Gute alte Zeit

The Walking Dead

by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore (Illustrator)

THE WALKING DEAD gehört zu den meistgelobten und erfolgreichsten US-Independent-Serien der letzten Jahre!

Als der Cop Rick Grimes aus dem Koma erwacht, ist nichts mehr wie es war. Zombies bevölkern Nordamerika, vielleicht sogar die ganze Welt. Ursache: unbekannt. Das komplette wirtschaftliche und soziale Netz ist zusammengebrochen. Wer nicht zum lebenden Toten mutiert ist, befindet sich auf der Flucht. Die Großstädte sind völlig in der Hand der schleichenden, hungrigen Untoten. Nur auf dem Land ist es noch einigermaßen sicher. THE WALKING DEAD schildert die Odyssee Grimes durch ein völlig verändertes Amerika. Im ersten Band macht er sich auf die Suche nach Überlebenden – und findet etwas, das er nicht zu hoffen wagte. Mehr als nur Horror!

„In THE WALKING DEAD“, so Autor Robert Kirkman, „möchte ich untersuchen, wie Menschen mit extremen Situationen umgehen und wie solche Ereignisse sie verändern.“ Rick Grimes’ Odyssee durch ein untotes Amerika ist eine Reise zur Erkenntnis, was Leben wirklich bedeutet. Aufgrund der einfühlsamen Erzählweise und der markanten schwarz-weiß-Zeichnungen von Terry Moore und später Charlie Adlard wurde diese Serie zu einem der meistgelobten US-Independent-Titel der letzten Jahre.

Robert Kirkman zählt inzwischen zu einem der bekanntesten Comicautoren der USA und arbeitet u.a. für Marvel (Marvel Zombies, Ultimate X-Men) und Image (OUTCAST). THE WALKING DEAD erhielt 2010 den Eisner Award für die beste Comicserie.

Am 12. Oktober startet bereits die sechste Staffel der gleichnamigen TV-Serie bei Fox.

Mittlerweile gibt es sogar eine Spin-off-TV-Serie: „Fear the Walking Dead“, die ab August 2015 in den USA zu sehen sein wird und die Vorgeschichte des Comics erzählt.

Auch der düstere und nervenaufreibende Comic OUTCAST mit dem Thema Exorzismus (ebenfalls bei Cross Cult erschienen) erhält eine eigene TV-Serie, die 2016 ausgestrahlt werden soll.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Zombies, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

156 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2004

About the author

Robert Kirkman is an American comic book writer best known for his work on The Walking Dead, Invincible for Image Comics, as well as Ultimate X-Men and Marvel Zombies for Marvel Comics. He has also collaborated with Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane on the series Haunt. He is one of the five partners of Image Comics, and the only one of the five who was not one of the original co-founders of that publisher.

Robert Kirkman's first comic books were self-published under his own Funk-o-Tron label. Along with childhood friend Tony Moore, Kirkman created Battle Pope which was published in late 2001. Battle Pope ran for over 2 years along with other Funk-o-Tron published books such as InkPunks and Double Take.

In July of 2002, Robert's first work for another company began, with a 4-part SuperPatriot series for Image, along with Battle Pope backup story artist Cory Walker. Robert's creator-owned projects followed shortly thereafter, including Tech Jacket, Invincible and Walking Dead.

Reviews

[Mario the lone bookwolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Death often comes with felt eternity, especially in long running series like this one, Resident evil, and similar stuff

Establishing backstories to prepare future conflicts
It´s not really that much about secret special recipes for preparing brains, but about how people from different socioeconomic backgrounds develop after the apocalypse. First, as small and later growing groups, until the big „let´s rebuild/build a better society/ establish a terrible dictatorship, etc.“ instinct kicks in and gives it a bit more meta complexity because now

Political, economic, and ideological content can be put in the armored zombie cracking truck engine
But, it can´t get as complex as in satires or sci-fi, because most of it is just at a steampunk level with some left high tech that makes the owners the big wigs. So it´s mostly just superficial because the complex systems criticized in other genres don´t exist here anymore and it´s more anarchy, tribalism, and barter than macroeconomicing the heck out of Friedman and Keynes. That´s why it´s often spiced with the philosophy of groups or individuals to fuel some extra character focused conflict.

Warning, I now want to drivel a bit about the problems I have with the long running of not just this series, but many famous trademarks/franchises in general.
193 comic books and 11 seasons (3 watched 10 years ago) of The Walking Dead show that general fiction, horror, and thriller have a big problem compared with big sci fi and fantasy series, which can play with close to all tropes and genres and mix whatever imaginable. A prime example of how restrictive genre conventions can be.

Seriously, I wonder how this would have evolved and how big it would have become without the TV series.
As so often, different fandoms clash and quarrel, even playing with the option of full fandom wars. It of course doesn´t have to end so disastrously as with Game of Thrones, although one can see the problem and conflict potential by the sheer loads of both graphic novels and seasons that just can´t permanently satisfy each individual post apocalyptic wet dream.

