Underlying author Robert Kirkman’s story choices in The Walking Dead comic series was a philosophical question about human nature and civilization that has vexxed countless thinkers across centuries and millennia. As Kirkman once explained, the plot of the series unfolded from the idea that “[humanity] would turn on each other” if society collapsed.

The Walking Dead Deluxe #105 – written by Robert Kirkman, with art by Charlie Adlard – contains the original issue’s letters section, including one in which the author opined about his anxieties regarding civilizational breakdown, which his zombie apocalypse was in many ways an embodiment of.

Effectively, Kirkman used zombies as a mechanism to bring about the end of civilization as his characters knew it – so he could find out how they would operate under unprecedented chaotic conditions. Though the results were largely bleak, the writer did also speak to his desire to forge a more positive outlook.

Robert Kirkman Gets Philosophical In The Letters Pages To “TWD,” Tackling The Big Question Of Human Nature

The Walking Dead Deluxe #105 – Written By Robert Kirkman; Art By Charlie Adlard; Color By Dave McCaig; Lettering By Rus Wooten

As Robert Kirkman explained in the letters page to Walking Dead #105, his perspective on how humanity would face a civilization-ending crisis is what motivated the action of his book. Kirkman noted that he “often” had this discussion with the showrunner of AMC’s TV adaptation of his work, as they collaborated on the early seasons of the series. Kirkman wrote:

I often talk about this with Scott Gimple in The Walking Dead writer’s room. A lot of what happens in this book is due to my belief that if civilization were to fall, we wouldn’t unite, we would turn on each other. Which, by extension, seems to mean that I believe people are inherently bad, and civilization keeps them at bay. I don’t think I really believe this, I think it’s more that I believe this is POSSIBLY true. I’m grateful when I hear stories of people coming together to deal with [Hurricane] Sandy, that I seem to be proven wrong.

This is significant, because it explains how, like all great works of literature, The Walking Dead is motivated by ambitious questions about the human condition.

Kirkman’s story can certainly be qualified as Hobbesian, especially as the latter half of the series increasingly focuses on attempts to renew the “social contract.”

In his comments, Kirkman essentially reiterates a philosophical theory that has been around for thousands of years, but was most famously given form by Thomas Hobbes, who described the state of nature as “nasty, brutish and short,” which civilization was a response to – and a bulwark against. Certainly, the lives of most Walking Dead characters qualify as all three of these things, or at least two out of three, and so Kirkman’s story can certainly be qualified as Hobbesian, especially as the latter half of the series increasingly focuses on attempts to renew the “social contract.”

Negan Was Arguably The High, And Low, Point For Robert Kirkman’s Depiction Of Humanity’s Worse Impulses

How The Franchise’s Arch-Villain Embodies Its Core Themes

Among the early pivotal choices in The Walking Dead that reflects Robert Kirkman’s philosophical line of thinking was the decision to make it clear that, while zombies were an everpresent danger of his characters’ new reality, they were not the worst thing this post-society landscape had to offer. Certainly, the decision to focus on successively-nasty human antagonists was also made in the interest of compelling storytelling, one with more “active” villains than the zombie hordes were capable of; nevertheless, this also followed the impulse to tell a story about humanity’s reaction to the crisis, one that wasn’t always positive.

Having been officially introduced in Walking Dead #100, Negan perhaps represents the lowest point of Kirkman’s opinion of humanity, which makes it interesting to note that he would later come to symbolize the writer’s rejection of pessimism. Negan’s redemption arc is somewhat controversial, but the positive argument in its defense is that it reflects the wider theme of the comic, which depicts just how far humanity could fall – while ultimately arriving at the conclusion that it society would stabilize, and rebuild, in due time.

What this points to is the fact that Robert Kirkman’s story was constantly engaging in a dialogue with its philosophical themes. At the time of The Walking Dead #105’s 2012 release, Negan was still on the upward slope of his arc as a villain, before he could even start to be redeemed – but Kirkman was already wrestling with his desire not to let the story of the series ultimately be a pessimistic manifesto about humanity’s destruction, a struggle that clearly informed how he wrote Negan’s arc moving forward.

Robert Kirkman’s Philosophical Approach To Storytelling Is Part Of The Continued Appeal Of His Comic Series

The Walking Dead Deluxe #105​​​​​​​ – Main Cover By David Finch & Dave McCaig (Color)

Robert Kirkman ended his comments in Walking Dead #105 by referencing the response to a contemporary disaster, Hurricane Sandy, to emphasize that he was “grateful” for things that worked against his negative view of humanity’s potential in the wake of catastrophe. As the series progressed, the dichotomy between the best and worst possible responses that humans are capable of when facing an existential threat became increasingly central to the series, and it is fascinating to return to Kirkman’s comments from 2012 now with the entirety of the series in mind.

Robert Kirkman’s speculations about what would happen if society broke down are, like the best post-apocalyptic fiction, a reflection of what humanity is capable of, but also what it must overcome if it hopes to survive.

Part of The Walking Dead’s enduring legacy revolves around more than just how the series impacted popular culture, but also how it commented on culture in general, and offered what could be considered a prescient warning. Robert Kirkman’s speculations about what would happen if society broke down are, like the best post-apocalyptic fiction, a reflection of what humanity is capable of, but also what it must overcome if it hopes to survive. This is what makes The Walking Dead as valuable a piece of literary fiction as it is a pulse-pounding zombie thriller.

The Walking Dead Deluxe #105​​​​​​​ is available now from Image Comics.