Before The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2, you may have tried to brush up on the character’s history in the comics – but he’s nowhere to be found.
The Walking Dead premiered on AMC in 2010, seven years after Image Comics published the first issue of Robert Kirkman’s series. It ran for a whopping 11 seasons, concluding on a surprisingly open-ended note.
It turns out its ending was just the beginning, with three spinoffs airing since the finale: Dead City, following Maggie and Negan in New York; The Ones Who Live, tracking Rick Grimes and Michonne after the events of the main series; and Daryl Dixon, following the titular character after he ends up in France.
Daryl is a longtime fan favorite, and the series ended with him setting off to learn more about The Walking Dead virus (and zombie variants), so it wasn’t a shock to see him get his own show. However, if you want to find out more about him in the comics, you’re out of luck.
Daryl Dixon isn’t in The Walking Dead comics
It’s simple: there aren’t any Daryl Dixon comics because he was created exclusively for The Walking Dead TV show.
Norman Reedus originally auditioned for Merle, Daryl’s brother played by Michael Rooker in Season 1. He wasn’t right for the part, but the producers liked him so much that they created Daryl just so he could join the cast.
“I remember they talked about the pain in his eyes that he was vulnerable enough to show,” casting director Sharon Bialy said, as per Comic Book.
However, despite fans’ demands, he never appeared in any of Kirkman’s comic books. “While I had a hand in creating Daryl and Merle, it was very much a team effort involving other Season 1 writers Jack LoGiudice and Charles H. Eglee, as well as Frank Darabont (who originated and named them),” he wrote in The Walking Dead Deluxe #67.
“A cool thing in TV is that the actors also have a huge hand in who their characters become just in the way they interpret lines. Surprising line reads inspire the writers to write the characters completely differently as the series progresses. So, I’d also credit Michael Rooker and Norman Reedus with a lot of what makes those characters work.”
What about The Walking Dead Issue 129?
In 2014, The Walking Dead comics teased the “introduction” of Daryl Dixon in #129, but it was just an April Fool’s Day prank.
The cover used an edited image of Dwight featuring a crossbow, dark scruffy hair, and a familiar vest to trick people into thinking it was Daryl.
“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,” Kirkman wrote in an earlier post.
“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*).”
Dwight debuted in #98, armed with a crossbow and reminding fans of Daryl. Sadly, Kirkman wrote off the possibility of Daryl appearing in the comics.
“I would never have done it because it would feel wrong to bring the work of so many other people into the comic,” Kirkman explained.
“I never wanted the show to change the comic, since the comic is what made the show possible, and I worried it could turn into a snake eating its own tail.”