This happens later in the series: First growing a beard, then again losing it in redundancy and repetition
I love everything zombie, movies, novels, games, but there is, as said, a big problem with the limitation of this setting. There can´t be that much science fantasy in it, because many readers expect it to be more realistic survival, which leads to the suspension of disbelief backlash problem, looking at you, Resident evil with fantasy and magic attempts. Shivers. It´s just not possible to endlessly produce new, fresh, and especially credible plots with the always similar storylines, instead, it goes towards necromantic human flesh made soap opera some people might love, because I can luckily still detect my

Possible subjective taste problem
Just maybe (bloody lie!) I am too plot, action, meta, and complex world building prone to fully enjoy too much character focused art and writing. I am absolutely not sure about my ability to assess characterization, because I don´t really care about that as long as the story is awesome. So maybe The Walking Corpses are better than I can perceive, although I am still absolutely not sure about how far to read this series regarding the limited options, especially compared to many other series that have aliens and dwarfs in the mix.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started reading volume 15, couldn't remember what happened before in details so sod it. Fourth time rereading of the original graphic novel series of the now cult TV show. An apocalyptic event leaves a few strangling survivors strive to cope in a world populated, for want of a better term… with zombies! The multi faceted character driven end of world drama that keeps on surprising ...gets better and better every reread!!!

Some key moments... early Glen, Andrea, Andrea and Carol. Meeting Marlon. Shane! The no-go area cities. The only slight negative is the artwork of Moore, as Adlard's art is integral to the franchise now. Smooth Four Star, 8 out of 12.

2019 read, 2017 read, 2013 read and 2011 read!

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review contains *spoilers* for both the tv show (season 1 &2) and the graphic novel.

I absolutely loved the first two seasons of The Walking Dead, so I decided why not give the comic books a chance. And I was not disappointed.

This volume brought back so many memories of the show for me and reminded me of just how much I loved it— even with the jump scares.



But The Walking Dead doesn’t only focus on the gore of killing zombies, it also explores how people deal with extreme situations and how these events CHANGE them.

It was certainly interesting looking back at how Rick started on his journey and how much he has changed and matured since.

But a lot of beloved old characters reappeared:
(GLENN!! CAROL!! ANDREA!! )



Oh, and Shane also appeared which reminded me of how much I despised him (always a fun reminder).


But then Carl shot him, which astonished me, considering that in the tv show it doesn’t happen till much later.



And I don’t remember a Donna from the tv show, but I wholeheartedly agreed with what she brought up:



(I did not like Lori in this story. At all.)

And I almost forgot how gruesome some scenes can be in The Walking Dead, especially when they went on the hunt for guns in Atlanta:

(I had to take a breather after that part.)


But it was interesting seeing how different the pace is compared to the tv show—that’s mainly why I quit after season 5, the pace was too damn slow.

And yet this kind of made me want to continue watching the show?? But if I don’t, I’ll still continue on to volume 2 in this series (I hope sooner rather than later).

*Note: I'm an Amazon Affiliate. If you're interested in buying The Walking Dead, Vol. 1, just click on the image below to go through my link. I'll make a small commission!*


This review and more can be found on my blog.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kudos to Image Comics for saving all that money on a colorist (better, Erica?)!



I get it, I get it!
I'm frugal, too. In fact, We just got back from a family vacation. And the entire time, I couldn't get my youngest to eat anything they served for breakfast at the place we were staying. And they had EVERYTHING there!
Waffles with strawberries and whipped cream...yum.
But she's 6, and none of it tasted like Mommy's food.
On day 3, I spied their stash of Froot Loops.
Yes! We're SAVED!
Or not. 'Cause she spit 'em right out.
Ewwww. These taste funny.
At that point, my husband was giving me one of his classic, What the hell is wrong with your kid looks, and I realized that the Froot Loops tasted funny to her because they weren't the generic Bag 'O Artificially Colored Rings that I normally buy.
Well, shit.

I've never seen the show (Yes. Really.), so I don't know how this compares to it.
Seemed like a fine start for a story about the zombie apocalypse, though.
Personally, I liked that the undead hordes were all pokey and sluggish. It was a nice switch-up from the new Turbo-Zombies that seem to be zipping around here nowadays.
I mean, come on! I can't be the only person who wants to believe that I'd survive the inevitable End of the World, simply because I can shuffle faster than a corpse!

There's a lot of meaningful things that Days Gone Bye explores.
Life lessons, morality lessons, blah, blah, blah.
But what struck me as amazing, didn't have anything to do with the real-life metaphors that Kirkman played with in this thing.
What really impressed me, was that a seven year old kid made a NECK Shot!
Seriously?!
Do you have any idea how hard that would be? Especially from his lower vantage point!
So.
The real moral of the story is that you need to teach your kids how to handle guns. Preferably, as soon as they can toddle.
Someday, it might just save your life.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to really like volume one of The Walking Dead. Most people do like it. They like it a lot. I didn't, which doesn't make anyone better or smarter than anyone else, we just have different tastes.

