According to The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, the comic’s zombies are rotting away at a slower rate than normal decomposing human flesh – though he declined to give a concrete answer as to why, instead tying it back to the mysterious origin of the zombie outbreak in the series, the cause of which has never been definitively established.

In the letters page to Walking Dead #88 – reprinted along with a full-color version of the issue as part of The Walking Dead Deluxe re-run of the entire series – Robert Kirkman addressed fan speculation about zombie physiology, though his response almost certainly raised more questions than he put to rest.

Kirkman offered the idea that the unknown factor which caused the dead to rise also altered the rate of their decay, explaining why zombies lingered as long as they did throughout the story.

Robert Kirkman’s decision to keep Negan alive, and give him some manner of redemption arc, is one of the most pivotal in the Walking Dead series.

Robert Kirkman Definitively Answers YES, Zombies Are Rotting

The Walking Dead Deluxe #88 – Written By Robert Kirkman; Art By Charlie Adlard; Color By Cliff Rathburn; Lettering By Rus Wooten

[His answer] speaks to the larger purpose of Robert Kirkman’s use of the zombie genre; the flesh-eating undead were always a device for putting his human characters into the most extreme possible circumstances.

Responding to a fan letter regarding what its author called “the oxymoron of zombie lore,” Robert Kirkman explained his personal take on a fundamental question of the genre: whether zombies continue to rot after being reanimated, and to what extent. The Walking Dead’s creator established that in his conception:

Are the zombies rotting away? Are they continuing to decay? My answer is YES, they are…some are rotting more than others, and I believe that whatever mysterious element is making them get up and walk around–is also slowing their decay. See, makes sense right?

In a way, Kirkman’s response playfully hand-waves away the query, while at the same time teasing a reveal that would never come. Unlike its TV adaptation, The Walking Dead never revealed the “mysterious element” that caused its outbreak.

In effect, Kirkman’s reply to the fan’s question is a definitive answer – it just comes along with the creator’s admission that he is not even privy to the particular details. Though this may be dissatisfying to some fans, it speaks to the larger purpose of Robert Kirkman’s use of the zombie genre; the flesh-eating undead were always a device for putting his human characters into the most extreme possible circumstances, in order for the story to emerge out of their actions and reactions to intense scenarios.

The “Realism” Of Zombies Was Never Central To The Walking Dead

Kirkman Preferred Grounded Characters

By confirming that the franchise’s zombies do rot in a way that made it clear this was not of paramount importance, Robert Kirkman clarified both Walking Dead’s lore, and its storytelling priorities.

As the writer of the fan letter – Darrin, from Columbus, Ohio – himself notes about zombies in general, “there wouldn’t be a story if it was really set in our reality.” In other words, try as some creators might to bring a deeper sense of realism to their depiction of zombies, this effort has its limits. One of the things that made The Walking Dead an immediate and enduring success was Robert Kirkman’s intuitive recognition of these limitations of the genre, and his correlating decision to emphasize the human drama of the outbreak, rather than the body-horror of the zombies themselves.

The Walking Dead certainly had more than its share of gore – something that is especially brought to the forefront in the Walking Dead Deluxe color reprints – but the focus of its horror relentlessly remained on the actions of its characters, as they sacrificed more than just their lives, but also their values and their ideals, to escape the horrifying fate of most of the world’s population. By confirming that the franchise’s zombies do rot in a way that made it clear this was not of paramount importance, Robert Kirkman clarified both Walking Dead’s lore, and its storytelling priorities.