At its heart, Walking Dead's creator reappraised a major zombie cliche by thinking about how humans would actually behave.
The Walking Dead Deluxe series is a remastered version of the original Walking Dead series by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard, expertly colorized by Dave McCaig. This ongoing series takes fans on Rick Grimes' journey from the very beginning, upping the gore by abandoning the original's black and white presentation. The series also includes notes from Kirkman himself in a 'Cutting Room Floor' segment that offers insight into the writing of the series.
In Walking Dead Deluxe #6's commentary, Robert Kirkman criticizes the classic zombie cliché of bitten characters asking to be mercy killed rather than turn into zombies. During the issue, the fan-favorite and gone too soon character Jim from the Atlanta Survivor Camp is bitten after defending the camp from walkers. In a surprising twist he ultimately asks to be left behind to reanimate as a zombie, so he can be united with his family again. This decision proves controversial for the other survivors and readers, and it was often speculated as to why Jim would relinquish his humanity in such a way, which is ultimately cleared up by the reveal of Kirkman's dislike of the 'death over zombification' trope. Kirkman says:
Every zombie movie I've ever seen has the, "I've been bit, don't let me turn into one of those things" scene. The person then either shoots themself or lets someone else do it. Those scenes always bugged me. I just don't think, on the whole, that most people would choose death over... whatever being a zombie is. Maybe it's fine being a zombie from a zombie's perspective? Who knows. Hence Jim wanting to be left by the tree.
This quote provides interesting context to the one-off detail that Walking Dead's zombies seemingly have the ability to learn certain behaviors (such as not to attack people who feed them), implying they still possess some level of cognizance. Likewise, once the story eventually reveals its title refers to its survivors - not the zombies who plague them - it's fascinating to consider that if Jim is right, the undead may be the lucky ones. It's also worth keeping in mind that with the many secrets the franchise keeps - such as the origin of the zombie outbreak - Jim may be totally right in thinking it's better to go on as a zombie.
The Walking Dead became so popular thanks in part to its insightful treatment of its characters, and Kirkman's speculation that it would be far more human to accept gradual, unknowing decay over a sudden and violent death is the perfect example of that. Kirkman's personal belief that people would rather become zombies than be euthanized - as demonstrated with Jim's choice in The Walking Dead Deluxe comic series - provides really interesting creator commentary on human identity and philosophy in times of crisis.