I appreciate Robert Kirkman wanting to write a social commentary and not just a horror story, but I don't know that he needs to state this in the introduction - all good zombie (and horror) stories are dealing with more than just the surface material, so Kirkman emphasizing his social commentary sounds more like him trying to convince everyone his stuff is smart and deserving of our attention and praise; why not let his graphic novel prove its merit on its own?

I didn't feel that the character development was that deep. The greatest transgressor here was Lori, who is very one-dimensional. She's the most incompetent woman in the whole story. To me, she is just the whining wife character who tries to frustrate Rick's chivalric heroism by not wanting him to go to the city, or she's the over-protective mother figure who doesn't want their son, Carl, to be taught how to shoot a gun (silly women, not letting their boys become men). She's helpless, submissive, and mostly just obnoxious.

I didn't feel that Kirkman explored some of the issues of survival very thoroughly. For example, gender issues and the division of labor is raised when some of the women are going to wash the clothes. But the issue is opened by Donna's shallow complaints about women doing the washing and men doing the hunting. Her argument is bland and Lori's response is equally so, she claims it "isn't about women's rights . . . it's about being realistic and doing what needs to be done." This is a convenient response to shut down Donna, who is very obviously constructed as a whining, judgmental character (we're not supposed to agree with her, but are supposed to discard her opinion as rapidly as Lori does). The problem is that if you're wanting to survive in the apocalypse (or if you just wanna be able to live in our regular supposedly non-apocalyptic life), everyone should be learning as many skills as possible. Kirkman has the opportunity to examine gender roles here, but chooses to reduce the issue to a series of bumper sticker statements that don't really say anything.

This becomes even more of a problem for me when later the women are taught how to shoot. After the argument over who washes and who hunts, it seems silly that women are expected to learn so-called "manly" skills like shooting a gun but men are allowed to remain ignorant to washing clothes. It's a man's world, zombies or no zombies. Obviously, women should learn how to shoot to protect themselves and to catch food, but domestic chores are also important for survival and the men should learn those too. Is this a small detail I'm picking at? Perhaps. But it happens so often in our culture and our stories that it really annoys the hell out of me. And I don't think this is the characters being ignorantly sexist, I think it's Kirkman being ignorantly sexist.

Another instance of cheap dramatics used to show Lori's helplessness and Kirkman's lame gender use is following the laundry washing when the women are attacked by a zombie and Dale beheads it with his axe. The zombie's head is still "alive" which logically means they have to shoot the head to kill it, even though Dale is holding his axe and we see many zombies dispatched with axes and hatchets (including right before this moment when Rick kills the zombie feeding on the deer with his hatchet). Using the gun to kill the head is a lame move, creating bland dramatics to get Rick and Shane to come running back to camp, where Lori cries on Rick's shoulder, completely beside herself with fear - "Oh, God, Rick . . . it was awful." This isn't interesting or exciting, it's an attempt to make a story exciting because the more action, the more cool the story, the more readers.

Gender studies issues aside, The Walking Dead just moves too quickly a lot of the time. A story focusing on the day-to-day challenge of surviving in a blighted landscape should dwell on the monotony of survival, at least some of the time. Kirkman wants the story to drag along and take its time, but it just felt rushed to me. It's like he wanted to have dead time where not much was happening, but then got bored with it and just rushed us on to the next zombie scene where we can be thrilled by Tony Moore's grisly art - mundane chores don't sell stories, but violence does.

Moore's art is pretty good, especially the zombies. But this is an emphasis again on grotesque body horror and violence. There are lots of close-ups of heads getting hacked at and shot. The gore abounds and while that isn't always a bad thing because we are reading a fantasy and zombie stories are a violent, nasty subject, I wonder if Moore was a bit too enamored with killing things.

As I said, I wanted to like this graphic novel, but in the end it was just okay. It coulda, shoulda been brilliant and there are nice moments and signs of real quality. But the effort to make it stellar proved too difficult, so Kirkman and co. chose the much easier, safer route of superficiality.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 stars. You can see by the ratings and the other reviews of this book that a lot of people think very highly of this series and it is certainly justified. This is the kind of excellence in both writing and art that make the graphic novel an incredibly power medium when it is done well. Here….it is done very well indeed. The writing and the art are superb and I don’t think you could ask for better.

Basically, the set up is very familiar. It is a zombie apocalypse, society has broken down and the walking dead control the cities with bands of humans living in the outskirts trying to survive. I think that is enough background for you to understand the basic premise of the series.


Therefore, rather then do a detailed plot synopsis which others have done very well, I thought I would mention 3 things (beyond the aforementioned writing and art) that I really thought set this series apart from your typical zombie/undead apocalypse story.

1. The Realism

The creators of this story have started with an impossible, unbelievable premise and yet from there have done their best to make the reader forget that we are dealing with science ficiton. They have imbued the story with a very realistic tone and the actions and inactions of the characters in the story felt authentic.

2. The Story’s Focus/Pacing

While the zombie’s in this story are very important and provide a great “danger” this story really focuses on the lives of the survivors and how the breakdown of society can affect people differently. The character development is excellent and the emotional resonance is stronger than you typically see in this kind of story.

