basis in the weird stuff from real biology that we can find." The preview issue is on sale at the Walking Dead booth at the event.

* The Astonishing Wolf-Man will be in Guarding the Globe #3. "He doesn't die at the end of his series, I guess -- spoiler alert!," Kirkman said.

* Kirkman spent much of the panel talking about his new Walking Dead TV series:

* He is an executive producer for the series. "I'm on set, and I get to receive things at a pretty early stage. ... I was lucky enough to pick a team that is very respectful of its source material. It's going to be very true to the material. ... As you see more footage you'll be much more reassured."

* When asked about the choice of AMC rather than NBC, Kirkman said he was bummed at first when the show didn't go to one of the major networks, but "it was early on in the run of the comic, it might not have been the kind of deal that I would be comfortable with now. ... I probably would've made more money off the deal because network television is huge, but I'm much happier it's on AMC."

* How far is the first season going to go into the book? "I can't say."

* Was it discussed to do the series in black-and-white? "There was a lot of talk, mainly because of Frank Darabont's The Mist, and how he did a black-and-white version on the DVD of that." But no, he said, the series will be in color. He joked that he wouldn't want someone to be flipping through the channels and see the black-and-white show and think it's some old movie they don't want to watch.

* "Thankfully I'm very optimistic about how the show's been received so far. Everyone at the network is very happy about it. It looks great. ... It comes down to how it rates when it debuts, and they'll start making a decision."

* Did the tendency for characters to die affect the casting for The Walking Dead? "I'm hoping we can get some really good actors who wouldn't necessarily sign on to a television show." They might prefer the shorter run, he explained. He said he apologizes to some actors on set who he knows are going to die.

* Is he shopping around any other projects? "There's a lot going on, and hopefully there will be other announcements."