Some people have far too much time on their hands and all I can say is God Bless 'em. If it wasn't for people like Jason McDonald we wouldn't have this amazing Walking Dead themed Google map with issue by issue annotation. He's taken the time to map out the route taken by the characters in the Robert Kirkman written comic book by the events that happen in each issue but beware it's right up to date with issue #64 so if you're not caught up there could be spoilers.

The stunning brilliance of this effort got me thinking about all the other comic book maps I've come into contact with over the years and just how cool each one has been. Before we had the internet and the commonplace practice of viral marketing comic book maps were bringing a sense of the real world to fantasy locations such as Gotham City and Marvel's superhero packed New York. There's something so appealing about a good map, it helps build the world in your mind giving weight and real structure to places that as comic book fans we all know so well.

Sometimes the map can aid to help easily explain a change in status quo like this promotional map from the 1995 X-Men crossover event the Age of Apocalypse which supposed Professor Xavier died before forming the X-Men allowing alpha mutant Apocalypse to gain control of a world where mutants are the dominant species. This is not the marvel universe we know and love and the events and locations on the map help to demonstrate this whilst also adding that 'need to know factor' to the story. I particularly like the fact that London is the capital of the Human Council, as always good old Blighty stands up to the axis of evil.

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Follow up:

This map from Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's recent run on Wolverine with the Old Man Logan storyline pulls a similar trick but to even better effect. The story jumps ahead in time to a world where all the earth's heroes have been beaten, the villains won and the once mighty wolverine is a simple pacifist farmer 'Unforgiven'-style. The map shown below doesn't appear until the last couple of pages where it used as a kick in the teeth just hinting at the devastating changes North America has undergone since the Heroes lost. The U.S. has been divided up into 5 segments, all the big players getting their own piece but we have no idea how or why this happens, the perfect tool to pique your curiosity.

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Of course the maps aren't always just for us the fans they can be used as useful continuity and locational reference for both writers and artists. When you have completely made up places like Superman's Metropolis or Batman's Gotham the city is as much a character as the star of the book. They have their own landmarks and environments that not only give the cities their atmosphere and identity but also act as constants for both creators and audience. When you have multiple titles all based in the same place with multiple creators it becomes even more important to create these constants to maintain a sense of continuity. The below draft of Gotham City may not give us a sense of the dark beauty of the city but it is skillfully detailed painstakingly positioning all the significant and even not so significant locations from the books.

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This last one was from Wizard magazine if my memory serves me right and although it shows New York it's showing us Marvel's New York which of course has some intersting additions to the landscape. The buildings shown here are synonymous with their characters, where else but the Baxter Building would you find the Fantastic Four? Peter Parker would be without a job and the brilliantly comedic J.Jonah Jameson were it not for The Daily Bugle. It's no wonder the X-Mansion in Westchester has been destroyed so many times with maps like this hanging around, could this be the real reason behind their move out to San Fransisco?

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When I was fifteen I dropped Geography for History and I've never regretted it, little did my teacher know all he had to do was add an Arkham Asylum or Avengers Mansion to the maps and I would've been sold.