3. The Zombies

One thing that really struck me while I was reading this is that I found myself feeling sorry for the zombies. I think this was something intentional on the part of the creators. For example, there is a scene early on when Rick is leaving the hospital and there is a female zombie that has here lower body crushed and basically can’t move (I haven’t seen the TV show…yet…but I think this is the woman from the show):

Her body is emaciated and yet she can’t die (presumably for quite a long time). She is just lying there moaning and unable to move. She looked...pitiable, at least in the story.Later on Rick sees this same zombie again and she is in the exact same spot and you can tell it makes him sad.

There are similar scenes throughout the book including this…

Here, Rick and a boy are sneaking into town to try and find more guns and they come across this scene…all of the zombies you see are “alive” (i.e. zombie alive) and yet many of them are trapped and can’t really move. I found this aspect to be very compelling and added an additional layer to the dread of becoming one of these creatures. I thought the writers did an excellent job in this respect.

Overall, I was very impressed with this first volume and plan to continue reading the series. Well written, well constructed plot with believable characters and an engaging storyline. As far as I was concerned, the story was only missing two things that would have made it perfect:
ZOMBIE STORMTROOPERS


AND, OF COURSE….


But that's just me...and I'm a GUY...and I refer you back to the first picture.

[Mika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine waking up from a coma and the whole city is full with zombies.

How could Rick stay so calm at the beginning of the comic? I would have gone crazy if I would see people who are undead walking around. I also was like ‘That's not the Rick Grimes I know’ until he put his hat on and everything and then I saw the similarity.

Rick is so adorable when he worries about his family. Seeing how he trusts his friend and work colleague makes me happy too. He isn't easily influenced by others and I really like that about him.

Rick is so smart, being the first in this comic series to trick the zombies by being aware that they go after smell, not looks.

Rick is so caring. The choice to give his seven year-old son a gun to protect himself when Rick isn't around is such a good idea. I would do the same.

If you haven't noticed yet: Rick is one of my favourite characters!

Carol looks so different from the television series — her hair is longer. I actually like Carol in the later seasons when her hair is even longer, really suits her.

I always disliked Shane 'cause he seemed to have some anger issues and despite understanding why Shane acted the way he did he could have achieved his goals by behaving differently than he did.

The ending was so unexpected, I literally gasped. There's just no way that this actually happened. The TV series definitely did the development of that character better by deciding to not kill them off so soon.

StoryGraph review

[Tina Haigler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, I'm probably the one person on the planet that hasn't watched much of the TV show but I was surprised at how much more quickly things in the comic happen. I feel like season one was probably Vol. 1 and 2 combined. Rule number one for reading this: Do not get attached to any of the characters! At least one person dies in each one, at least they do in the first three volumes, and in most cases it's 2 or more deaths per volume. You can like or dislike characters but do not get attached. At least it's realistic that way. It's definitely gritty, brutal, and more down to earth than a lot of zombie stuff I've seen. Most of the characters are easy to like but the main character's wife is a real piece of work. I absolutely despise her. The art is really good. It is black and white though, which is fine, but I would be interested to see it in color, considering how gory it can be. I definitely like the story, and will continue with the series. I'm glad I found a good horror graphic novel that has a lot of volumes and is still ongoing. Now I'm onward to the next.

[Sean Barrs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whether you’re a comic book fan or a television buff, one thing remains certain: Rick Grimes is a badass.



He’s resourceful too, a real survivor. When other members of the fledgling group are panicking and running around like headless chickens, he acts. When they argue about the next move they should take or which option is safest, Rick, again, acts. He doesn’t mess about. You’ve got to give it to the small town sheriff, he quickly realises what he must do to keep his family alive. And it isn’t pretty. Surviving a zombie apocalypse is no glamorous business. In this first volume, he covers himself with zombie remains to avoid detection in the vast hoard of the undead. By doing so he demonstrates how far he is willing to go protect his family. Guns are everything in this new world, and walking incognito through the hoards is worth the risk if it means a few more firearms around camp.



A lot can be said about Rick from these early issues. From the way he handles the unhinged Shane; to the way he allows his seven year old sun to carry a handgun. He realised very early on how bad things were going to get, and he knew how to respond. Everyone else is still clutching to old world ideas; they are trying to live in the past and use the same set of customs. But, the world’s gone to hell. And, at this point, it seems Rick’s the only one fully aware of this fact. Without him, the group would collapse. The man knows what’s on the horizon. I think his encounter with Shane is pivotal because through it he learns what could happen to him, and what is likely to happen to everyone if they’re not careful.

It’s a perfect foreshadowing of a possible rise in character insanity. I think because of it Rick has to up his game. He takes charge and begins to make the necessary decisions. More importantly, though, for the rest of the group, he dons the face of optimism. He becomes their source of strength. I think I’m going to really enjoy reading through these; it will be interesting to see how it compares to the television show. Already I’m noticing how sanity, and an ability to cope, is being explored much more in these earlier parts of the story. The show picks the idea up much later. Dale is also a much more established character in these comics. This is going to be a fun reading experience.

More Walking Dead Reviews to come!

[Alejandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

The days won't be same anymore!


