Walking Dead gets a TV show; countdown to figures begins

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I’ve read The Walking Dead up through volume five or six, and I realize I need to catch up, because it’s some of the best comic storytelling out there right now (it even inspired me to write my own zombie-themed novella). Now it appears AMC is teaming up with Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont and Aliens/Terminator producer Gale Ann Hurd to make a TV show based on the comic. For those of you concerned about the amount of gore/strong language, apparently f-bombs get dropped all the time on Mad Men and AMC hosts the annual “Fear Fest” movie marathon around Halloween, so chances are it’ll be almost as gory/violent as it would be on HBO or something. (Also, excessive gore and swearing aren’t necessarily required for something to be good.)

The question is, will we get figures and if so, how long will it take? I figure if Heroes can get a toy line and the Walking Dead is as good as the first season of Heroes (not really a very high bar), then it’s only a matter of time. Who will it be? NECA? Mezco? Will the likes of Bif Bang Pow or Shocker Toys try to swoop in? I doubt we’ll see any movement on that front until we see how the show fares with viewers, but I do think there will be a few companies chomping at the brain for these.