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The Walking Dead issue 4 had an interesting note written on the outline

By Adam Carlson

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 06: Robert Kirkman speaks onstage during The Walking Dead panel during New York Comic Con at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on October 6, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew Toth/Getty Images for New York Comic Con)
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 06: Robert Kirkman speaks onstage during The Walking Dead panel during New York Comic Con at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on October 6, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew Toth/Getty Images for New York Comic Con) /
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When Robert Kirkman was planning issue 4 of The Walking Dead, he must not have had a Post-It Note nearby.

The Walking Dead Deluxe is fascinating. For first time readers, there is an amazing story in full color with the original Letter Hacks. Those who have previously read it get some new content in the Cutting Room Floor portion at the end of each comic with all-new information and a peek at how the story is planned to go.

At first glance, the outline for issue 4 looks absolutely awesome. Robert Kirkman seems to have planned the issue very well and it translated extremely well from the storyboard to the pages of the issue.

However, one interesting note on the bottom left of the page is quite interesting, and Kirkman decided to explain it to his readers.

Most people who saw “Mika Tan” written on the sheet would think it was jibberish or possibly some kind of future character note reminder for Kirkman. But that’s not the case at all in this instance.

According to the Cutting Room Floor section of The Walking Dead Deluxe issue 4, Kirkman was making a note on his outline during a conversation he was having with a friend.

"“Everyone’s favorite comic book cover artist Dave Johnson had a friend who was dating Mika Tan and he got invited to Thanksgiving dinner with Mika and a bunch of other porn stars. He called me while I was plotting this issue and told me the story. So I jotted the name down because I’ve never heard of Mika Tan.”"

Researching Mika Tan was probably interesting. At the time, she was a 27-year-old adult film actress from Honolulu, Hawaii. In addition to her adult films, she was part of HBO’s Cathouse specials.

It was still an interesting note to put on a plot list for outlining an issue of The Walking Dead, but it shows that Robert Kirkman is willing to show that he is a person and there is more to him than just what he brings to life on a page or screen.

"“I was going to erase that but there’s not a ton to talk about this issue.”"

But there was one other interesting thing to discuss. “Shallow Leebound” is written on the bottom and he believes it was a unique name he came up with but never ended up using. He joked that Shallow could have been the comic version of Daryl Dixon had things worked out that way, but honestly, let’s be glad there was never a character named Shallow Leebound in The Walking Dead universe.

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