With the massive success of The Walking Dead TV series, it should come as no surprise AMC wants to stay in the Robert Kirkman business. Following that plan is the network’s announcement today that they are developing another Kirkman comic property, his recently launched Thief of Thieves, as a series with the writer and Walking Dead Exec. Producer Chic Eglee.

“Much like The Walking Dead brought horror to television in a unique and groundbreaking way, I feel Thief of Thieves can do the same thing for heist stories, showing the humanity of all the characters, including the criminals,” said Kirkman.

Thief of Thieves, which Kirkman reportedly based on his experience in the writer’s room of The Walking Dead, centers on master thief Conrad Paulson who, while attempting to reconcile with his estranged wife and son, vows to walk the straight and narrow, only to discover he’s completely addicted to the thrill of stealing. Now he must feed his addiction by stealing only what has been stolen, as the “Thief of Thieves.”

The first arc of the comic is being written by Nick Spencer with art by Shawn Martinbrough. Eglee will serve as showrunner of the potential TV series and will executive produce alongside Kirkman and Walking Dead Exec. Producer David Alpert.

Sounds interesting. Although, it doesn’t seem like it will have the coolness factor that Walking Dead has. No zombies.

How about you guys? Excited for this new Kirkman venture or prefer his more horror-related stories?

(Note: This post contains mild spoilers about the season finale of The Walking Dead)

At long last, the speculation can finally be over. With the news recently that David Morrisy taking on the role of The Governor in the next season of AMC’s The Walking Dead, the other big casting question of who will play Michonne has finally been answered. That’s right, actress Danai Gurira has been cast in the role.

Most recently seen in HBO’s Treme, Gurira has wasted no time in getting into katana-wielding character. In fact, she makes a surprise appearance in the season finale of the show just in time to save the life of one of the main characters. And what an entrance it is.

If you haven’t watched the season finale yet, you’re in for a real treat. Not just due to the appearance of Michonne, however, there’s also another great reveal just as the episode ends which is sure to raise the happiness level of fans everywhere.

After a slow start and some uneven episodes this season, it’s great to see the show redeem itself the last couple weeks. In fact, the season finale is probably one of the best episodes since the pilot. Yes, it’s that good.

Sadly, we now have to wait until Fall to see new episodes. Knowing the story of The Govenor and Michonne as we do, or at least how it plays out in the comics, it will be very interesting to see how AMC handles it. Very interesting indeed.

I’m cringing a bit just thinking about it.

There are few actors these days that can play just about any part in most geek-driven properties these days. Neal McDonough has gone from playing Bruce Banner in the animated Hulk series, to having a part in Star Trek: First Contact, M. Bison for some reason in Street Fighter, and even playing the fan favorite Dum Dum Dougan in last year’s Captain America: The First Avenger.

Now, McDonough is taking the center stage again with Frank Darabont’s upcoming TNT series based on the video game L.A. Noir. Deadline reports.

LA Noir tells the true story of a decades-long conflict between the LAPD, under the determined leadership of Police Chief Parker (McDonough), and ruthless criminal elements led by mobster Mickey Cohen, a one-time boxer who rose to the top of LA’s criminal world.

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It’s hardly controversial to say that most nerds are not fashionistas. There probably isn’t a lot of demographic crossover between The Twilight Zone and Project Runway. Those nerds who are sew-inclined tend to spend their time on cosplay; their catwalk is the convention floor. The majority of us simply have no idea what fashion is about or how it fits into the Campbellian Monomyth.

It’s not a coincidence that most classic sci-fi depicts the future populace in shiny matching coveralls. We just don’t pay that much attention to clothing. The only thing most nerds wish was in their wardrobes was the magical land of Narnia.

But we have to wear something.

Hence the Nerdy Tee. A simple, classic article of clothing that never seems to go out of style, the T-shirt is the epitome of casual cool. It looks equally at home on a guy or a girl. It can be worn tight for those of us who want to show off our shape or loose for those of us who’d rather not. It’s relatively cheap and easy to launder. And since there’s nothing nerds like more than showing off their obsessions (with buttons, stickers, lunchboxes, action figures, posters, etc.), adorning our T-shirts with nerd iconography is a no-brainer.

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When AMC’s The Walking Dead hit it big last year, we knew that TV studios and management companies would be capitalizing on the trend and pushing as many of their horror TV projects they have to the top of the greenlight list. The true test, however, is whether any of those shows would turn out to be decent.

Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story has proven that fact with only a handful of episodes, and FX has taken notice as well. The cable network has just announced a second season for the show. THR has the official word from the network.

“It’s one thing to have the ambition and guts to reinvent a genre in a way that makes it captivatingly fresh for a broad audience — it’s something else entirely to have the craft to back that ambition up,” said FX president and GM Jon Landgraf. “Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have hit the trifecta withNip/Tuck, Glee and now American Horror Story, which will be scaring FX’s viewers to death for many years to come.”

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As if it were any surprise really, after two of the most successful first-run episodes in cable TV history, AMC has graciously decided to give their zombie drama based on a comic by Robert Kirkman a third season. The second season has already done gangbusters for the network, and even given the bad press surrounding Darabont’s departure from the series, fans keep coming for more zombie-killing action.

Here are the details on season two from a recent AMC press release.

Season two continues to deliver the strongest telecasts for any drama in basic cable history against Adults 18-49 shattering a basic cable record set nearly 10 years ago for a single drama telecast (“The Dead Zone”). “The Walking Dead” is based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics. Glen Mazzara serves as series’ showrunner. Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert and Frank Darabont are executive producers. Greg Nicotero is a co-executive producer.

