THE WALKING DEAD, VOL. 1

Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore

MSRP $14.99, 144 Pages.

Published by Image Comics.

The gripping story of the human survivors in a world overrun by zombies begins.

An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, causing the dead to rise and feed on the living. In a matter of months, society has crumbled: There is no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV. Rick Grimes finds himself one of the few survivors in this terrifying future. A couple months ago he was a small town cop who had never fired a shot and only ever saw one dead body. Separated from his family, he must now sort through all the death and confusion to try and find his wife and son. In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally begin living.

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Customer Reviews

We Are The Walking Dead

Rating

Quick & Dirty: This darkly dangerous tale pulls you into an apocalyptic world of zombies, mayhem, and cannibals. You can run, but you can't hide. You are The Walking Dead...

Opening Sentence: This is not good.

The Review:

This October a new series on AMC, The Walking Dead, will premier. Frank Darabont, director of The Mist, one of my favorite horror movies, is the new series' writer, director and producer. I knew The Walking Dead was based on the comic book of the same name, so I decided to check out the source material, and wow! I'm glad I did. The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman & Tony Moore (with help from Cliff Rathburn) is among the greats of the genre, comfortably sharing the stage with Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later and Max Brooks' World War Z. The Walking Dead is, if nothing else, certainly the best zombie comic to date. Admittedly, as a sporadic comic reader, I had really low expectations before I sat down to read this series. I'm pleased to say that Robert Kirkman shattered my expectations and that The Walking Dead is genuinely one of the most compelling stories I've ever read in any format.

Volume 1: Days Gone By covers issues 1-6, which follows Rick Grimes, a small-town sheriff. Rick awakens in an abandoned hospital (evoking a little déjà vu for those of us familiar with 28 Days Later). It isn't long before Rick realizes something horrible has happened while he's been in a coma because there are bodies everywhere. Worse still, Rick soon discovers that these corpses don't stay still. They roam. They lurk. But worst of all, they bite. Rick and his family, along with other scattered survivors, struggle to survive in a world overrun by the walking dead. Survivors are outnumbered and completely fu*@ed. You'll quickly get swept up in Rick's story. You'll find yourself hoping for the best, but also dreading what might lurk around the corner, under every car, and behind every closed door. Kirkman excels at conveying an almost palpable sense of dread and the result is no one EVER feels safe.

This is a character driven story and is as much about each character trying to cope with their new reality as it is about huge action scenes. Quite naturally, this new reality takes its toll mentally and physically. The constant threat of death from the walking dead is only part of the horror. Indeed, the living are to be feared as much as the dead. Sometimes more so. Much of the story of The Walking Dead centers around whether people are fundamentally good or whether in times of crisis they will do anything to survive. Are you willing to do anything, and I mean anything, to survive? Will you leave a friend to die to save yourself? Would you kill to save yourself? Would you kill to save your child?

The artwork for The Walking Dead is beautiful. Every emotion is captured with great detail by Tony Moore and Cliff Rathburn. It takes real talent to draw ordinary people. An old man or a scrawny teenager is a lot harder to draw than a brawny spandex clad superhero. The artists pay just as much attention to the decaying cityscapes and to the undead themselves. It's amazing that no two walking dead ever seem to look alike and quite a tribute to the ample artistic talents of Tony Moore and Cliff Rathburn.

The Walking Dead is a MUST read series. It's well written, finely detailed in black and white, and addictive. Trust me; the only thing tougher than trying to survive the zombie apocalypse is having to wait for the next issue.

The Walking Dead Series:

1. Volume 1: Days Gone Bye

2. Volume 2: Miles Behind Us

3. Volume 3:Safety Behind Bars

4. Volume 4: The Heart's Desire

5. Volume 5: The Best Defense

6. Volume 6: The Sorrowful Life

7. Volume 7: The Calm Before

8. Volume 8: Made to Suffer

9. Volume 9: Here We Remain

10. Volume 10: What We Become

11. Volume 11: Fear The Hunters

12. Volume 12

FTC Advisory: I purchased my own copy.

