For a world that’s set during a zombie apocalypse, The Walking Dead has done an exceptional job at maintaining a level of realism that other horror franchises simply don’t. However, that leaves the series open to a number of criticisms, as fans expect every detail of human survival to be accounted for (even the ‘boring’ stuff). This was recently brought to the surface by one fan question answered by Robert Kirkman himself, who offered a solid salutation for one plot hole that was never addressed in the series.
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Walking Dead Deluxe #87! For a world that’s set during a zombie apocalypse, The Walking Dead has done an exceptional job at maintaining a level of realism that other horror franchises simply don’t. However, that leaves the series open to a number of criticisms, as fans expect every detail of human survival to be accounted for (even the ‘boring’ stuff). This was recently brought to the surface by one fan question answered by Robert Kirkman himself, who offered a solid salutation for one plot hole that was never addressed in the series.
In The Walking Dead Deluxe #87 by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard, readers can enjoy a full-color version of the original comic issue, which debuted in black and white. Not only that, but The Walking Dead Deluxe books also include fan questions answered by Kirkman. One in particular made a very good point about something that every person living in a post-apocalyptic world would be concerned about: food – more specifically, diet.
The Walking Dead fan asked the following question:
After a year or two of eating mostly bean or corn cans, aren’t the people around likely to develop very bad diseases like [scurvy] or something?
To which Robert Kirkman replied:
Robert Kirkman: Yeah, getting into the diet of it all… seems a little too technical and boring. There are vitamins around and things like that. We’ll skip over the little things from time to time.
The Walking Dead Creator Confirms Survivors Supplement Their Diet with Vitamins
The fan asking this question makes a very good point, as a world that’s overrun with walking corpses not only shuts down completely – meaning food isn’t being grown, harvested, or shipped – but also any animal that could be hunted for meat would be potentially hazardous. These survivors don’t know if any random deer had an encounter with a Walker, making their meat unfit for consumption – and the same goes for any animal.
That only leaves (as this fan pointed out) canned goods that weren’t looted during the initial outbreak and subsequent panic, i.e., canned beans and corn. Sure, the survivors may have enough for a few years with their relatively small numbers, but that’s not exactly enough to keep the human body going, especially considering all the running and fighting they’re doing on a regular basis.
However, as confirmed by Robert Kirkman, there are also vitamins that were left in abandoned stores all around the country following the initial outbreak right alongside those cans of beans and corn. By supplementing their diet with vitamins, Rick and the gang can safely chow down on those canned goods to fill their stomachs without fear of not getting enough of the vitamins and nutrients their bodies need to survive.
Robert Kirkman Gave an Equally Perfect Alternate Solution for This Plot Hole: It Doesn’t Matter
Creating a franchise like The Walking Dead is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s refreshing to see a horror series with characters that make relatable decisions, as fans can read a few issues and think, “that’s what I would do during the zombie apocalypse”. That’s the reason The Walking Dead is considered realistic, because the journey these people go on is one almost anyone can identify and empathize with. However, that means the series also opens itself up to questions like these. “If it’s so realistic, how do they get their daily recommended vitamins and nutrients?”
Kirkman answered it perfectly with the first part of the above quote, “Yeah, getting into the diet of it all…”, because ‘how they get their vitamins’ isn’t the point of The Walking Dead, it’s ‘how they maintain their humanity’. While ‘it doesn’t matter’ alone is the perfect solution to this plot hole, it’s still nice that Kirkman took the time to answer the question seriously. ‘Vitamin supplements’ is a great answer to a question that, admittedly, would be asked in a real-world zombie apocalypse – a plot hole that The Walking Dead creator effectively just filled.
The Walking Dead Deluxe #87 from Image Comics is available now.