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Welcome to another edition of On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage during the week. Let is know if we missed something interesting.

• It looks like Thor 2 has found its director, and it won’t be Brannagh again. Looks like Monster director Patty Jenkins is taking on the task this time.

• Chris Pine and Tom Hardy fight over Reese Witherspoon for some reason in the first trailer for This Means War.

• Talk about random, here’s an amazing Voltron fan film made by Digg’s Alex Albrecht, starring Psych star Tim Omundson.

• Just to get you ready for the 3D re-release of Star Wars Episode 1, here’s a Maul-happy poster to remind you of the times without Jar Jar Binks.

• Don’t check your calendars, it’s not 1999, yet CBS has announced that they are taking on Fred Durst to star in his own sitcom. Why? We have no idea.

• Walking Dead picks back up this Sunday with season 2, so why not see what you missed last season in every zombie kill in 5 minutes.

• You’ll be too busy getting ready for next week’s release of Batman: Arkham City to realize how awesome Gotham City Impostors will be next year. Here’s a trailer showing you the fun you’ll be missing.

• Unboxing videos are all the rage these days, but what happens when an unboxing goes horribly wrong? Technivator finds out for us.

Welcome to another edition of On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage during the week. Let is know if we missed something interesting.

• Want to geek up your next romantic evening? Make it so with the Lightsaber Candlesticks.

• It’s the 90s all over again as Beavis & Butthead make it back to the airwaves. here’s another trailer to get you ready.

• Speaking of retro, here are some of your favorite current games done like the were old NES games. A God of War side-scroller would actually be pretty awesome…

• Paying respects to the man himself, here’s a collection of Apple products depicting the late, great Steve Jobs.

• Love everything about the film Drive? Then you’re going to have to get one of the scorpion jackets from the film. Just drive safely.

• AMC’s Walking Dead makes its triumphant return to TV in just a few weeks, so why not check in with the world of zombies with their original webisodes.

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Last October, the world was rocked when a comic book adaptation about zombies in Georgia made its way to the home of Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Now, we can’t wait for October 16th, as the second season returns with a vengeance.

Fans of both the original comic, heavy drama, and zombies in general will get more than they can chew on when the show returns in a few weeks. Fans of the original will get appearances to the church and the farm, which many know, are pretty big parts of the story from the comic.

We’re also told that this season will bring us ten times more zombie killing, which is more than enough for 90% of the fanbase to return.

Take a look at the brand new, extended trailer after the jump and be sure to get your couch and popcorn ready on October 16th, as The Walking Dead returns with a full 90-minute season premiere.

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Worldwide audiences thought that vampires may be getting a bit stale, so why not hop on over to the world of the flesh-eating dead and take on a few zombie-based properties. Studios saw how successful things were over at AMC when they took a chance on a comic book about zombies, so why not tackle a book without pictures in Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies.

Not only is the film already deep in the works, but they are already looking to the man who we once spent an entire 90 minutes Being, John Malkovich. Here’s the report on the film from THR:

John Malkovich is in negotiations to play the baddie in Warm Bodies, Summit’s adaptation of the zombie-centered book by Isaac Marion.

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In what has to be pretty shocking news, especially considering he was just at Comic-Con last week to do publicity for the show, Frank Darabont has reportedly stepped down from his role as showrunner of AMC’s The Walking Dead.

According to the report, it is unclear if Darabont will end up staying with the show in some other capacity or will be off the show completely. It is also unclear at this time if recent hire and The Shield alumni Glen Mazzarra will take over as showrunner on the show, which is currently filming its second season.

If you recall, Darabont wrote and directed the pilot for AMC’s breakout zombie apocalypse hit and served as Exec. Producer and showrunner for the show’s first season and into the second.

If this turns out to be true and Darabont leaves the show completely, it isn’t that hard to understand why. Darabont is a feature film writer, director and producer. That’s a world where you often have months, if not years, to craft a screenplay, cast, shoot, edit and deliver a finished product.

Series television is a grind. Turning out work day in and day out and moving so quickly is not something that’s for everyone. Having worked in TV and features I can tell you the pacing of producing a weekly TV series can be killer. Maybe he just got tired? Or, tired of having to compromise so much?

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Robert Kirkman is perhaps best known for his hugely popular Walking Dead series, a long-running comic franchise that last year won the 2010 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series and just last fall landed its own TV-series on AMC. And yet, Kirkman’s SKYBOUND imprint over at Image Comics has been churning out one huge comic hit after another that have absolutely nothing to do with zombies.

I hit the SKYBOUND panel on Friday in sunny Downtown San Diego to find out just what the small company has been up to lately. With Kirkman heading up the panel, also on tap were ”The Infinite” artist Rob Liefeld, “Thief of Thieves” co-writer Nick Spencer, as well as Brandon Seifert and artist Lukas Ketner of Skybound’s recently launched “Witch Doctor” series.

The panel started with an overview of how the imprint is doing, with clear winners Walking Dead and Invincible hitting the biggest numbers in terms of sales. Kirkman’s own all-ages series “Super Dinosaur” has been rapidly gaining popularity, especially among the younger readers out there.

I may not necessarily be the comic’s core demographic, but an armor-clad, missile-equipped tyrannosaurus rex named Super Dinosaur sounds pretty damn cool in my book. I made a note to pick up an issue or two next time I hit my local comics store.

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