The Walking Dead

Hello everyone! So, as I expressed in a previous post, a couple of times a month I will be taking the time to spotlight a Graphic Novel or something else comic related. This week I decided to spotlight The Walking Dead series. It is one of the the best things that has been coming out in recent years and continues to be great.

If the dead rose around you, could you survive?
If the people you trusted turned on you, what would you do?
If the person you loved more than anything turned into a zombie, could you kill them?
If the world was falling apart around you, would you give up?

The Walking Dead is much more than just a zombie comic. This isn't Twilight, where everyone is in love with Vampires that shimmer in the sun and Werewolves that spend way too much time in the gym. These here folks, are dirty, disease ridden, brain dead, carnivorous Zombies. The Walking Dead chronicles the aftermath of a group of survivors in a world, presumably, that has been decimated by a Zombie outbreak. What comes of this is a test of strength, integrity, courage, loyalty, intelligence, and a whole mess of other unnamed characteristics. Zombies are an interesting group of anomalies, in that they are truly nothing more than mindless drones inhabiting the bodies shells of what was once a neighbor, or a lover, or parent, or even a child. The test isn't surviving, but rather living in spite of the zombies.

Rick Grimes is a cop in a small town and at the onset of the series he finds himself awakening from a coma, in a deserted hospital. Before I continue, take a moment to put yourself in his shoes. Your last memory is most likely getting shot while on duty, you've just woken up and you realize that time has passed, the hospital you're in is empty, and the first encounter you have with anything sentient is a room full of zombies. Rick's first impulse is to find his family: his wife Lori and son Carl. While he finds that his home, and his town, is pretty much deserted, he takes off for Atlanta, where he believes his family would have headed in case of a disaster of epic proportions, such as this one. While he is soon reunited with his wife and son, his troubles have only just begun.

There are a couple of things that make the Walking Dead such an amazing read. First of all, the writing is just amazing stuff. The story line is inventive, but more importantly, the characters are all very relatable in their own ways. You can easily replace any one of the characters with a neighbor, or a teacher, or a classmate and it's almost like you're a part of the disaster. The writing not only maintains your interest but it transports you into that world. The artwork has been top notch in this series as well. It is all done in black and white and that in and of itself does a lot for the series. With the amount of violence present, necessary violence mind you, the amount of red blood would have been overwhelming. Literally, the blood would have stolen all focus from the more important factor, the people. Because at the end of the day, this book is about the people. It's not about the zombies, it's not about killing zombies, and for the most part it's not even about how the zombies came to be or how to get rid of them. At the root of this series, it's about how people would react to such an incident. Scroll back up to the top of my little post here and reread those questions. That's what this is about.

Also, for the first time, we have a guest writer. Anisa Pradhan is another comic book reader and lover and has written a couple paragraphs expressing her feelings towards the series. Here's what she's got to say:

I first learned of The Walking Dead when Arnab won the first 6 trades on ebay. I don’t think I was expecting to like the comic much because I’m not a huge fan of things like zombies, but like Arnab said, The Walking Dead  isn’t about the zombies. The Walking Dead is survival of the fittest; where people do things they never thought they’d do, befriending people they might not have otherwise befriended, and so on and so forth. It follows Rick, his family, and a group of people as they’ve teamed up to try and stay alive for as long as they can. Every issue is a fantastic read and not only have I yet to be disappointed, I don’t expect to be any time soon. The series is not for the faint of heart and you should expect shocking losses and heartbreak but you should also expect to be sucked into the story and really connect with the characters, because as Arnab said, there are some really relatable characters whom you can’t help but root for. The Walking Dead  is a must read, for me and for you! If only for the reason that when zombies attack us I’m going to fight for my life by constantly asking myself, “What would Rick Grimes do?” And, by all means, you should be preparing as well!

Back to me, Arnab that is. I think I've said as much as there is for me to say. But inevitably you need to just pick up the book and read it. Because there's really only so much a reviewer can tell you before there is no longer any impact. If you pick up this book, you will not regret it.