The Walking Dead creator shares story of real-life superhero father

The creator of The Walking Dead had a moment where he needed a superhero as a kid. That moment inspired a scene from issue 23 of the comics.

Superheroes are all the rage these days. It seems like every week that either a new episode of a comic-based show is being released or a new feature film is raking in huge numbers at the box office. Although The Walking Dead isn’t quite a superhero comic, that doesn’t mean Robert Kirkman hasn’t had his brushes with superpowers.

In the “Cutting Room Floor” section of The Walking Dead Deluxe issue 23, the creator of the popular undead franchise told a story from his childhood where his father did something remarkable after something terrible happened.

The Walking Dead: Robert Kirkman’s real-life superhero

According to Kirkman, he was up on the roof of his house re-shingling when he put his foot in a place where he thought was still roof but was only the tar paper. Robert tumbled off the one-story building, landing hard on the ground.

He recalls his father jumping off the roof like a superhero to tend to him quickly. Even at that height, it takes bravery to make a jump like that, but people have been known to do incredible things when their families are involved.

Thankfully, Robert Kirkman only required a few stitches and was absolutely fine. His father suffered no injuries from the jump.

He brought this story up because of a scene from issue 23 where Rick and Tyreese argued, and Tyreese was the one making the jump to check on Rick. Of course, in the comic, Tyreese ends up tweaking his foot upon his landing, but Kirkman said that was to make the scene a little more believable.

Thank goodness that Robert Kirkman and his father weren’t hurt in this roofing accident. However, having it inspire a kind of important scene between Tyreese and Rick is an excellent footnote for the franchise and one that readers of The Walking Dead Deluxe should love learning about.