《行尸走肉》给活人的启示

    最近，《行尸走肉》（The Walking Dead）漫画书在堪称宅文化圣地的2013圣迭戈动漫展（San Diego Comic Con 2013）上庆祝了10周年纪念日。生日宴会播放了根据这部长篇连载漫画改编的电视剧，有多位好莱坞明星捧场。罗伯特•柯克曼长期以来受到这部漫画书迷们的拥戴。由于AMC电视台那部备受欢迎的收视冠军剧集以及Telltale Studios公司制作的获奖视频游戏，《行尸走肉》已经变成了一个主流现象。

    34岁的柯克曼如今已经从肯塔基州里奇蒙德搬到了洛杉矶。从外表来看，他的谦逊务实依然没有改变。他现在是Image Comics公司的创始合伙人，2010年还创建了自己的出版公司Skybound。作为《行尸走肉》电视剧的制片人，柯克曼正在与AMC合作开发第二部根据漫画改编的电视剧《贼中大盗》（Thief of Thieves）。这位多媒体大亨拥有自己创作的所有漫画的版权。最近，柯克曼接受了我们的独家专访，阐释了数字技术为漫画产业带来了的机遇，还讨论了在娱乐行业里实现跨界发展的秘诀。

如今创作热门的新漫画会遇到什么挑战？

    幸好那些挑战正在以相当快的速度消失。让人们尝试新东西历来都不是一件容易的事情，但漫画界最近已经意识到新想法和新观念是多么地激动人心。我看到各种各样的新漫画、新观念得到了大量读者的全力支持，与漫威（Marvel）和DC的长篇连载漫画相比也不遑多让。这种现象很好，我希望能够延续下去。10年前，很难让人们观看《行尸走肉》这样的漫画。这类黑白恐怖漫画被漫画行业里的超级英雄们重重围困。但幸好，情况正在发生变化。

数字技术对漫画行业产生了什么影响？

    影响很大。数字技术改变了可获得性，使漫画与大众的距离无限缩短，取代了20世纪60、70和80年代的那种报摊模式。那时，孩子们和妈妈一起走进杂货店，阅读、挑选漫画书。如今，他们可以在iPad上玩游戏，然后阅读、购买漫画，而且它们总是在那个地方。数字技术极大地增加了读者数量，带来了大量的新读者。

你在与AMC共同制作《行尸走肉》电视剧的过程中有什么令你感到惊讶的事情吗？

    有很多令我感到惊讶的地方。这是全新的媒介，有很多故事处理手法和电视剧制作诀窍是我不知道的。有很多规则我们必须遵守，但我并不知道。因此，弄清楚电视节目这种东西到底是怎么运作的，这对我来说是非常有益的学习经历。其中有很多乐趣。为一档电视节目效力的人多得令人吃惊。《行尸走肉》电视剧的演职人员有1,000人左右，是个大制作。

    The Walking Dead comic book celebrated its 10th anniversary at the nerd Mecca known as San Diego Comic Con 2013. Its birthday party here featured the cast of the television show based on the long-running series as well as other Hollywood celebrities. Robert Kirkman has been popular with this comic book crowd for a long time, but thanks to the critically acclaimed and ratings champion AMC program and award-winning video games from Telltale Studios, The Walking Dead has become a mainstream phenomenon.

    Kirkman, 34, has moved from Richmond, Kentucky to Los Angeles. But by all appearances, he remains a humble, down-to-earth guy. A founding partner of Image Comics, in 2010 he launched his own imprint, Skybound. A producer on The Walking Dead TV series, Kirkman has a second comic-based TV series with AMC in development, Thief of Thieves. The multimedia mogul, who owns the rights to all of his creations, explains what opportunities digital technology is opening up for the comic book industry and discusses the secret to wearing multiple hats in the entertainment business in this exclusive interview.

What are the challenges in creating something new that will catch on in the comic book industry today?

    Thankfully, those challenges are going away and at a fairly quick pace. Historically, it's been very difficult for people to try new things, but the comic medium has awoken recently to just how exciting new ideas and new concepts are. I am seeing across the board new comics, new concepts being supported wholeheartedly by the readership in droves, pretty much at equal levels with long-running Marvel and DC titles. That's a really cool thing and I hope it keeps up. Ten years ago it was very difficult to get people to read something like The Walking Dead, a black-and-white horror comic, surrounded by the super heroes of the industry, but thankfully things are changing.

What impact is digital technology having on the comic industry?

    It's having a huge impact. Digital changes availability. It makes the book infinitely available to the masses and it really has replaced the newsstand model of the 1960s, '70s and '80s, where kids could go into a grocery store with their mom, see comics and pick them up. Now they can be playing a game on their iPad and then pop over and buy a comic and it's always there. Digital is growing our readership in really great ways and is leading to an influx of new readers.

What surprised you working on television with AMC and The Walking Dead?

    There were a lot of surprises. It's a completely new medium, so there were a lot of story processes and tricks of the trade and things that I just didn't know. There are a lot of rules we have to follow that I wasn't aware of so it was a really cool learning experience for me to come in and figure out exactly how this whole TV things works. It was a lot of fun. The amount of people who actually work on a television show is pretty startling. It's a 1,000 or so people who are working on The Walking Dead show, so it's a huge operation.