Some of you may be familiar with The Walking Dead, a comic book series which as spawned into a popular TV show, that explores the adventures of survivors trying to make it through a post-apocalyptic zombie wasteland. Tony Moore is the artist behind the series, and an overall warm and friendly guy who was kind enough to be a guest at a Supanova seminar and answer questions on Walking Dead, his experience as an artist, and his thoughts on how to make it in the business.
Moore first started getting into comics at 19, with his middle school friend Robert Kirkman (who he would later partner with to create The Walking Dead) to make Battle Pope. They had both had an interest in comic book writing, but no idea of how to go about it, so a lot of it was them trying to work backwards from what finished products looked like, to the beginning stages.
The Walking Dead was something that came about from a shared love for horror movies and zombies and he and Kirkman wanting to explore what happens to the people after your standard zombie horror movie ends. He explained that his inspiration for drawings often came from real images, so for The Walking Dead he’d often be looking at photos of car accidents, crime scenes, generally gruesome stuff, and he’d take the feel of those and put them into his zombies.
He also talked about the reasoning behind the use of black and white for the series, because having it in black and white meant that it was easier to digest for readers, and the gore didn’t go over the top. It also is a bit of an homage to Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.
In terms of the adaptation of the comics to show he didn’t have much to say apart from applauding the amazing visual effects, and lightly criticizing some of the melodrama that went into it.
For those of you who are looking to get into the industry he said this:
The best business card to give to an editor is a finished comic book. Because it shows that you can get the ball to the goal line yourself. The last thing an editor wants is to have to hold your hand through the process.
Make sure to check out the rest of our coverage of Supanova, including photos of the amazing cosplayers, interviews with some of the stars and indie developers, and general impressions of the event.