This is the first volume of the softcover editions of "The Walking Dead", collecting the comic book issues from #1 to #6.


Creative Team:

Writer: Robert Kirkman

Illustrators: Tony Moore

Additional gray tones to inking: Tony Moore


Chapter One

DAYS GONE BYE

Rick... Officer Rick Grimes at your service.

This chapter is the epic beginning of the mega popular franchise of The Walking Dead that first was comic books, then expanded to a TV series and now there are even prose novels.

This first chapter has the great artwork by Tony Moore that certainly made it iconic. The work of Charlie Adlard in the rest of chapters is really good too, specially on the details of things and backgrounds, but definitely if I’d be able to choose, my pick would be on Tony Moore, it was sad that he won’t keep doing the illustrations on the rest of the comic book series. As additional info, Tony Moore remained in the creative team for a while doing the covers of the first twenty-four issues and the covers of the first four regular TPBs.

A good thing about The Walking Dead, if you want to enjoy it in comic books along with TV series is that both storylines are different, sure there will be connecting points here and there, and you will meet the same names of characters (in some cases) but they aren’t the same persons, and trust me, while this is my first compendium in the comic book’s storyline, I have been watching the TV series since its own beginning, and both stories are different, both truly great, but different, so don’t afraid of spoilers in any of both formats, since the events are developed quite different. You may think of the “other storyline” of any format, comic books or TV series, as “the road not taken”.

But truly loyal to the spirit of the franchise.

Officer Rick Grimes, from the Sheriff Deparment in Cynthiana, Kentucky, suffers a shot injury on duty and he falls into a coma. When he wakes up in a hospital bed, after several weeks, he finds himself alone in the building, or at least he thinks that he is alone. Soon enough he meets several “things”, walking “things” that only a word, not matter how nonsensical it sounds, is able to describe those walking “things”...

...ZOMBIES.

And if things aren’t bad enough, Rick doesn’t know the whereabouts of his wife and son!

So, his first priority is to reunite with his family as soon as possible.

Rick’s first stop on his own home leads him to meet Morgan and his son, Duane. Morgan explains him how the world gone to hell while Rick was in coma.

The US Government was asking population to go to big cities to be defended there by the army, and since Lori, Rick’s wife, has family in Atlanta, Rick decides to go there to search for his wife and son, Carl.

On Atlanta, he finds Glenn, an Asian-American young man, who explains him how the world works now.

Rick Grimes’ world would never been the same anymore!

[♡ Sonja Rosa Lisa ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Sterne 🌟
Die erste Folge als Hörbuch/Hörspiel. Ich muss sagen, ich bin positiv überrascht. Eigentlich mag ich keine Zombie-Geschichten, aber ich war neugierig. Ich fand das Hörbuch sehr kurzweilig und unterhaltsam, und mit einer Dauer von nur 43 Minuten ist es natürlich auch schnell gehört.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh yeah......I'm in. "The world we knew was gone."

As it begins, the gunslinging Officer Rick Grimes, hurt in the line of duty, wakes up alone....well almost alone in the hospital. No wife and no best friend-partner watching over him; no nurse or anyone answers his call, and then he finds some of them and realizes the world is not the same.

THE WALKING DEAD comic graphic novel was a quick way to introduce me to the story that family and friends have recommended to me for years....and now I'm hooked too!

Confession....I've spent the last nine days binge watching all eight seasons of the AMC series and have found a very addictive character-driven story of survival. Yes, there's a ton of blood and gore and evil types that do even worse deeds than the walkers, but great entertainment nonetheless as a catastrophic epidemic sweeps the country causing the dead to feed on the living.

Noted some differences comparing novel to series even in this first volume. Can't wait to read and watch more!

[Warda · Rating 4 out of 5]

We all know about the show. I never enjoyed the show.
But this.
Now, this I liked a lot.

[Delee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhhhhhhhhh Yeah- I'm hooked!

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I am on record as having become sick of zombies (somehow appropriate, yes?) and read the first three volumes in, what, 2013 and gave this first volume two stars. The universe seems to have converged on me in two ways to give this another go: I have a son who urges me to recheck it all out; he's on volume (shudder) 21 at the moment, is watching the series and playing the video game, but out of respect and fatherly duty and wanting to make literary connections with him. . .

and then there's the fact of my having seen the 1968 The Night of the Living Dead, which became a cult classic (and maybe still is; I watched it once with a friend JB in Chicago at a film festival in the early seventies, laughing at parts of it (low budget, ad-libbed lines, poorly paid "actors," and so on), and lo and behold, who was behind us laughing with us, was George Romero himself, true story! But I do love the film, I really do! I might have been laughing in part due to several Scotches. . . So to H, me bouncing boy, and George, trying to give Robert Kirkman's story a fair shake.

So, Kirkman opens this long, never-ending saga with a warning that this will go on forever, and it sorat has, as he admits he will not kill off one main character, Rick Grimes, a cop. Kirkman makes it clear his story is character-driven, and it is, as we meet him, his family, his partner, and other survivors working together to survive, that allegorical through-line of dystopian fiction. I like Rick okay, he's earnest. . . and then there are the generic zombies.

