This may be one of the coolest television/comic publicity campaigns – ever.

Today it was announced that a real life Walking Dead zombie obstacle course would come to Petco Park in San Diego for Comic-Con 2012, where participants will enter and try to survive.

From The New York Times:

Organizers of The Walking Dead: Escape said in a news release that it was “unlike any obstacle course event” in the United States, allowing participants to play “a Survivor and race through the zombie infested evacuation zone; a Walker who becomes one of the undead, embracing the inevitable; or a Spectator who watches the apocalypse from sidelines at the Escape Party.” It is scheduled to take place from July 12 through 15, dates that neatly align with the annual Comic-Con International festival in San Diego as well as the release of the 100th issue of “The Walking Dead.”

Those who take part in the event as Survivors must “climb, crawl and slide in an effort to avoid confrontation by hordes of Walkers,” the release said, adding that it “is not a race, and Survivors are not timed, but the end is near, and they must move swiftly.”

Robert Kirkman, the “Walking Dead” comics writer and founder of the Skybound imprint of Image Comics, said in a statement, “We are literally transforming Petco Park into the early days of society’s collapse and San Diego is just the first city to fall.”

The event is primarily to promote the Walking Dead comic series, but we’re sure participants will be heavily reminded of the television show as well.

More details can be learned at The Walking Dead Escape website. Tickets for the event are on sale now and will run you $70 (we wish this were free, like most promotional events at Comic-Con).