The Walking Dead’s zombies have their own lore. While Kirkman has answered how zombies see, there’s a better explanation canon to the comics.

An official answer regarding zombie sight in The Walking Dead has been provided by series creator, Robert Kirkman. Zombie stories have a lot of questions when it comes to how the main monsters are created, how they behave, and how their undead bodies function. One of the biggest questions regarding zombies is how they are able to see, given the limited functionality of a walking corpse.

The Walking Dead began publishing in 2003 and ended in 2019. It spanned 193 issues, with The Walking Dead Deluxe #80 providing an answer to how the franchise’s titular zombies are able to see. This issue has the creative team of Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn, and Rus Wooton.

The Deluxe series is a reprint of the hit comic, but with color added in. It began releasing in 2020, offering new fans the chance to jump on and classic fans a new way to experience the story. The Walking Dead Deluxe #80 includes Kirkman’s responses to received letters.

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Since it was shown working canonically within the earliest zombie encounters, this is the in-universe explanation for how zombies separate humans from other zombies.

In The Walking Dead Deluxe #80, a fan posed a slew of questions, including “How do zombies see without pupils and irides?” Like many other biological zombie questions, this one is important. It affects the monsters’ ability to chase their prey and the attack potential survivors may have against a zombie based on what strategies they can employ. While Kirkman does provide an answer, it is one that operates with little scientific or strategic potential: “Magic.” There’s no question The Walking Dead is a thrilling story, regardless of the semantics of zombie biology, but the series itself provides a better – yet still complicated – solution to the question.

Canonically, zombies are known to have a heightened sense of smell. Ironically, this ability is made known early within the series, in The Walking Dead #4 (Robert Kirkman). The issue features Rick and Glenn on their way to acquire weapons for the camp. Rick notes that the zombies are able to tell humans apart from themselves, as they never attack each other. This is supported by them rubbing remains on their clothes and successfully walking into the city among the horde. Once it rains and the smell is somewhat washed away, they are immediately noticed and attacked.

The Walking Dead Canonically Gives Zombies a Good Sense of Smell

The Walking Dead Deluxe #4 features notes from Kirkman regarding zombie respiratory systems, admitting it’s still a reach. However, this fun approach only has to make sense within the world of the story it exists in. Since it was shown working canonically within the earliest zombie encounters, this is the in-universe explanation for how zombies separate humans from other zombies. Breathing and smelling often go hand-in-hand, but zombies can exist underwater with no need to breathe, though their nervous systems still work in a limited way. While The Walking Dead’s zombies can’t see traditionally, their olfactory sense makes up for their lack of vision.

The Walking Dead is available now from Image Comics.