I had exclusive access to The Walking Dead at New York Comic Con, and yes, I know—you're jealous. I've never known any other show to be as universally loved by all my friends.

With the third season kicking off tonight at 9PM EST on AMC, creator Robert Kirkman, producer Gale Anne Hurd and stars Andrew Lincoln, Michael Rooker, Chandler Riggs, Danai Gurira and David Morrissey all showed up to plug their baby—whose ratings are anything but D.O.A.

I arrived and met my friend by the actual R.V. used on the series, which had to be transported here from Georgia—no mean feat since it is not road-worthy. It was swarmed by all-too-realistic-looking zombies. Pity the fools who requested photos with them, only to be devoured.

Dead meet

Inside, I was able to hang out with the cast backstage. All were personable and in good spirits. They seem to love each other and to enjoy a job that entails a lot of entrails. I spotted Norman Reedus's ex-wife, supermodel Helena Christensen, too. Her son Mingus was turning 13 and would later receive an audience-wide chorus of "Happy Birthday" at the panel Q&A.

The fans craved pressing the human flesh

I joined two sweepstakes winners to be among the first to greet the stars at a limited event open to only 100 fans—most of whom had camped out overnight in order to get the ticket. There were rules against doing photos, especially behind the table, but the fans were so well-behaved and the actors so game that plenty of that happened. At one point, Andrew Lincoln came around to pose with a guy dressed up like the trooper from the series, aiming a gun squarely at his camera.

Got 'em all!

When that was all over, we headed over to the absolutely packed panel, where the cast submitted to a hilarious Q&A moderated by Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick. Hysterically, most of the audience members who asked questions were little kids (who shouldn't be watching this show), leading Hardwick to call for any toddlers or fetuses in the house to step right up.

Andrew sighs, Norman signs

The funniest moment was an incest joke by Andrew Lincoln, who covered his face in shame after cracking everyone up with it. Young Chandler Riggs was the most articulate cast member despite being a kid; Michael Rooker had some truly die-hard fans who kept calling out his name. Fanboys in love.

With Lincoln and Reedus

Rooker & Morrissey

Chandler Riggs

Gale Anne Hurd

Reedus & Gurira

Robert Kirkman

We learned that Norman Reedus's fans love his pretty eyes, that the cast is really good at not providing spoilers and that not everything that happened in the original comic book will happen on the show.

It was a great time and I strongly recommend meeting up with this cast if you get the chance. After the panel, Reedus must have spontaneously signed over 100 autographs from the stage—you don't get that with most #1 shows.