Diversity in The Walking Dead comics discussed in issue 177

Robert Kirkman discussed how his own personal evolution helped to create diversity in the Letter Hacks of issue 177 of The Walking Dead comic book series.

The Walking Dead comic book series has evolved a lot over the course of 15 years. Ever since the first issue of the series was released on October 8, 2003, the story and the characters have come a long way.

One thing the series should be very proud of is their diversity. There are characters from many races, beliefs, and sexual orientations that have graced the pages of the comics through 177 issues and have helped to represent a lot of readers.

In issue 177 of the comics, the topic of diversity was brought up in the Letter Hacks section and the creator of The Walking Dead comic book series, Robert Kirkman, was asked a very interesting question about the evolution of the series.

A fan named Nick wrote in to ask Kirkman if the comic book would be more diverse looking if he were to start the series now compared to when it was released in 2003. Here is how Kirkman responded:

"“I was a dumb 23-year-old white kid from a rural, sparsely diverse area when this series started. I’ve grown and improved as a person as this series has progressed, and that has happened more or less in clear view of this readership.”"

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Kirkman continued by discussing how diversity is a part of everyday life and focusing on just one or a few segments of the human population can make a comic book, television show, movie, or other forms of media too one dimensional.

"“Were I to start this comic today? It would have been vastly more diverse. Is that pandering to a modern push to have more diversity in media as it is somehow negatively portrayed far too often? No. It is a course correction to a massive wrong media has done to society.”"

Kirkman finally answered the question after giving some statistics about the distribution of races in Atlanta and gave the true reason why the zombie survival comic book series would be more diverse if it started today.

"“So, why would the cast be more diverse if I were to do the book now? TO BE MORE ACCURATE TO REAL LIFE.”"

Next: The number of living people in The Walking Dead

What are your feelings when it comes to diversity in the world of The Walking Dead? Do you think the comics do a good job of representing the population at the locations in the series? Let us know in the comments section below.