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A Typical Set-Up, But Worthy Introduction, To A Zombie Classic

Rating

When I heard that AMC was going to produce a television series based on the zombie epic "The Walking Dead," I was both concerned and delighted. A bona fide classic in undead lore, "The Walking Dead" graphic novels are brutal and surprising--not really what I would picture for a basic cable TV show (the first season is slated for 6 episodes, we'll see if it goes beyond that). But AMC has produced terrific and prestigious shows like "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad," so I'm pretty stoked to see what they do with this. Add Frank Darabont of "Shawshank Redemption" fame as the creative force behind the show, and we just might have a winner! In anticipation, I've gone back through the volumes of "The Walking Dead" to discover again the many pleasures that this series has to offer.

"Chapter One: Days Gone Bye" is the jumping off point--and, in truth, sets things up in a fairly typical way. After being involved in a shoot-out, cop Rick awakes from a coma isolated, but not alone, in a local hospital. Apparently, in the time he was out, something has shifted in the world and now the dead walk. The chapter introduces Rick and many other principles as he tries to figure out what is happening as he crosses the state to locate his family. On the outskirts of Atlanta, Rick is reunited with his wife Lori, son Carl, and police partner Shane with a group of other survivors. At this stage, hope is still alive and people are just waiting to be rescued and order restored. While the set-up has been quite familiar, the chapter highlight involves a very real human betrayal that redefines the mindset of all involved. A lot of characters are introduced to set the basis for the rest of the story. Good, with an emotionally charged finale, this is a worthy introduction that gets our band of survivors on the road.

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Comic Newbie who thinks The Walking Dead is amazing...

Rating

Okay, so I've never read a comic book or graphic novel in my life. It just didn't seem like my type of thing and I've always thought that I would never get into reading something like that. But I figured since the TV show is coming out soon, I love zombies/horror/apocalyptic books and movies, what better way to branch out of my reading comfort than to about things I usually enjoy. And I must say that it was far from a mistake because I loved the first volume of The Walking Dead.

Zombie fan that I am, I had assumed that the only thing I would like about The Walking Dead would be, you know, the zombies. However, while I liked the zombies, I was completely enthralled by the characters and the whole dire situation that they were in. I was also very into the drama of their lives: the love triangles, the spats between the non-judgmental with the actual judgemental, etc., etc. The way humanity was portrayed just seemed very real to me. In times of crisis, people's true colors come out whether those colors happen to be pleasant or not (and most times they aren't pleasant). There was no sugar-coating of the human spirit. It was what it was.

Like I've mentioned before, I've never read a comic book before so I'm not sure what's considered to be "good" comic book art and "bad" comic book art. The illustrations seemed pretty well done to me (Sure, I confused Rick and Shane a couple of times until I remembered "Okay, Shane is the bulky one with the scowl permanently attached to his face and Rick is the string bean one with the heroic facial expressions"). The zombies seemed zombie like and brutal (of course not as they look on TV or movies but still pretty damn good).

It did take me a few pages to follow who was saying what (the bubbles got a bit confusing for a minute) and to get used to the comic book format in general. But it wasn't too bad for a complete and total newbie like me. And I did laugh when the zombies "Ugh"-ed and "Glak"-ed since apparently that's all the zombie vocabulary requires; in fact it's practically a staple.

So, I did love The Walking Dead. It was brutal and gory but most importantly it had heart. It's about a man trying to protect his family. That was heartwarming. In the interest of full disclosure, I am going to say that this comic book did make me cry, not only once, but twice. This was just very entertaining and really great. I have Volume 2 waiting for me and I've already put volumes 3 and 4 on hold from my library. Yay! for me finding a new form of reading. Can't wait to seek out more comics/graphic novels.

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First volume is fun, if limited, but the story starts running after this

Rating

Rick Grimes, a small town cop, gets shot, falls into a coma, and wakes up to the zombie apocalypse. After waking Rick discovers that dead people are trying to eat him and his wife and child are missing. Through luck, Rick stumbles upon some new neighbors and figures out what's going on--and how he's most likely to find his family should they still be alive.

