FLOAT 100 · Comics · No. 23

The Walking Dead #1

A zombie book its publisher almost turned down, sold to it with a fib about aliens and ordered by stores in barely 7,000 copies, became the root of a television empire and one of the most valuable comics of its generation.

Year: 2003
Maker: Image Comics
By price in comics: 57 of 100

Realized at auction · 2021$3,401A realized sale: somebody paid it.

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Published: October 2003, Image Comics
Creators: Robert Kirkman, writer; Tony Moore, art and cover
Format: Black-and-white interior, color cover
First printing: About 7,200 copies ordered by North American comic shops; a 2012 report put the printing at 7,300
Key: First appearances of Rick Grimes, Shane Walsh, and Morgan and Duane Jones
This grade: CGC 9.8; a small number of copies have graded 9.9, the census top
Census: 3,724 copies graded, 26 at CGC 9.9 (October 1, 2024)
Highest reported price: $56,120 for a CGC 9.9 at auction, September 2026

A zombie story pitched as an alien invasion

Robert Kirkman loved zombie films, from George A. Romero's Living Dead series to Zombi 2, and zombie video games like Resident Evil. The first pitch he and Tony Moore made was a follow-up to Romero's Night of the Living Dead, set in the 1960s. The comic's working title was reportedly 'The Night of The Living Dead,' and it was to be set in Pittsburgh.

Jim Valentino, a co-founder of Image Comics, suggested they use an original concept instead so they would own it outright. The revised pitch was turned down for being too 'normal.' So Kirkman pitched it again with a twist: the plague was sent by aliens, and the book would become an alien invasion story. He had no intention of ever writing aliens into it; he later said the lie was necessary to get the comic published.

The Walking Dead debuted in October 2003. Its hero, Rick Grimes, is a sheriff's deputy from Cynthiana, Kentucky, who is wounded in the line of duty and wakes from a coma into a world overrun by the dead. Cynthiana is where Kirkman grew up.

Kirkman and Moore

Kirkman was born November 30, 1978, in Lexington, Kentucky, and raised in Cynthiana. His first comic was Battle Pope in 2000, a superhero parody he created with Moore and self-published. In 2003 he and Cory Walker launched Invincible for Image, and shortly after that he and Moore began The Walking Dead.

Moore drew the first six issues and the covers for the first 24. Charlie Adlard took over the interior art with issue #7, after Moore had trouble meeting deadlines, and stayed through the final issue, #193. Kirkman lettered the early issues himself.

Kirkman became a partner at Image Comics in July 2008, co-founded Skybound Entertainment in 2010, and went on to write episodes of the television series his comic inspired.

A quiet start

Sales of the first issue were modest for a brand-new, unproven title. Comic stores across North America ordered about 7,200 copies of #1. Only issues #2 and #3 drew fewer orders; issue #4 outsold it, issue #7 was the first to pass 10,000 copies, and issue #12 sold twice as many as #1. For comparison, Batman was averaging about 65,000 copies a month at the time.

Unusually for a new series, orders kept rising month after month. It won the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series in 2010. AMC picked up the television rights in 2009, and the first season premiered on October 31, 2010, to high ratings. The show ran from 2010 to 2022, 177 episodes over 11 seasons, and spawned several spin-offs.

The comic's audience exploded with the show. Issue #100, in July 2012, had total orders of about 379,000 copies, and one report said it sold 375,000 on its first day, the best-selling single comic issue of the century to that point.

From cover price to collector's prize

Prices for the first printing rose with the series' fame. A CGC 9.9 sold for about $2,500 in 2011; another sold for $7,000 in March 2012; and in November 2012 a CGC 9.9 sold online for $10,100, an unusually large sum for a 21st-century comic at the time.

By fall 2021 a CGC 9.8 brought $3,401 at auction and a 9.6 brought $1,412. The top of the census pulled further away: a CGC 9.9 sold online for $23,459 in August 2024, and in September 2026 another 9.9 sold at auction for $56,120, the highest price this page could verify. The same month, a CGC 9.6 sold for $2,684.

The gap between grades is extreme. A 9.9 has sold for twenty times the price of a 9.6 in the same month, because so few copies reach the top grade.

How to tell a first printing

Image reprinted #1 many times to meet demand. When the TV show premiered, Image launched The Walking Dead Weekly, reprinting issues #1 to #52 one a week starting January 5, 2011; that reprint of #1 sold about 8,800 copies, more than the original first issue. In October 2018 a 15th anniversary edition followed, and a full-color reprint began on October 7, 2020. Counting variants, reprints and special editions, there have been more than 90 versions of the issue.

