Skybound sometimes faces a rather desirable problem – their products occasionally work their way into the zeitgeist, so that everyone is talking about them. Hey, it’s what happens when you put out great books. When this happens, sometimes it helps to do something special to excite existing fans and attract new ones.

The first example is CommonGround’s mini-site for the momentous 100th issue of The Walking Dead, the graphic novels that ushered in the “zombie phenomenon.” We knew the milestone issue was going to be huge – by early 2012, months before the issue hit comic shops, pre-orders had shot through the roof, making WD #100 the must-have book of the year.

We decided to build on the growing excitement by giving the site a sense of urgency. (If you’re about to be swarmed by a horde of gruesome zombies, it is rather urgent, after all.) A clock was included front-and-center, counting down to the exact moment when fans could get their hands on the issue. The site also organized important information about events, including the hugely successful Walking Dead Escape at the 2012 San Diego Comicon. And of course, we made sure fans could easily find and load up on all the zombie gear they could ever want.

We loved building this site. Although only a tiny part of the larger event, it was great to see comic book history in the making. Just to give an idea of scale, comics generally need to sell 20,000 issues a month to stay alive. The best books, the industry juggernauts, are lucky to sell 80,000 issues per month. The Walking Dead #100 sold a jaw-dropping 383,612 issues on first publication, making it the top selling issue of the decade. Wow...go zombies!