Wait, what? 'The Walking Dead' is finally coming to an end?

No. Well, at least not the series. If you thought that after a couple of painful and super-stretched seasons of The Walking Dead, the series will finally be over; that is most certainly not happening anytime soon in spite of constant fall in the ratings.

However, what is indeed coming to an end is the comic book series of The Walking Dead. According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, the Image Comics and Skybound Entertainment product, which first was published back in 2003 is now officially ending bringing in a conclusion after 16 years.

It certainly did come as a surprise to many but the books just like the series have been famous for this particular fashion of dropping bombs with no warning at all. Creator Robert Kirkman and artist Charlie Adlard concluded the industry-changing comic book series with Wednesday's The Walking Dead No. 193, an extra-sized edition that plays out as a sprawling epilogue to Rick Grimes' story. The series finale comes just shy of a landmark 200th issue; what's more, the ending has arrived without any advance warning, to the point that Kirkman and Skybound solicited several subsequent issues with cover art from Adlard. 

Kirkman wrote in his final pages, "I hate knowing what's coming, As a fan, I hate it when I realize I’m in the third act of a movie and the story is winding down. I hate that I can count commercial breaks and know I’m nearing the end of a TV show. I hate that you can feel when you’re getting to the end of a book, or a graphic novel. Some of the best episodes of Game of Thrones are when they’re structured in such a way and paced to perfection so your brain can’t tell if it’s been watching for 15 minutes or 50 minutes ... and when the end comes ... you’re stunned." 

The comic book series may have ended but the show continues to live on, for better or worse.