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There's a certain power that comes from putting an abstract thought down onto the page. For instance, the day after I wrote the section of my thesis analyzing Stan Lee's writing in the first volume of The Amazing Spider-Man, he died. Okay, that's an extreme example (and I assure you I had nothing to do with the end of Lee's life), but my point is is that sometimes, wild things happen when we spend an extended period of time writing about something. 

For Tillie Walden, the writer-artist behind The Walking Dead's Clementine graphic novel series, working on the series was a way to achieve her and her wife's goal of starting a family together. In an interview with Popverse, Walden said, "...I agreed to do this trilogy for a number of reasons. It seemed like an interesting challenge. It seemed like a way to reach new fans, but it also felt like a way to give my wife and I some financial stability for a few years so we could have a baby. And as we were thinking about this and I was drawing book one, I was struggling to get pregnant. I was like, ‘Maybe if I make Olivia pregnant and manifest it. If this character, if this poor teenage girl has to go through with it, it'll happen for me.’ And it was in book two that I managed to actually get pregnant."

"And I remember drawing the baby in book 2 when Clementine has a vision of Amos holding his child. And it was very emotional for me, because I was drawing this thing that I wanted so badly. And then it was so surreal to draw book three with, like, a sleeping baby beside me. So yeah, my own journey into motherhood is very much reflected in the series. It's like it's too all-encompassing of an experience to not put it in your book. I don't know how I would ignore it."

So in this sense, the Clementine books chronicle Walden's own experiences with stepping into motherhood with her wife. As she states elsewhere in the interview, Walden infused elements of her own childbirth experience in the scene from Clementine Book 3 when Olivia gives birth. Ultimately, this element of the Clementine series is very sweet to watch unfold because of how Walden juxtaposes the vulnerability and preciousness of Olivia's baby with the harsh, zombie-ridden world of the story. Even in places as dark as The Walking Dead universe, there still are pockets of light, just like in our world. 

Clementine Book 3 is available now wherever books are sold. 

You can read our full interview with The Walking Dead: Clementine author Tillie Walden here.

Get ready for what's next with our guide to upcoming comics, how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to Free Comic Book Day 2025.