If you’re breathing, you’ve heard about The Walking Dead thanks to the critical success the television series has garnered. This book is basically about a group of survivors in Georgia trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. It focuses on the dynamics between the ever changing group as they try to survive their ordeal, not knowing where this path will ultimately lead them. Admittedly, I’m a little sick of zombies, and I have been for quite some time thanks to overexposure through books, games, and television/movies. However, every now and again, I’ll find something that’ll pique my interest in the genre, and I do love anything that explores characters and their machinations.
I’d been meaning to read this series for ages. However, I didn’t start reading this until the television show inspired me to get started. I think I didn’t rate this higher because my views of the comic have been tempered by the television series. It wasn’t a terrible comic. Far from it and I enjoyed it. The television series really added more depth of character while fattening up the story, of course. I loved how many of the scenes they did keep from this initial book. I just found that I thought the events in this book happened far quicker than I like because of the pacing I’d grown accustomed to with the television series, and the characters that I found compelling in the show felt very hollow here (ex: Carol and Shane). As I move forward with the series, my opinions may change, and I may be able to appreciate this without the television series looming over its shoulder.
Final Verdict:
3 of 5 stars
Volume two follows the survivors as they make the decision to leave the camp near Atlanta and find a more secure location. The group has decided that, with the removal of Shane (who they were starting to distrust anyway), Rick should be their new leader. He isn't asked if he wants this position. He's just informed by Dale that the other survivors have talked, and they're going to put this burden on Rick. Rick accepts the position without a fuss. He actually just says, "Okay then." No questioning as to why this should happen, just meek acceptance. This volume also introduces the Greene family, Tyreese, and Tyreese's daughter Julie (and her boyfriend, Chris).
I am really starting to regret not reading this series before watching the show. I'm typically able to separate comics books/books from their television/movie counterparts, but I think I've just been too spoiled by the show. I like these comics, but I'm not moved by them as I am the television show. As I said in my bite about the first volume, everything moves too fast. The story feels gutted to me because things are happening in such rapid succession. Where on the show certain events were built up, such as Rick increasingly becoming the leader of the group and eventually forming a Ricktatorship, the comic just seems to hands these events to the characters. However, I really do love seeing many of the scenes from the show in these books.
Final Verdict:
3 of 5 stars
Disclosure. I've only read the first two volumes and, as of this writing, I'm reading the novel, The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor. I figured it wouldn't hurt to read this because it was going to be all about Michonne's life before meeting up with Rick and the gang, and I wouldn't be lost. Right? Ha!
The story begins with Michonne running home from work during the start of the zombie apocalypse. We meet her boyfriend and his idiot best friend (who inadvertently doomed the both of them). We learn that she turned them into her pet zombies to help her bypass the walkers. We learn that she talks to them to remind herself of who they were before turning and to have someone to talk, but that's about it. After that, I'm guessing the rest of her story coincides with one of the comics in the main arc because she saves Otis and is granted admission into the prison. I don't think it's really accurate to say that this is a Michonne special since so few pages were actually dedicated to her actual personal story. It wasn't poorly written, but just disappointing and misleading.
Final Verdict:
2.5 of 5 stars
LOL you said "bites."
ReplyDeleteIronically, one of my complaints about S2 was that it was too slow. While I appreciated the character development, the sense of tension that worked so well in S1 was lost, especially when with every zombie attack moment, you started to realize no one was going to die.
After our discussion yesterday about how the book doesn't delve as deeply into the characters and plot, I can appreciate the show more for making the effort to do so.
Overall, I really like the fact that the writer has such an incredible opportunity to retell his story and do so very well. I'm interested to see how this translates to the future volumes of the comic. Has he learned these lessons?