Kirkman was a fan of zombie films such as the Living Dead series and Zombi 2 as well as zombie video games such as Resident Evil.[6] The original pitch by Kirkman and Moore was for a follow-up to George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, with the series taking place in the 1960s.[7] Image Comics co-founder Jim Valentino suggested using an original concept instead so the creators would own the property outright.[7] The pitch was revised into an original story, taking a more traditional approach to a modern zombie survival tale. The revised pitch was again rejected, however, for being too "normal". Kirkman then pitched it again with a new added twist that the plague was sent by aliens, and that the comic would be more of an alien invasion story. Kirkman had no intention of making the comic about aliens, but felt that the lie was necessary to get the comic published, which it did.[8]