10 Obscure Comics Secrets That Took Years To Discover
4. The Cause Of The Zombie Outbreak
Time To Discover: Oct '03 - May '20
When The Walking Dead first came out, there was no explanation as to why the dead were suddenly standing up and biting people, but that's what made the story so enticing. The dead were little more than a McGuffin, meant to drive the story, which was really about the living characters.
For all the time The Walking Dead was being published, creator Robert Kirkman remained tight-lipped about the origin, and he consistently refused to offer up any explanation or word on the subject.
After all, this was a man who created the most successful work of zombie fiction in decades, and he never even used the word "zombie."
Once the comic had reached its final issue with #193, Kirkman must have felt it didn't matter anymore, so he finally gave an answer in a tweet on January 22nd, 2020. In the tweet, he simply wrote two words, which explained it all, "Space Spore."
The Tweet was eventually deleted, and Kirkman said it was meant to be a joke, but seeing as it's the only morsel of information he's given about the subject, it may just have well been the answer fans were looking for all along.
After all, it aligns with the origin of the zombie uprising in the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, which was what Kirkman used to pitch his idea in the first place.