I rated this two stars 10 years ago, and I'll say 3 this time. When I gave up ten years ago after 2-3 volumes, friends here encouraged me to read on, let the characters live a little, it gets better and better, but I gave up. This time I'll stay with it longer.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I’ve been interested in reading these comics for years, but never gave it a serious thought. I kinda gave up on TV series after (caution TV spoiler)....


.... Rick makes his mysterious exit on the helicopter. I just lost the desire to watch it and didn’t bother with any of the last season. The skin-walker people look cool and all, but I’m not in a rush to watch it. Anyway....

My kids are really into comics lately and when we were at the library this week, I remembered that I wanted to read this comic. While I’m a big believer in the book being better than the movie (or TV series). I have to give it to TWD TV series. They did an amazing job adapting this comic into a fantastic first season.

Caution Comic Spoiler......

no Daryl, really? Does he make an appearance later? And Shane killed off already? I mean it was pretty short comic. But I thought he’d be around longer. This has my interest peaked. Will there be a Maggie? Or did the TV series just do it’s own thing entirely?

With these being comics, they’re pretty short; so, I’ll likely breeze through them quickly. But with +40 in the series- I’m not sure if I’ll read them all. It’s likely going to be similar to the TV series for me. They’ll kill off a character in the comic and I’ll be done reading the series. Guess we’ll see!

Note: this book is listed as one of the most popular books to be banned, over the past decade, from both schools and private libraries. Support freedom of expression by reading and buying banned books! ❤️📚

[Meredith Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, is this where the random bolding phenomenon is coming from?? Have you all known this and not told me? Is it just so you can laugh behind my back? See? I can’t even randomly bold if I try. It always ends up being for emphasis.

This book is about don’t give kids guns. That’s pretty much it. But, sometimes, you know . . . zombie apocalypse . . . sounds like a good idea to give a kid a gun. And if you think that, you’re an idiot.

My dad used to keep a lot of guns in the house at one particularly precarious point in my childhood, and the parents would leave my brother and I alone for the day while they went to work. One day, my brother found a gun and shot the wall. My mom flipped out, and all the guns got sent out of the house, but I think ultimately it somehow got blamed on the X-Men. Anyway, don’t leave guns in the house.

This was definitely better than the show because not as much emphasis on the love triangle. Also, I like the sounds the zombies make. They say, “Gak” and “Iligh” and other non-zombie-sounding noises. That is pretty great.





I don't know if that's a spoiler or not, but the zombies do make funny zombie noises. Especially when everything else is pretty straight “BLAM” and “POW” and other old school Batman stuff.



Overall, I’m not so big on Westerns, and I think this series is a Western with zombies. British zombies are so much more compelling than American zombies. Watch Dead Set, people. WATCH DEAD SET.

This one is okay, though.

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are amidst a Zombie phenomena, well they have been around since that movie Night of the Living Dead, But did not have as much coverage, there is so many novels and movies now with a zombie theme.

Some neat artwork here representing a zombie gore feast of a struggle for a band of humans against the odds for survival.
This is as most people know the genisis of the tv-series of the same name. I have watched one episode with some reservations due to the gore level and wanted to read the graphic novel first. I must say I am hooked now, as there is a real good story here, I love the band of survivors, especially the brave son and i just want to be there on the road with them.

Tv Series Trailer featured here and The making of it

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Han pasado siete años desde la última vez que lo leí, no al completo porque me faltó el último arco y ahora estoy emocionado por releer y darle fin a una de las historias que marcó mi infancia/adolescencia.

Nunca estaré lo suficientemente agradecido con mi hermana mayor por ser tan "mala" y traumarme de pequeño con diversas películas de terror y sobre todo con una serie de zombies como TWD, que fue mi primer contacto con una epidemia, supervivencia y muertes sangrientas, dolorosas y horribles a manos de zombies y otras personas. Gracias a ella nació mi amor por el género del horror y terror.

Del cómic no voy a ser su mayor defensor ahora que soy adulto, porque si comparo este primer tomo con la serie me parece que la parte del personaje de Shane está mejor desarrollada en la adaptación porque aquí no dura casi nada y no diría que la escena sea anticlimática porque sirve en el factor sorpresa pero se siente bastante apresurado resolver el conflicto de esa forma. La serie lo aprovecha más. Y también la parte de la exploración de Atlanta y las hordas de zombies.

Por otro lado, la parte de Amy siempre fue para mí la más shockeante y la parte de Jim la más triste. Eso sí, leánlo. Si no han visto la serie, pues mejor, que ahora mismo es una de las más largas y el cómic es sencillo de seguir y súper ligero. Además, el dibujo es bueno y apenas esto está por comenzar porque se vienen cosas jugosas y potentes en la trama.

[Laurie –Read Between The Skylines– · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It's not the same as killing the dead ones, Daddy."
"It never should be, son.
It never should be."

I'm so glad I finally decided to read the comic! It was so powerful to have more depth and more layers to the story, and the comic form is as addictive as the series. It is basically the same story in both but it still gave me the feels.

