Robert Kirkman is one of the most talked about writers in the comic book industry. His zombie survival comic book series “The Walking Dead” just reached it’s 75th issue, while AMC is ready to launch a TV show based on the program in October, helmed by the legendary Frank Darabont. His superhero book “Invincible” also reached a 75th in recent weeks. I had a chance to talk with him today about comics, zombies, and his new creator imprint Skybound which will be the new publishing face for his prior work (“Battle Pope”, “The Astounding Wolf-Man”, “Brit”, and others), along with showcasing new talent.

The first new book, scheduled to debut in early 2011, is “Witch Doctor” from the team of Brandon Seifert and Lukas Ketner. Kirkman says the book will featuring a real doctor who becomes involved with crazy monsters and other ghostly things, balancing his medical career with the supernatural. “There’s already enough superhero books out there”, he explained. Image comics is helping him launch the imprint, which he admits will be a way for him to collect his creator owned titles formerly published with other companies, under one roof, but looking for great new talent to showcase in the meantime.

Kirkman’s “The Walking Dead” series is a major success story, giving the stagnant Image Comics, which used to sell millions of comics by ’90s industry superstars like Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, and Jim Lee before massive speculation and overbuying caused a huge sales crash, a huge shot in the arm. The collected editions of his zombie books are perennial top sellers in comic shops and standard book stores alike.

The series harkens back to the ’70s when Marvel comics published the ongoing horror comic “Dracula”, with a single writer/artist team of Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. The stories follows a group of survivors led by a policeman Rick Grimes, who go from place to place in a zombie infested America simply trying to stay alive. Sometimes the zombies aren’t the biggest danger, as other crazy stragglers with agendas ranging from gladiator sports, cannibalism, greed , and paranoia are often more deadly than the flesh eating shamblers themselves.

I told Kirkman that I really dug the fact that no character was safe. Without spoiling anything, I’ll tell you that characters that you’ve grown to love often disappear in tragic mishaps after getting to know them for 30 issues.

“I couldn’t just go the obvious route like Star Trek did with the red-shirts dying. The appeal of the book is that anyone could go at any time.” As someone who’s read all 75 issues, hungry for more, I can tell you that he’s not lying.

I asked if he had an end in mind to the series, or if he was just along for the ride with the characters. He explained that he would continue writing it as long as he enjoyed it, but he does have a way to end it all if he ever tired of the book. “I end up plotting the book about 2 years beyond my ability to write it”, he added.

Kirkman mentioned he saw the first 3 episodes of the series and was very pleased with what he saw, happy that Darabont was behind the project. “I think the fans are really going to love it.”

I spent a good amount of time gushing about how great it he was able to create such fantastic works and diverse works like “The Walking Dead” and “Invincible” that can appeal to adults and kids alike, and said, “I guess there’s no real question there, I just think it’s great what you’re doing! He thanked me and refrained from calling me a super geek.

CLICK HERE to read more about Skybound Entertainment, and you can visit Robert Kirkman’s personal site HERE!