Walking Dead Gets Stunning Poster from Comic Artist Declan Shalvey

In celebration of AMC’s The Walking Dead, accomplished comic artist Declan Shalvey has revealed a masterful poster depicting an unforgettable scene from the show. The comic creator – who has worked on 28 Days Later, Immortal Hulk: Flatline, and Batman and the Signal – has put his skills to the test in a beautifully rendered 24″ x 36″ print. The poster strikingly showcases a flaming procession of walkers bee-lining like lemmings off a crumbling bridge into murky waters. Against a plume of smoke, Rick Grimes looks off into an uncertain future, a helicopter flying far ahead

The limited-time poster is part of AMC’s ’11 Weeks of The Walking Dead’ campaign, in which a different artist each week depicts a significant moment from the show. Of course, AMC’s The Walking Dead is adapted from the comic by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard, so this is a great way to celebrate the franchise’s roots while immortalizing iconic moments – many of which are ultimately unique to the show, and so haven’t been captured in this style before. Prints of Shalvey’s art have been made available for one week only.

An acclaimed artist who has also written several graphic novels, Shalvey’s stirring colors and talented composition make for an imposing visual. The scene depicted in the art (which was shared on Declan Shalvey’s Twitter account) is from episode five of season nine of The Walking Dead, ‘What Comes After,’ where Rick leads a herd of walkers to their explosive demise. After the walkers follow him to a bridge rigged with dynamite, Rick fires a pistol, blowing the bridge. The nightmarish sight of zombies, alight like candles, dropping by the dozens into raging waters below follows, as Rick’s grieving comrades look on helplessly over the scene of his apparent death.

However, as fans well know, all was not lost for the fortunate and resilient Rick Grimes. Rick is next seen being airlifted away, with Anne reassuring him while Wang Chung’s ‘Space Junk’ plays in the background. The episode is particularly notable for longtime star Andrew Lincoln’s departure from the series as Rick Grimes. Shalvey’s chosen moment therefore conveys not just an epic ending, but also the hint of a new beginning. Since announcing the poster, Shalvey has also shared some behind-the-scenes insights into what went into the image, tweeting the inks, pencils, and layouts that went into the piece.

Shalvey is one of the most celebrated artists working in modern comics, making this poster a collector’s item for fans of The Walking Dead in all its incarnations, as well as just iconic comic art. However, this poster won’t be around for long, and it also won’t be the last in the ’11 Weeks of The Walking Dead’ series, as the event runs up until August 22, when The Walking Dead season 11 premieres. For comic fans, any new Declan Shalvey art is an event of its own, but that’s especially the case for a piece like this, which merges The Walking Dead‘s TV success with its comic roots.