I felt peace, hope and calm


I felt pain, sorrow and grief



I felt hatred, heartbreak and disappointment



It is so weird to see the character so unaware of what will happen next, not knowing yet that the living ones will be the worst down the road. It felt almost peaceful, putting the zombie apocalypse thing apart.

I would definitely recommend this book even though you have seen the series, and to my opinion there is no "right way" to start. Series first or comics first, I think that both are possible and they both add up to each other.

It missed some Daryl, Merle and T Dog vibe, though And I liked the fact that we witnessed Carol distress with her husband in the series. But nontheless I'm just jumping right away to the next book!

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gruesome, intense, and addictive, this first dive into the nightmare of Rick Grimes and the Zombie Apocalypse is a gory but beautiful achievement for a graphical novel. Inked in black and white, the black blood has an even more lugubrious impact as do the faces of the Walkers. The way that the story is unveiled from a narrative point of view was great and unforgettable. I read it after watching the first few seasons of the show and remain pleased with both. I think the TV version dragged a bit through the first 7-episode season cut short by the writer's strike of which Breaking Bad also had to deal, but it did capture the hopelessness and gravitas that these comic book pages describe. Now that the stories have diverged so much, I continue to follow both and try to appreciate them as parallel universes (like those of GoT on page and in the book, or the multiple Superman, Batman, Spiderman, etc. reboots and reinventions).

2023 post-COVID reread: I still appreciate the graphics, but what Kirkman does so well is character development. His creation of Rick waking into the Zombie apocalypse is handled perfectly. And the closing scene with the Shane-Carl-Rick showdown was a great microcosm of how the rest of the series will play out. Definitely was worth rereading!

[Jess | FairyTale Pages · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this! I've watched a few of the first episodes on TV, and honestly I liked this so much more. Maybe it's because I'm a baby and I don't think the zombies look as scary as in the show? Maybe that's part of the reason. But this was really good!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit of horror, a little bit of drama, this is a great addition to the graphic novel genre, with the author clearly having a passion for zombies. It’s the social aspect of the apocalyptic world that’s explored in greater depth here, with convoluted and complicated characters with complex problems greater than that simply of a zombie attack. If this was just about zombies it wouldn’t work. It needs Rick, Carl, Lori, Shane and all the others to bring the story to ‘life’.

I admit I’m a little bit terrified of zombies. It’s the over hanging, constant threat of a swarm attack that really ramps up the ever present tension. Add to this a group of very realistic, flawed characters and a gungo-ho attitude to killing them off, and I can almost image this is real. Scary stuff.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a complete amateur when it comes to this stuff, but I'm really enjoying my time exploring comics and graphic novels. It's hard to rate them because I don't have anything else to really compare them against since I've only read two, so four stars is my baseline for now.

I watched the first few seasons of the show, but then I lost interest when they just wandered around a farm for episode after episode. I get bored easily so I moved on to something else, probably Breaking Bad or something, I don't know. But, then everyone is all like, "Justin, it gets better! You gotta check it out again!" to which I generally ignore this enthusiasm and watch something else, probably Narcos or something because obviously I like shows about manufacturing and selling illegal drugs.

So recently I find myself in this comic book superhero movie TV graphic novel Marvel DC Universe X-Men Apocalypse Star Wars phase and I ran across this bad boy while browsing the deep dark depths of the interwebs. Did you like that alliteration? This was exciting stuff. As someone who has been an avid fan of grayscale in any art form for the past 20 years (that's a rough estimate because I really have no idea) I really liked the drawings whether they depicted zombies biting someone's face off or a slow zoom out of a desolate wasteland. They were really well done and added an extra creepy element to the story like when The Mist released a black and white version of the movie and it made it feel a whole lot different than the boring regular old color version.

The story was also really cool and reminded me why I started watching the TV show in the first place. There are zombie attacks like crazy, but there is depth to the characters. There are emotions and desperation and hope and fear all rolled up into the story that makes it easier to feel for this motley crew of people.

I'm excited to continue reading these and yeah yeah yeah I started the show again recently. I'm going to give it another shot and see what happens when these guys get the hell off the stupid farm.

Looking forward to it.

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m also one of the stooges who came to the party late. That’s to say, I watched the series before reading the book, or graphic novel to be exact. Heck, when I purchased “the complete season one” I wasn’t even aware that it was based on a book. Now, when something like this happens, there is absolutely no way to undo it. There is no way to un-remember the visual medium and any first impressions, so it’s all spilt milk.

But it is every goodreader’s sworn duty, if you’ve enjoyed the show, to read the books... if only to consider the parallels, and the differences. There are some hilarious memes out there which you’ll appreciate a lot more once you’ve read this, at the very least. I particularly enjoyed the joke about the post-apocalyptic lawns always being mown and neat (in the book everything is overgrown and decrepit, as you would expect).

As for the book: it’s pretty good, although it’s pretty darn brusque. To be completely honest, I have mixed feelings about it. Normally I’d be quick to say the book is better than the movie (it is almost always the case), but there are actually one or two things that the show does better (in my opinion). However, it’s early days yet, since this is only book 1, so I’ll see how it progresses from here.

