March 14, 2010

The Walking Dead


For some reason or other, I haven't written about Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead yet. Maybe I've been way too consumed reading this comic book series to think about writing my opinions/feelings down - and you know, at times, it's certainly been an emotional roller coaster! The thing is, there is no other piece of serialized horror literature at the moment that tops The Walking Dead for existential drama and sheer adrenaline-pumping action. A television series covering the comic was announced to be in production on August 11, 2009, and for once it felt like a completely natural move compared to the tone and composition of the source work.


I know what some of you may be thinking: "The zombie survival plot has been way overdone, so this comic cannot be that good." Well, yeah, initially the plot does feel rather trite, but the story moves so fast that you will get hooked by the 22nd page and you well not notice the point at which The Walking Dead obliterates your expectations, be they high or low. The story simply grows and grows, getting progressively more thought-provoking and interesting with each new issue, reaching smaller arch-climaxes over every 6 issues or so and big ones somewhere around the 24 issue mark.


The story follows former police officer Rick Grimes in his valiant search for his wife and child. Along the way, he meets up with survivors and together they must stay sharp, savvy, and hard as roaming packs of undead look to feast on them. This being a zombie comic, it has plenty of gore thrown in every direction but more importantly, it hits every heavy note in just the right way, making you feel for the characters at all times. The chief villain known as the Governor is particularly effective here what with his disdain for the living and love for his undead daughter: there is no way on earth he will leave you cold!

Now I usually give out links for downloads at the bottom of the post but this time I will make an exception: buy the damn thing, not only are all of the full volumes released so far well worth the price, they are also the only way for the comic to survive in the years to come given that it's fully independent. 'Nuff said!

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