Ride or die.

Or, how to survive Carmageddon.

Survival Mode

Not having a car in LA is brutal. It’s not impossible, but it’s pretty damn hard. And I’m feeling how hard it is right now.

My trusty ride of 9 years has been in the shop for the past 4 weeks. Thankfully that mythic Hyundai 10-year/100,000 mile warranty should cover the engine rebuild. Hey, Hyundai Corporate, if you’re reading this, give Donnie the thumbs up. Poppa needs his wheels back!

I’m not a superstitious person, but it’s not lost on me that the car that The Walking Dead helped me get, decided to crap out just as I left Skybound.

Drive to Survive

The Walking Dead and Hyundai have had an amazing relationship over the years. Hyundai was a major sponsor for AMC’s The Walking Dead TV show in the early years. Everyone knows the meme-tastic PRISTINE green Hyundai Tucson from the first couple of seasons of the show.

The Hyundai love of TWD spread over to the comic side as well. We worked with some amazing people across Hyundai and their ad agencies (shout out to Isaac, Rhoda, Jason, Robbie and Mark). In 2012 Hyundai sponsored the TWD 100^th anniversary party during SDCC. It was held at the home of the San Diego Padres, Petco Park.

Hyundai also wanted to work on an ad campaign that featured their vehicles in world of The Walking Dead. Robert worked with Matt Roberts to come up with an apocalyptic version of the Hyundai Elantra Coupe. The ad campaign was used on the back cover of TWD’s 100^th issue.

Night of the Walking Dead

The following year is where things leveled up. 2013 was the 10^th anniversary of the release of The Walking Dead. Hyundai wanted to celebrate in the most EPIC way. Together with the amazing agency team we worked on a bunch amazing ideas. Skybound and the Hyundai agency team rented out a parking lot in the Gaslamp Quarter, got Weezer to headline the show, invited friends, family & celebs and threw the greatest party that SDCC has ever seen.

From Page to Screen

Without a doubt the 10^th anniversary party was one of the coolest things to happen, I have to say the highlight was producing the 10^th anniversary A Decade of Dead short film. Directed by Lex Halaby, we were able to open a window into the world of TWD that newer fans might have never known.

If you’ve got some time, take a look at the video below. It’s a great watch.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

That’s all for today, but next week we’ll pick back up with the culmination of the TWD X Hyundai partnership. The 2014 TWD Edition Hyundai Tuscon.