In every zombie movie, film, game--whatever--there has to be a balance between the zombies and the living. Too little zombie exposure and it barely fits in the zombie genre, but ignoring the living is even worse. Without characters to struggle with, there's nothing to keep reading/watching for anyway. I've always admired the works of George Romero because he really seems to understand that balance. Just look at DAWN OF THE DEAD (I'm talking the original, guys). The character development is just heartbreakingly perfect. And the zombies are a constant, encroaching threat. Absolutely wonderful.

So, like the nerd I am, I was reading Robert Kirkman's introduction to the graphic novel and saw: "Give me 'Dawn of the Dead' over 'Return of the Living Dead' any day." It's always nice to know that one has similar tastes in zombies before beginning. Reading on in the introduction, I liked what Kirkman wanted to do, too. Rather than just a short piece of a protagonists zombie-infested life, he wants to chart that whole character's existence in the apocalyptic world. THE WALKING DEAD will "chronicle" Rick's life.

Well, count me in.

Honestly, I've been meaning to get around to THE WALKING DEAD, but have been putting it off. First of all the series is long. (Currently, there are 11 graphic novels released with a 12th on the way this fall.) Second, there's no end in sight. While not a bad thing (far from it), it's awfully hard for me to commit to a series that I'll have to follow actively. Third, there are a lot of excellent graphic novels out there to choose from. THE WALKING DEAD finally got bumped to the top of my list because a friend informed me that there's an AMC adaptation planned for the series. Plus, the adaptation looks amazing, so I settled in and decided to catch up. By "catch up" I mean that I'm already well into the fifth graphic novel, so I already know how a lot of the things I liked and disliked in the first pan out. However, I won't be giving out spoilers, so don't worry.

When I finished the first volume of THE WALKING DEAD I had a few things that really stuck out in my mind:

I really don't want to talk to anyone about how the story begins, because if it's not a homage to 28 DAYS LATER, then I don't know how to explain it. Dude-wakes-up-from-come-to-zombies is iconic now to that successful film (which was, of course, amazing). I'm not screaming "plagiarism" or "unoriginal." In fact, I think the creators claim that THE WALKING DEAD was in production pre-28 DAYS LATER, but it's just a little awkward to explain all the same. And, unfortunately, having seen such a beginning before drains any possible impact...

Next, I didn't really like the portrayal of women in the first volume. Mostly this comes from two incidents that I'll keep vague. One is a woman who challenges the anti-feminist (or perceived anti-feminist view of the others) and is immediately shown to be weak and unable to defend herself. The second is a case in which wise Rick knows best and Lori is the overreacting mother. They just didn't set well with me. (And since this was a major issue for me in the first book, I'll let those curious know: some of the weird female issues stay and others are blown completely out of the water by some cool stuff. I'll get to that in reviews of the next volumes.)

Finally, the art is pretty awesome. I hadn't realized how accustomed I've grown to color comics. In fact, I can't even remember the last black and white comic I read, but the lack of color really works for THE WALKING DEAD. The world around the characters is stark, beautifully drawn in a simple and constant sort of way, and the shades of gray are always just perfect for the mood of the story. Not to mention, a novel that would be as bloody as THE WALKING DEAD really redirects its purpose with the choice not to splatter its pages with bright colors and blood. It's a little more dignified and restrained. It reminds me of watching NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

This first volume doesn't quite hit its stride. It's a fun read, if only for the brewing melodrama between the cast, but there are better things yet to come in later volumes. THE WALKING DEAD: DAYS GONE BYE is the unavoidable awkward introduction to a cast that will become the front and center of the story--along with their alliances, mishaps, and betrayals.

Because I've read ahead I can say: it gets better. The first volume is fun, if limited, but the story starts running after this.

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Beautifully drawn

Rating

...only negative thing about this comic is that it's short (not physically but you read it in one sitting since it's great).

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