Famed painter/artist Drew Struzan has created a promotional poster for The Walking Dead that will either eat your brains or blow your mind. Check it out:

AMC notes that Struzan himself will be signing posters at The Walking Dead Comic-Con booth alongside the show’s writer, director and executive producer Frank Darabont tomorrow, Fri., Jul. 23 from 4PM to 4:45PM.

Visitors to the Comic-Con International in San Diego this week will see a lot of advertising for AMC’s adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic book series The Walking Dead, and one of the most impressive pieces of promotion is this banner showing off the main cast. (Click on the image for a bigger size)

For more on The Walking Dead, check out AMC’s blog/site that puts even the most intensive fan sites to shame, or read our previous reports here on KSiteTV.

San Diego’s Comic-Con International, which begins in a little less than two weeks, will be hosting a panel for AMC’s upcoming comic book-inspired zombie series The Walking Dead.

The first season premieres on AMC in October.

Here are the details of the panel, which will be held on Friday, July 23:

11:30-12:30 AMC’s The Walking Dead — Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually), Jon Bernthal (The Pacific), Sarah Wayne Callies (Prison Break), Laurie Holden (The Mist), Emma Bell (Law & Order), series creator/director/executive producer Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), executive producer Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator), executive producer Robert Kirkman (creator/writer of The Walking Dead comic), makeup artist Greg Nicotero, and Joel Stillerman (AMCs senior VP) discuss the making of AMC’s series The Walking Dead, based on the Image comic book series created and written by Robert Kirkman, premiering in October on AMC. Room 6BCF

Talk about a great comics-to-TV translation…

Courtesy of AMC, here’s the first look at Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes from their upcoming adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead:

AMC’s upcoming adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic book series has begun production and some interview videos and the first images have been posted at AMC’s Walking Dead blog.

(Guess it’s not gonna film in black and white! I knew that was wishful thinking!)

Check out their blog to give the images a look.

Actress Laurie Holden, who worked with director Frank Darabont on The Mist, has joined AMC’s adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic book series.

Holden will be playing Andrea, who The Hollywood Reporter describes as “a key member of the survivor group who has a proficiency with a sniper rifle and falls for a man twice her age.”

Source: THR

FEARnet was the first to exclusively break the news that The Shawshank Redemption‘s Jeffrey DeMunn has been cast in AMC’s The Walking Dead series.

“We are right now looking to cast the two female roles in the ensemble. We’ve also just gotten Jeff DeMunn,” Frank Darabont told the site. I’ve always said Jeff DeMunn is my good luck charm, and I can’t make a film without him. We’ve just gotten him on board as one of the ensemble members, which is a great joy for me. One of the great pleasures of doing anything is to be able to reconvene with those colleagues who have the talent and provide you with the comfort zone of great collaborative, positive energy. Not to sound like Andy Hardy here, but if you’re going to go do a show in a barn, do it with people who have really got the talent and are great to work with, and so far that’s all coming together.”

The site suspects that DeMunn will be playing the role of “Dale.”

Read the full piece that broke this news at FEARnet.

THR has broken the news that Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually, The Teachers) had landed the lead role of Rick Grimes in AMC’s post-zombie apocalypse TV series The Walking Dead, which will be premiering later this year.

“Andrew Lincoln, wow–what an amazing find this guy is,” Walking Dead comic creator Robert Kirkman told THR. “Writing Rick Grimes month after month in the comic series, I had no idea he was an actual living breathing human being and yet here he is. I couldn’t be more thrilled with how this show is coming together.”

AMC has committed to six episodes of the TV series based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book The Walking Dead.

The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news, notes that the show will begin production in June in Atlanta. The series premiere will happen in October 2010 during AMC’s Fearfest.

Charles “Chic” Eglee (Dexter) has signed on to the series as an executive producer alongside the previously-announced Robert Kirkman, Frank Darabont, Gale Anne Hurd, and David Alpert.

“AMC strives to make original shows that play like movies and ‘The Walking Dead’ is a perfect complement to the network’s celebrated movie franchise, Fearfest, which has always been an important destination for our audience,” AMC President Charlie Collier said to THR. “With its depth of story and the remarkable talent attached, The Walking Dead gives us an opportunity to raise the bar significantly within this popular genre, and continue our commitment to being the home of premium programming on basic cable.”

The @_Blabz Twitter feed, which accurately revealed Kristin Kreuk’s casting in Hitched last week before any reporting from the trades, might have the first casting tip on AMC’s pilot for the The Walking Dead.

What is that tip? That a former teen-idol best known for a series in the 1990′s despite doing some good work on recent shows like Raising The Bar will be auditioning for the lead role of Rick Grimes.

That actor, of course, is Mark-Paul Gosselaar of Saved By The Bell fame.

Of course, auditioning for the role doesn’t mean he’s gotten the role…. though if he takes it, I’m waiting for the inevitable parodies where Rick Grimes is being chased by Belding and Screech zombies – or, even worse, the zombie of Dustin Diamond’s career.

Me, I’m still hoping Thomas Jane at least tries out for it…. Comments? Leave them. And please, again, be aware this is just a rumor right now and could be entirely false.