Darabont’s Own Hot
WALKING DEAD Swag!!
Herc’s Monday Giveaway I!!

CONTEST IS OVER!! THE JUDGER: Email your info to HerculesAICN@Yahoo.com ASAP or lose your prize!!!! PRIOR POST: Here we go. You have 24 hours: “I worked two very specific homages to Stephen King into the pilot episode of The Walking Dead,” series mastermind Frank Darabont explains. “The first four AICN readers to correctly identify Steve King shout-out #1 will each receive a t-shirt. (It’s first-win-first-served when it comes to specifying t-shirt size.)” In addition, the first AICN reader who identifies the #2 much-harder-to-catch homage gets the Giclee print of Drew Struzan’s gorgeous Walking Dead art. ”Be warned: The second shout-out is a bitch to spot,” notes Frank. “Stephen King himself couldn’t do it.” Frank also offers these hints: “‘The crows’ and ‘the message scrawled on the farmhouse wall’ are incorrect answers. The two correct answers are not as generic as that, they are very specific to Stephen King. Also be aware that numbering these shout-outs as #1 and #2 does not mean they appear in that order. (I’ve numbered them in order of difficulty instead of order of appearance.)” Herc adds his own hint: The homages are not related to casting. We’re all aware that Jeffrey DeMunn and Laurie Holden previously appeared in Darabont movies based on King stories. Frank’s not talking about actors. So. What are the two intentional homages? ORIGINAL POST: I am – Hercules!! UPDATE: This is no longer a U.S. only contest!! Frank Darabont has agreed to ship these prizes anywhere in the world!! If you haven’t already, record Sunday’s “Walking Dead” premiere! Because it could help you win some extra-nifty undead swag that’s now sitting on the Darabont’s desk! Seriously, it’s on his desk! Right now! Sometime Monday we’ll be posting in this space a question about the 90-minute AMC premiere. This question has two answers. One is hard to derive and the other is insanely hard to derive. The first four people to provide the easier answer in talkback will win an authentic and ultra-rare “Walking Dead” crew shirt that, if you like, Frank HIMSELF will autograph for you! With his actual hand and sharpie! The first person to provide the insanely hard answer will get a rare “Giclee print” of genius artist Drew Struzan’s text-free, logo-free poster for “The Walking Dead.” “It’s a very high-end quality art print done on heavy stock archival paper,” Darabont tells AICN exclusively. “It’s worth mentioning the distinction, as Giclees are the highest quality way to reproduce art. They make lithographs look like crap.” Worth playing for? Watch “The Walking Dead”! Watch it hard! Record “The Walking Dead”! Because there’s no way you were watching hard enough! Then check back with AICN on Monday between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. PT (9 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET) for more details! Follow Herc on Twitter!! Follow Evil Herc on Twitter!! $9.33 Dead Blu!! 142 Blu-rays Under $10!!