Rick and Morty writer working on Dead of Winter comic book series starring Sparky the stunt dog

Name your favourite character from Dead of Winter. Trick question: it’s Sparky, the lovable canine with a taste for zombie flesh and the ability to wield firearms.

In surprising-but-maybe-not-that-surprising news, Dead of Winter is getting a comic book spin-off – but what is a pleasant surprise is the fact that at least the first issue will focus on Sparky as he goes from on-screen animal star to surviving in the post-apocalyptic world filled with the undead. All while continuing to be a very good boy.

Described by publisher Oni Press as a horror-comedy mixture of The Walking Dead and Airbud (no, we’re not really sure exactly what that means either), the mini-series is being authored by Kyle Starks, the talent behind the Rick and Morty comic books, and illustrated by fellow Eisner Award nominee Gabo.

It sounds like future instalments in the run will follow the other characters of the fantastic board game – but we’ll be honest, we’re mainly here for the dog.

The first 32-page issue will be out at the start of August and has cover art by Brian Hurtt and Bill Crabtree, plus a variant from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl artist Erica Henderson.

Dead of Winter isn’t the only game to be making its way from tabletop to comics this year – we’ve seen announcements for Blood Bowl, Pathfinder RPG and even Cluedo in recent months.