It didn’t take most of you very long to figure it out. The Daryl Dixon cover was an April Fool’s Day prank. We even made a phony back-dated teaser post. I love April Fool’s Day. I think it’s a great way to play with “what if” in a way that let’s you play it totally seriously. And I love Norman Reedus. We all do at Skybound, and we love what he brings to the character of Daryl. This was not a prank designed to “trick” Norman (hope he’s not TOO mad). It was a playful nod at the fact that the very, VERY loved Daryl Dixon isn’t in the comics at all. And because last year we “leaked” the Season 4 episode titles I thought it might be funny to do something around Daryl again this year. This led me to wondering what it would look like IF we brought Daryl into the comics (which I don’t see happening, but IANAR*).
Of course, how does one make a Daryl cover when you don’t want to bother the super-busy Charlie Adlard? I believe commenter Dim was the first to point out that it our cover was awfully close to an image of Dwight from issue 98. I may not be a very good artist, but I’m a damn fine Photoshopper. I took to my copies of Volume 17: SOMETHING TO FEAR to find a good image of Dwight, who just happens to have some visual similarities to Daryl. Here’s a comparison:
I circled some of the changes I made in red, and apologies to Charlie for messing with his awesome page. I had to drop the image a bit to make room for the title dress, which means I had to add a muzzle to the M4, I had to add hair to the left half of Dwight’s head (copied from the right and mirrored and changed a bit), I removed Dwight’s tats, added Daryl’s iconic wings patch, added a wallet chain, deleted the smoke from the gun (it interfered with the title dress) and then added Charlie’s signature, which he has on every cover. The last bit was the coloring, and I apologize to colorists everywhere for my hack job. This is the second thing I’ve ever colored, and I think it’s not bad for a second try but it looks pretty awful.
I guess since it was hidden on a the back-dated post, no one paid much attention to the OTHER photoshopped image of Dwight. This one was also from issue 98 and was a lot simpler:
Since it was just a silhouette, it was pretty easy to make it look like Daryl/Dwight was facing away from the viewer. I also flipped the image so that the crossbow would be in his right hand. I was going to have this one be Daryl in his poncho but those wings are just a bit too iconic (if this were an actual teaser I wouldn’t be giving it away THAT easily). The tag line is an actual line from AMC’s The Walking Dead that I thought sounded pretty badass. And the motorcycle is from a render of the McFarlane version of Daryl’s motorcycle that I turned into silhouette. Fun stuff!
Hope you all enjoyed this or got a laugh out of it. Our goal when we do these certainly isn’t to make anyone feel stupid. We just like to play with expectations. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go write a post about the Dixon Brothers TV show spinoff announcement…
*I Am Not A Robert.
It was a wonderful prank.
it was great. good job yall
Cruelist April Fools joke ever
I don’t care if it was a photoshop picture of Daryl in #98 but it’s a great pic of Daryl. I think, You are a good artist Brian. It was a nice April fool joke.
I knew right away, but it was a beautiful piece of art no doubt. Loved it so much I saved it!
Oh and thanks for helping me prank some people without having to be original and think of my own prank
You are sooo mean!! 🙁
I got a kick out of it & think you did an awesome job! And if anyone felt stupid, well…..
Loved the reactions to this.
i actually think Daryl Character is based off of Dwight……at least his imagery
I think it’s the opposite. Dwight appeared for the 1st time in 2012, whereas Daryl in 2010.
Yeah, but RK mightve thought of Dwight way before Daryl stepped into the TV series, like All Out War. RK has thought of AOW ever since isue #1
I don’t think he’s ever said that. In fact, I’ve heard him say the opposite on many occasions. He had no idea what direction he was going to move. He plans ahead maybe 20-60 issues with a very LOOSE storyline in his head (that is subject to change) and goes from there.
Well, Jonathon, I think in a letter hack between 113 – 124 (IDK, haven’t read in a while), he says that he has had an idea of All Out War since the beginning of TWD.
