The Walking Dead on AMC

[The Toyroom]

I've never read the comic but I was impressed with the pilot episode....Not bad....

[Wise4671]

Comics were great. I have been reading them since the series started and have always thought it would make a great movie. I was not dissapointed in the show at all. I thought it was done very well and has stayed true to the comic.

[YoungOnce]

I thought it was great and was impressed enough to keep watching. It's an interesting premise and seemed really grounded in reality as far as finding the humanity in how an "outbreak" would effect us. Plenty of gore, and still, emotionally resonant.

[palitoy]

I thought it was really well done although I admit I'm sick of zombies. It was filled with good actors and well fleshed out characters but I'm a little "Meh" to the concept. However, the wife is hooked so I will be forced to see every episode as she can't watch it alone.

[YoungOnce]

I know what you mean. Zombies have been done to death (no pun intended) lately, as well as vampires and werewolves. Wizards and witches too. They're everywhere.

We need a new monster for Hollywood, comic books and literature to shove to the front of the pop culture line. It's time for the Creature From the Black Lagoon to resurge and become a pop sensation.

I did think though that the AMC show was very "grounded". I thought that was a novel approach to the genre.

[ramsey37]

I watched it last night and enjoyed it, but I have a question: why did the main character's wife and son leave him behind at the hospital?
George

[Wise4671]

I watched it last night and enjoyed it, but I have a question: why did the main character's wife and son leave him behind at the hospital?
George

They were made to think he died in the hospital when the hospital was over run by the Walking Dead. I don't want to give away the story line but if it follows the book all will become clear soon.

[kryptosmaster]

Awesome show. One of my new "must-see" series!
I thought it was really well done. Even though I'm a comic geek I had never heard of this comic. I tend to stick to DC now and nothing else. I almost didn't even watch it until someone on facebook had mentioned it and I remembered seeing a thread here about it (that i never went into). I thought it was a movie. Once I looked up the website I was hooked.
Rich

[MegoSteve]

I thought it was really well done although I admit I'm sick of zombies.

I totally agree about what you're saying with zombies... I'm thoroughly sick of the trend. The first issue of Walking Dead was released in 2003, so he was one of the forerunners of the current zombie trend.

To be frank, horror is one of my least favorite genres, and I hate gore and being scared or shocked, but the comic is well-written enough that it's become one of my favorites. Its strength is that it's more about the people; the zombie stuff isn't what ultimately drives the story... it's the human drama.

[Nostalgiabuff]

I also never heard of this comic and I really liked the show. I think what works best (for me) is that they can slow down the pace for a regular series and explore what the world would be like if something like this happened. Movies are paced very quickly so you have a beginning, middle and end. I look forward to each new episode and the developing story line.

[big_geek_3rd]

Finally got around to watching it. Frank Darabont has become, for me, one name in Hollywood I can know going into it, that I'll enjoy it.

Not exactly like the comic, but I think it definitely captures the feel of the comic.

I'm looking forward to the remaining 5 episodes.

[johnnystorm]

I really liked the first episode, and the ending was really creepy. Hopefully they will keep the gore to a minimum.

Everyone's been telling me the comic is really great, so I picked up $1.00 reprint of issue #1 (because the 1st print of #1 sells in the $400-500 range!) I liked it, so I bought the Omnibus edition. Haven't got a chance to tackle it yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

[samurainoir]

Darabont definitely "gets it". Essentially Zombie movies are simply a variation on disaster or survival movies, where you can create a microcosm in a pocket of survivors and see how they react amongst themselves to the exterior threat of the zombies. The titular Walking Dead are not the Zombies, but the survivors (made implicit by Kirkman around issue 50 or so of the comic).

The Zombies are rarely the real threat in the Walking Dead universe (and Romero's Dead movies). It's the danger that the humans pose to each other. This is particularly evident in the WD comic series where any time things fall apart, it is almost never because of Zombies, but because of internal strife and external antagonism from other survivors.

The best zombie films/books/comics are the ones that realize this, which is why I think out of all the be popular monsters/beasties, the Zombie genre has so much potential and continues to thrive. It's as rich as the number of interesting human characters you can throw into this cauldron, and the almost infinite amount of complex questions of morality that challenges them as society crumbles and the lives of themselves and loved ones are staked.

As much as I love werewolves and vampires, it's increasingly difficult to find a fresh take on them outside the initial mythology. The ones that stick out in my mind that turn the formula on it's ear are the social political implications of outing the vampire (and other supernatural) population to our complex media savvy contemporary society. Even Alan Moore's Werewolf issue of Swamp Thing that co-related the lyncanthrope moon cycle with the male fear of the female fertility cycle is about three decades old now.

[samurainoir]

They were made to think he died in the hospital when the hospital was over run by the Walking Dead. I don't want to give away the story line but if it follows the book all will become clear soon.

If my memory serves, it's actually a bit more difficult than that (in the comic at least)...

Rick was in a coma and they didn't know whether he'd ever come out of it. The hospital was still staffed at the time, and I imagine that they would have thought it better not to move him (if they would have been able to move him at all).

There was also the suggestion of Shane subtly manipulating things (whether intentionally or unintentionally is unclear up to when everything falls apart).

The initial pre-coma sequence only lasted a page in the comic, so the expanded storyline of the tv show does allow much more moral ambiguity to slip in. Particularly as there is a hint of marital strife in the manner in which Shane and Rick were talking. Add in Shane's attitude towards women and being single to that mix.

I think the thing that ran most true with me was the moment when Rick was *almost shot* when he told Shane that he better not dare tell Laurie what just happened (only to get shot immediately after he says that). Any guy who's done anything remotely dangerous and more importantly unnecessarily *stupid* knows what I'm talking about. The realization that your life no longer belongs to you to throw away as you please, because it belongs to your wife and kids as well.

[mazinz]

I really liked the first episode, and the ending was really creepy. Hopefully they will keep the gore to a minimum.

Everyone's been telling me the comic is really great, so I picked up $1.00 reprint of issue #1 (because the 1st print of #1 sells in the $400-500 range!) I liked it, so I bought the Omnibus edition. Haven't got a chance to tackle it yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

Holy christ! I had no idea that first prints for like the first 9 issues can go for so high! Damn I really might consider throwing them up on ebay