The first Walking Dead compendium volume is already a must have for anyone looking to start reading Robert Kirkman’s infamous zombie comic series. The paperback format of this volume contains the first intense 48 issues for a very small price of just $59.99, far less than you’d have paid for the issues in single issue format or even in trade paperback form! (Of course you can pay less than a dollar an issue if you buy the paperback on Amazon for $38). But a volume that contains nearly 50 issues a book take some time to put out, simply because you need a lot of comics already published to fill the thing. But Kirkman continues to roll onward with The Walking Dead, and now as we approach issue #100′s release next week, The Walking Dead compendium volume 2 has just been announced!

The Walking Dead compendium volume 2 is another thick collection of 48 issues, bringing together The Walking Dead #49-96. This paperback is a must for anyone following the tale of Rick Grimes on AMC’s TV show and wanting to get ahead or read up on the source material. Set to his stores October 3rd, the compendium will be released by Image Comics and Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment imprint. With an incredible new cover by artists Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn (seen to the left), the second compendium packs a surprising 1,068 pages for just $59.99. “It’s just such a big, huge book that really offers a lot of bang for your buck,” Robert Kirkman says. “The idea of having Volume 1 and 2 sitting next to each other on a reinforced shelf really excites me. I’m thrilled that we finally have enough issues released to be able to produce Volume 2. Now I’m looking forward to four years of ‘When does Volume 3 come out?’ “

If you haven’t already, can pick up The Walking Dead compendium volume 1 paperback at San Diego Comic Con next week (just swing by the Image Comics/Skybound booth at #2729), but Kirkman has an even more amazing treat for fans looking for something a bit more limited and hardbound:

Fans of THE WALKING DEAD got a sneak peek at the hardcover edition of THE WALKING DEAD Compendium, Volume One at Emerald City Comicon in March, and now they’ll get a second chance to purchase one of the coveted tomes at Comic-Con International in San Diego.

The one hundred copies of the gold-stamped, hardbound edition brought to Seattle sold out in a matter of minutes, leaving 900 copies left to sell at Comic-Con, which takes place in the San Diego Convention Center on July 11-15. The hardcover Compendium collects issues #1-48 of THE WALKING DEAD by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, Charlie Adlard, and Cliff Rathburn, and is $100.

Because of the limited quantity, attendees will draw tickets at the Image Comics/Skybound booth (#2729) for a chance to purchase a Compendium. Attendees will draw from a bowl of tickets, and if the ticket they draw is a winner, they will get to purchase one copy of the Compendium. A limited number of Compendiums will be sold each day and are limited to one copy per person. Each attendee may draw tickets only once per day. The tickets will be available each day at the opening of the convention, beginning on July 11 (Preview Night), and will be available until all of that day’s compendiums are sold out.