Nah, Dwight is like the most hated character in the comic and most everybody loves Daryl on the show because he is a complete badass.
I don’t hate Dwight, but rather intrigued by him. I wanna get to know him better…figure him out. Daryl…. he was cool, now he’s just kinda…. fizzling out. That’s for me & that can change!
I dislike Daryl’s fan aura and what the fans have made of him like most Daryl haters but I have to say I like what went on with him in season 4 so far. Season 2 and especially 3 had far too much “Daryl zombie killing time!” instead of character growth. BUT… Season 4, well… Daryl is a character who in another world would easily fit into Joe’s group if he found them first. (Plus that pretty much abusive scene with Beth makes it clear Daryl is no perfect Christ figure.) That’s what makes him interesting: This middle ground confusion of roles as he wants to be a good person with good people but he has the tendency and ability to easily be everything bad in TWD world. That, I think, should stay his typical character model of growth.
I get what you’re saying. I had to think on that for a little while & I agree with you that this could make Daryl a more interesting character. However, I’m not sure that they’ll keep with this persona for Daryl, now that Joe & group have been eliminated & he’s reunited with Rick. Still, if they did, I feel it would probably make him seem less immortal, which would make him fit in this show.
**** you
Awesome work
Totally fricking awesome.
I kinda saw this coming, i knew it was to good to be true! lol.
Awesome ‘shop work!!!
Beautiful cover! I’ll be over here holding my breath for a spin-off all Daryl all the time comic, LOL. Great prank 🙂
That would make an awesome Variant Cover. I would so pick that up
Well played Brian good photoshopping too
Loved the joke!!
Best AF ever from TWD! The fan girls almost blew up the interwebs. How silly of them.
the walking dead persian fan-s >>> http://twdfans1.tk/
I hate April 1st….
I want to ask Charlie Adlard to PLEASE make this a variant cover for #129! lol
evil. evil to the devoted, failing-their-classes fans
got a couple of my friends with that picture. Kudos to you
Too bad Dwight isn’t going to exist in the TV show and it’s going to turn out that Daryl and Dwight (at least as far as story lines go) were the same person all along.
Makes me pretty sad, because I’ve been hoping to see Daryl meet Lucille like Glenn did.
Daryl’s immortal. He’ll be around for the cure. Hell, he’ll probably be the source of the cure. Glad Kirkman’s not bringing him in the comic… he doesn’t even deserve a glorified death in one frame there.
Daryl’s a good and well-written character, I don’t get why so many people hate him. Is it just because he’s not from the comics or because his fangirls are retarded? I mean, yeah, I want him to die, specifically in the way I described, but I don’t understand all the hate.
And make no mistake about it, he will die eventually. So will Rick. Norman Reedus is already a star in Hollywood, eventually hess going to be offered a role that pays way too much to turn it down. Andrew Lincoln will probably go the same way.
One of the AMC executives has been talking about how this show could last 15 – 20 seasons, if that’s the case, we’ll have completely different actors by then, none of them will have been from the star of the show unless they’re so terrible they can’t get work elsewhere, and if that’s the case… Get the fuck out of my Walking Dead.
I just don’t want to feel like he’s lasted so long or that he just can’t be killed off because he’s such a loved character. I feel like his time on the show has already been stretched out due to the fanbase, as if MAIN characters like Rick, Carl, & Michonne couldn’t carry the show without him. That simply goes beyond what TWD is meant to be!
I did like his character up through S3, but he fell through for me in S4…that’s just not who he is (for me). Also, it’s quite evident off the screen that his fame has gone to his head, which makes it even harder for me to tolerate him on the screen. Just a personal peeve.
Lastly, from a chick’s perspective, I simply do not see the appeal. And it is mostly about appeal, not coolness. If anything, coolness should carry the show a little, not because some chicks get off on greasy-looking hillbillies who wear leather in hot weather.