Two variants were released in 2003: one with the mature readers warning in black lettering and one with it in white. The cover, by Tony Moore, is a portrait of Rick Grimes; Moore also colored the early issues. With more than 90 later versions in circulation, the original 2003 printing is the one this entry tracks.

Census figures differ by source and date. A grading company reported 3,724 copies of the standard first printing in its census on October 1, 2024, including 26 at 9.9. An auction catalog in September 2026 cited the August 2026 census as 23 copies at 9.9 and none higher.

The end on its own terms

The comic ran 193 issues, from October 2003 to July 2019. Kirkman ended it with no warning: on July 3, 2019, the letters page of issue #193 confirmed it was the last, and he had even solicited covers for issues through #196 that would never exist, to keep the ending a surprise. Rick Grimes had died in issue #192.

The first issue is the root of that whole run and of the television franchise whose license Skybound now manages, and it is regarded as one of the most valuable comics of the modern age.

The numbers

First printing: About 7,200 copies ordered by North American shops; 7,300 printed per a 2012 report
Weekly reprint of #1 (2011): About 8,800 copies, more than the original
Versions of #1: More than 90 reprints and special editions, plus two 2003 variants (black and white mature-readers lettering)
Census, October 1, 2024: 3,724 standard first printings graded; 26 at CGC 9.9
Census, August 2026 (as cited in an auction catalog): 23 at CGC 9.9, none higher
Series length: 193 issues, October 2003 to July 2019

Timeline

2000
Kirkman and Moore self-publish Battle Pope, their first collaboration.
Oct 2003
The Walking Dead #1 is published by Image Comics; stores order about 7,200 copies.
2004
Issue #4, the first issue of 2004, ends up outselling #1.
Jul 2008
Kirkman becomes a partner at Image Comics.
2009
AMC picks up the television rights.
2010
The comic wins the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series.
Oct 31, 2010
The Walking Dead premieres on television.
Jan 5, 2011
The Walking Dead Weekly begins reprinting issues #1-52.
Mar 2012
A CGC 9.9 copy of #1 sells for $7,000.
Jul 2012
Issue #100 ships, with orders of about 379,000 copies.
Nov 2012
A CGC 9.9 sells online for $10,100.
Oct 13, 2018
The Walking Dead Day, with a 15th anniversary edition of #1.
Jul 3, 2019
Issue #193 ends the series without warning.
Oct 7, 2020
A full-color reprint of #1 is released.
Aug 2024
A CGC 9.9 sells online for $23,459.
Oct 1, 2024
The CGC census counts 3,724 copies, 26 at 9.9.
Sep 2026
A CGC 9.9 sells at auction for $56,120.

The world in 2003

Feb 1, 2003
Space Shuttle Columbia breaks apart over Texas on reentry, killing all seven astronauts.
Mar 20, 2003
The U.S.-led Iraq War begins.
May 1, 2003
President George W. Bush declares the end of major combat operations aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Aug 14, 2003
A power outage blacks out the northeastern United States and parts of Canada.
Oct 7, 2003
California voters recall Governor Gray Davis and elect Arnold Schwarzenegger.
2003
Kirkman and Cory Walker launch Invincible at Image, months before The Walking Dead.

Price record

$1,000$10,000$100,000

Date	Price	Kind
2011	$2,500	Private saleCGC 9.9; reported as about a year before March 2012; sale format not stated.
Mar 2012	$7,000	Private saleCGC 9.9; sale format not stated.
Nov 2012	$10,100	Private saleCGC 9.9, sold online; the source does not say whether by auction.
2021	$3,401	Sold at auctionCGC 9.8, fall 2021 auction.
2021	$1,412	Sold at auctionCGC 9.6, fall 2021 auction.
Aug 2024	$23,459	Private saleCGC 9.9, sold online; the source does not say whether by auction.
Sep 2026	$56,120	Sold at auctionCGC 9.9, at auction; the highest verified price.
Sep 29, 2026	$2,684	Sold at auctionCGC 9.6, at auction.

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, The Walking Dead #1 is number 57 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (23 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

Kirkman told Image the zombies were part of an alien invasion to get the book approved; he never planned to use aliens.
Rick Grimes comes from Cynthiana, Kentucky, the town where Kirkman grew up.
Only issues #2 and #3 of the series had smaller orders than #1.
The 2011 weekly reprint of #1 sold more copies than the original first printing.
Kirkman solicited covers for three issues that did not exist, #194 to #196, to hide the series' ending.
Kirkman lettered the first 19 issues himself.

How this page is made

The figure: One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
Realized or not: A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
The story: Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
Archive: Oct 5, 2026