Walker Stalker Con lets fans show zombies the love

WalkerStalkerCon.com.

It's hard not to love a stumbling, brain-eating zombie, and the hands-down most-loved zombies on the screen today can be seen dragging their feet around with the Atlanta skyline as the background in "The Walking Dead."

These zombies won’t die, and apparently neither will “The Walking Dead,” which garnered 16.1 million viewers in its Season 4 opener earlier this month, dominating both broadcast and cable television.

James Frazier and Eric Nordhoff, neighbors in Thompson’s Station, about 30 miles south of Nashville, are two fans with particularly warm feelings for these cold, animated stiffs, and the two guys gather each week to watch the show in Frazier’s nice basement theater, far from the disapproving glances of their wives.

One day last year the two planned a dream trip to Atlanta to watch the show being filmed. They wandered around the sets in Senoia and downtown Atlanta, met a horde of cast members and returned to Tennessee with a plan to create a “Walker Stalker” podcast devoted to the show.

Now, 45 podcast episodes later, with a few viewing parties under their belts and a line of T-shirts and other merchandise, the two have organized an Atlanta convention devoted to zombies — particularly the “Walking Dead” variety. Called Walker Stalker Con, it takes place this Friday through Sunday, Nov. 1-3, at the America’s Mart in downtown Atlanta, not far from locales that are part of the television series.

It is expected to draw 10,000 people, which seems to baffle and delight Nordhoff and Frazier, who got involved in the zombie convention business on a lark. They raised money to stage the convention through Kickstarter. Frazier, 34, is an attorney. Nordhoff, 42, is a manager, producer and promoter in the music business. They first bonded over a love for the show “Lost.”

They didn’t plan to be “stalkers” — the crew gave them that nickname during their visit to the “Walking Dead” set — and the term could have been a liability. Then the show’s executive producer Greg Nicotero gave them a call and chatted with them for the podcast.

“Greg gave us the credibility,” said Frazier.

Since then many actors from the show have taken the interview seat, and a who’s who of “Walking Dead” stars will attend the convention, including Andrew Lincoln, who plays upright sheriff Rick Grimes and Norman Reedus, who plays scary redneck bowhunter Daryl Dixon.

Though the world of “The Walking Dead” is considerably less complicated than the time-twisting shenanigans in “Lost,” the two men think that the fanbase for the zombie show may have longer legs and could even reach “Star Trek” proportions.

They can tell from the “giddy” voices of their fans, who call in to their podcast to speak with actors and actresses from the AMC series, that the audience is deeply attached to the show.

There is, however, the problem of sameness from episode to episode: in “The Walking Dead” you’re either killing zombies or running from zombies.

“Every season they’re going to be challenged with new ways to skin the same cat,” said Nordhoff, adding that Nicotero and co-executive producer Gale Anne Hurd are up for the job. There’s plenty of territory outside the confines of Georgia.

“It’s a big country,” he said. “The zombies may still be the same, but the people aren’t.”