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@**0
The beginning of the end!
Having let the TV series pass me by for some time, I began watching it and was hooked. After a series of Walking Dead Marathons I had caught up with TV series and decided to fill the time until the next series with the books which started it all.I was familiar with some aspects of The Walking Dead as I had read interviews with Robert Kirkman in CLiNT Magazine (sadly no longer running) which didn’t give much away in terms of plot, but gave an idea of the overall scope and angle of the series. The fore-word in the book emphasises the fact that this isn’t just a horror comic about flesh-eating zombies, that’s merely the backdrop to the story about Rick. This is a character driven story which happens to be set in a zombie apocalypse, if society were to find itself ‘fixed’, if in time some semblance of normality would return – Rick’s story would still continue.I won’t use this review to compare the graphic novel with the TV Series as they are both excellent ways to enjoy the Walking Dead. The Walking Dead comics no doubt fed (and continues to feed) ideas into the TV series and it benefitted from being created after the Walking Dead world had been fleshed out (no pun intended). It’s clear early on though that if you came to the comics after watching the TV series, you are going to experience something which is very familiar, but also quite different – even if you remember the episodes well (and I do!), this offers a whole new level of shocks and surprise – no tension is lost and the books are edgier, able to show us the zombie filled landscape in a much darker way. It’s gloriously twisted and always grounded in reality.Reality here is captured by the realistic interactions between characters, the way they speak and react to each other. Very early on the characters feel multi-faceted and substantial, without this plausability the books would never have been as successful, it invests in great characters and it’s their journey you experience. Having such a feel for the folk on the pages heightens the sense of danger and makes every situation more intense. The story opens with an fairly prescriptive opening, a man wakes up in hospital – his comatose state perversely protecting him from the horrors happening on the streets, this John Wyndham-esque introduction has been copied many times – and post-apocalyptic, zombie filled streets are hardly original. There’s never been a Rick Grimes before though and despite a dangerously formulaic start, The Walking Dead establishes itself as one of the most original and standout pieces of literature for a long time. Kirkman largely ignores the zombies, the fantastic artwork by Tony Moore tells us their story (their clothes and condition hinting at the human life before the ‘turn’) instead we see the quarrels, laughs and concerns of a band of survivors whose future is far from certain.In a nutshell: Exploring the human condition by placing them in the midst of a nightmare. The genius of the Walking Dead is focussing on the those experiencing the nightmare, those who must deal with the monsters – rather than the monsters themselves. Constant gore and bloody dismembering can be visually stunning, but it can all get a bit ‘meh’ after a while – but seeing how people deal with that level of real fear, seeing how it shapes them is compelling. By the end of this volume the world and the lives of those in Rick’s group will never be the same, and there’s a long way to go yet!
L**N
This is turning into a serious addiction
And I mean, I can't stop reading these graphic novels... It's getting to be a problem. But I'm sorry, they are just SO GOOD!I'm about to receive the 7th volume of the series, and I can say up to this point, I have laughed, cried, picked my jaw back up off the floor and panicked.Of course, I'd seen the TV series after my boyfriend had recommended them. I was sceptical at first, but then after watching seasons one and two, I was loving it! Me and my other half discuss zombie apocalypses just like another couple would discuss what they want for dinner. This has just fuelled my love for anything zombie and survival based.I love the fact the series focuses on humanity, and trying to retain it through immense hardship. We've all seen movies and TV series that focus on the infection and how it came about. But this, from what I have read so far, is so much more. They face tough decisions and situations, not just through the whole dead people waiting to eat off your face, but the problems with fellow survivors.I also love the fact that each character has a little sub story of their own, mostly based on how they have survived up to this point, their love interests and what they "job" they do to keep their little "civilisation" running in order. As it is mentioned in the story that as a group of people what they did before the collapse of human kind is insignificant, now the fact is that you could end up dead at any moment.I am seriously in love with this whole series, even though I've only read up to volume 7. The illustrations are perfect, gritty even. I would recommend these novels to anyone, especially someone who is a fan of horror and books. Even if you are not keen on reading books, this offers short and snappy dialogue, which for the people who despise reading is just about perfect, I believe.One criticism, is that the novels are way too short for my liking. I am a very quick reader, and I find that I can finish one book in 40 minutes! Wonder if anyone else has that problem? I can always go back and soak up the drawings. As a person who likes to draw myself I am in awe.To round off, buy it. Amazon offers the cheapest price. Shops in the UK retail at £10.99 per volume. Amazon is much more reasonable if you are sceptical like I was. Think of it as an investment, should any zombie related stuff goes down. :)
H**S
Excellent
I won't insult you by explaining the Walking Dead to you, you know what it is about. The end of the world, hordes of zombies and survivors fighting to survive.After watching all of the episodes on television, I thought I had better go back to where it all began and read the graphic novel series. This could be an expensive decision as I rather enjoyed volume one and I think it is on volume twenty something now.Obviously the tv show and the novel don't always follow the same plot but it was nice to see how the characters were originally imagined. I mean when I see Rick, I see Andrew Lincoln but this volume shows me the characters in a totally different light. It also shows how well the casting of the tv show did with matching some of the characters to their on screen counterparts.The characters feel wonderfully real, from their facial expressions to the dialogue, all illustrated brilliantly, plus with it being drawn in monochrome shades the world looks suitably bleak.Yes I know The Walking Dead does feature a lot of blood and gore, something that does not come in shades of gray but those zoms look suitably bloody and nasty, don't worry about that.Volume One follows Rick's awakening from his coma, his discovery that the world has gone to hell and his family are gone. Rick finds his family but he also finds new friends, fellow survivors each with their own tale to tell - Carol is not a badass at this point!I'm still new to reading graphic novels but I have a feeling it is going to expand considerably thanks to this. Gritty and gripping, it will keep me in zombies until season 7.
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