The most iconic Walking Dead covers

The Walking Dead launched in October 2003, written by Robert Kirkman with art by Tony Moore, published by Image Comics. From its first black-and-white issues, the series established a raw survival aesthetic far from capes and superpowers. Moore pencilled and inked the first six issues and drew the covers through issue #24; from issue #7 onward, Charlie Adlard took over interior art and would define the series' visual identity for over a decade. The series concluded with issue #193 in July 2019, ended without warning in a surprise move by Kirkman. The AMC television series (The Walking Dead, 2010–2022, 11 seasons) turned the franchise into a global cultural phenomenon, spawning multiple spin-offs.

This guide sticks to the verifiable: eBay medians from our estimator (eBay.fr + eBay.com, June 2026) and records documented by Heritage Auctions and specialist sources. One critical warning: our tool returns a median of €12 for The Walking Dead #1 across 101 listings — but those listings are overwhelmingly later printings and cheap reprint editions (2nd, 3rd, 4th prints and 2010+ reissues). That figure in no way reflects the value of the October 2003 first printing, which is a five-figure modern grail. Issues #19 (3 listings), #27 (4 listings), #92 (1 listing) and #100 (5 listings) are too thinly represented on eBay to yield a reliable median: no eBay median is cited as a headline price for those issues.

Key Walking Dead covers (eBay data and documented records, June 2026)

The Walking Dead is entirely a modern-era creation — it has no Golden Age, Silver Age, or Bronze Age issues. It launched in 2003, and all key issues belong to the Modern Age. Most key issues have very thin eBay representation; documented auction records from Heritage Auctions, ComicConnect, and specialist price guides are the primary reference.

Sources: Heritage Auctions, sellmycomicbooks.com, CGC Comics, GoCollect. CGC 9.8 records for TWD #19/#27/#92 from sellmycomicbooks.com (June 2026).

The Walking Dead #1 (2003): Tony Moore's cover, the modern grail

Published in October 2003, The Walking Dead #1 introduces Rick Grimes, a police officer waking from a coma to find a world overrun by the dead. Tony Moore's cover — Rick on horseback in a deserted street — is one of the most recognisable images in Image Comics history. Moore pencilled and inked the issue in an expressive black-and-white style, with dense cross-hatching that gives the series its graphic-novel atmosphere. The first printing is estimated at roughly 7,500 copies — a modest order for a 2003 launch — making it one of the rarest first printings of the Modern Age.

How do you identify it? Three checks: the words "First Printing, October 2003" in the indicia (page 1), no printing designation on the cover itself, and a logo in a dark red, dried-blood colour (later printings shift to near-black). Our eBay estimator returns a median of €12 across 101 listings — but that figure is dominated entirely by later printings and cheap reissues. It must never be read as the value of the 2003 first print. Documented records for the first printing are unambiguous: approximately $32,000 in CGC 9.8 in Heritage Auctions sales in 2024, and $24,200 for a CGC 9.8 in March 2022. Lower CGC grades trade considerably below those levels but remain in the four-figure range for well-graded copies.

The Walking Dead #100 (2012): Glenn's death and twenty variants

Published in July 2012, issue #100 is the series' major publishing event. It contains the death of Glenn Rhee — one of the book's most beloved characters — at the hands of Negan, wielding his barbed-wire bat Lucille. The narrative impact drove orders to 379,000 copies, making it the highest-ordered Image Comics issue of the 21st century and one of the biggest single-issue orders of the 2010s. It shipped with twenty variant covers by artists including Charlie Adlard, Todd McFarlane, Frank Quitely, Marc Silvestri, Sean Phillips, and Bryan Hitch — several of them sharply limited.

The rarest and most valuable variant is the Hero Initiative edition: just 105 copies, each with an original hand-drawn cover signed by a different artist. At the 2012 auction, copies sold between $389 and $12,100 — the top result going to the copy drawn by Charlie Adlard himself. The Red Foil variant (limited to 250 copies), depicting Lucille on a red foil background, is the next rarest. For the regular Adlard cover of #100, the 5 active eBay listings are too few to cite a reliable median; documented CGC prices for ungraded copies in good condition sit at the lower end of three figures.

Charlie Adlard and the emblematic mid-run covers

Charlie Adlard took over interior art from issue #7 and drew the series' covers for the vast majority of its run. His black-and-white style — cleaner than Moore's, favouring expressive portraits and atmospheric compositions — became the defining look of The Walking Dead for most readers. Issue #19 (May 2005, first appearance of Michonne, katana in hand) and issue #27 (2006, first appearance of the Governor) rank among the most sought-after Adlard covers by virtue of their narrative importance. In CGC 9.8, both issues have reached approximately $650 according to specialist sources — but their respective eBay pools total only 3 and 4 active listings, making any market median unrepresentative.

Issue #92 (December 2011), which introduces Paul "Jesus" Monroe, has traded around $180 in CGC 9.8 — a more accessible entry point, though again with too thin an eBay presence (1 active listing) to reflect the full market. For all these mid-run keys, ungraded copies in sharp, unread condition remain the most realistic entry point for collectors building their run.