It’s interesting to note that the art is black & white. This didn’t immediately appeal to me, but it serves well to underline the dreary existence of a zombie-apocalypse. And the art is just as gruesome as what you’d expect after seeing the show.

It obviously isn’t a direct adaptation either. The TV show does take some artistic license, but for the most part it’s for the best, especially the Shane arc, which is just a bit awkwardly handled in the book.

All in all, it isn’t mind-blowing, and I probably wouldn’t have read it if it wasn’t for the show. But it’s interesting enough that I will continue to read the series, at least as long as I’m watching the show.

[Rodrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado, me ha traído viejos recuerdos cuando empecé a ver la serie, y he recordado a viejos protagonistas. La formación del grupo inicial de supervivientes.
Gran final e impactante para el que no ha visto la serie, claro, para el que la vió pues le trae viejos recuerdos.

[B Schrodinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

For everyone not in the know I have a soft spot for apocalyptic fiction. My first SF read as a burgeoning nerd was The Day of the Triffids. It certainly moulded me into the reader that I am today. But although these stories are fiction, the more scientifically removed from reality zombie type apocalypse is by far not my favourite. Nuclear fallout, deadly virus, environmental collapse; these all seem entirely plausible. But there is no precedence for zombies despite fans holding onto the parasites of insects stories.

Zombie apocalypses are not for me.

But I do like Shaun of the Dead. That has to do with laughs though.

So investing this much time in zombie apocalypse was a big leap for me and I did enjoy the comic series on the first read-through. But watching the series afterwards I was struck by the differences in character and the stories. I abandoned the series midway through series 3. I felt it was too talky. The main characters annoyed me and were more stupid than their comic counterparts. The Governor was just not scary.

So here I am a couple of years later and I'm going to reread the comic series.

It's interesting to note that like 28 Day Later the story starts with a complete ripoff of Triffids. The main character has been in hospital and wakes up to the apocalypse. This time it's Rick, a police officer who was injured by gunshot wound. Rick wakes up to a very different world. I think it hints that there was about 4 weeks or so that he was in a coma. How he survived I do not know. Power was off. Surely anything giving him nourishment via drip in that time needed power or the need to be replaced. Shhh Brendon, don't poke holes!We follow Rick as he tries to make sense of his immediate neighbourhood and then tries to meet his family. This quest leads him towards Atlanta, Georgia.

The people he meets are interesting and they do each have their own stories. That's one strength of the comics. There are no cookie-cutter characters and the writer does manage to give them all a voice.

We end this volume with a large confrontation between Rick's old world and the new. It definitely tells everyone that old world allegiences do not matter in the new world.

So we are left with everyone on the move south towards warmer weather and away from the zombie hordes in Atlanta.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think some of the pleasure of reading this graphic novel was taken away from watching the first two seasons of the TV series. There obviously weren't that many surprises and I would say 75% of the graphic novel was like several of the episodes. Without giving spoilers I'd say certain parts of the TV series were better. Probably because they built on the comic which came first. Then again, some instances of the graphic novel were better than the series so I don't feel I'm biased towards one or the other.

Anyway, this tale focuses upon a police officer (Rick Grimes) who gets shot, goes into a coma at the hospital and awakens to discover a zombie apocalypse. He then makes his way to survivors and the rest of the tale is about survival sprinkled with moral decisions.

From Wiki: “The Walking Dead received the 2010 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series at San Diego Comic-Con International. The series was adapted into the AMC television series The Walking Dead, which premiered in 2010. The television program has inspired a Kirkman-approved full length novel prologuing the comic book's timeline. The series has been translated into numerous languages such as Danish, Portuguese, Spanish, Serbian, Polish, French, Turkish and Japanese.”

Written by Robert Kirkman with black and white panels by Tony Moore.

ARTWORK PRESENTATION: B; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B minus to B; HORROR THEMES/FOCUSES: B; STORY/PLOTTING: B; WHEN READ: early September 2012; OVERALL GRADE: B.

SPOILERS: I liked it when Rick escaped from the zombies in the city going underneath the tank and up the hole. I also liked that one of the dead men within came to life suddenly and he used his gun and hurt himself with the gunshot. The killing of Shane so easily, well, I think the series milked it for a longer period of time. Rick's fears are demonstrated visually far better in the graphic novels than the series though I suspect too much fear would have turned the TV masses off.

[destiny ♡ howling libraries · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been watching The Walking Dead for years on AMC (though I'm not up to date on the latest season), but this was my first time picking up the graphic novel series that inspired it. I've been told by so many people that the graphic novels are incredible, so I finally decided to see what the hype was about. Those people were not wrong, let me tell you!

I LOVED this graphic novel. The art is fantastic (and I was amazed by how similar some of the characters look to the actors/actresses who were cast to play them), and the story line is, as expected, really enjoyable and action-packed. There are a few differences from the show, as I assumed there would be, but without spoiling anything, I'll just say that the ending of this graphic novel was so different and unexpected that it made my jaw drop.