Despite pressure from The Walking Dead viewers to insert Norman Reedus' fan-favorite Daryl Dixon into the comic book series scripted by Robert Kirkman, longtime artist Charlie Adlard says it would have felt "wrong" and "completely disingenuous" to bring a character created for the television show into the comic book universe. Unlike most of the characters appearing in the television show, Daryl has no exact comic book counterpart: he was specially created for Reedus as the younger brother of another show-only creation, Michael Rooker's Merle Dixon, first appearing under then-showrunner Frank Darabont in the show's first season.