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The Walking Dead, Book One (The Walking Dead #1-12)

4.37 of 5 stars 4.37 · rating details · 15,801 ratings · 646 reviews

This hardcover features the first 12 issues of the hit series along with the covers for the issues in one oversized hardcover volume. Perfect for long time fans, new readers and anyone needing a slightly heavy object with which to fend off the walking dead.

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published October 12th 2010 by Image Comics

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Oct 07, 2012 Carol rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: graphic novel fans, WD fans

Shelves: apocalypse, zombies

I'm 99% percent certain I've never said this before, but I prefer the more layered story of the television show.

My first official graphic novel--if one does not count the adventures of the Archie gang or Mad (magazine) at my cousin's house thirty years ago--and I find that like McDonald's, graphic novels work better for me as rare treat instead of steady diet. Still, its worth a try. I came to the comic via the television series, curious to see Kirkman's original vision. While it is interesting...more I'm 99% percent certain I've never said this before, but I prefer the more layered story of the television show.

My first official graphic novel--if one does not count the adventures of the Archie gang or Mad (magazine) at my cousin's house thirty years ago--and I find that like McDonald's, graphic novels work better for me as rare treat instead of steady diet. Still, its worth a try. I came to the comic via the television series, curious to see Kirkman's original vision. While it is interesting to see the concept for the show, I realized that I prefer more details, whether visual or written.

It's clear there is a well conceived vision behind the comics. The drawings are interesting, employing a multitude of perspectives that make it visually engaging. The occasional large panel landscape panning does a nice job of showing desolation of an empty street or burning city. Despite lack of color, the drawings still manage to capture zombie horror, particularly when chomping down on man or beast. Sometimes the pictures are graphic, and sometimes they are a stylized mess, which I rather appreciated as a squeamish sort of person. A funeral scene is done especially well, conveying the wordless desolation of a survivor. Overall, the drawing stands out above the writing, which is limited largely to dialogue with the occasional exclamatory word, 60s Batman style. BANG! SPLAT! POW! Dialogue confines the amount of expression that can be conveyed, with bolded words for emphasis and "..." bubble standing in for uncomfortable pauses. Incidentally, zombies sound kind of silly when you write out their noises as "nuh, gruh" (I can't help thinking of a conversation with a sullen teenager). The show sounds so much more frightening precisely because we don't have the word or construction that adequately conveys the growled or moaned sounds these zombies make.

When it comes to plot, there are a fair number of areas where the show chose to go in different directions. One clear difference, especially to fans that lasted through tv season two, is how fast the comics move. Whether logical or not, these people are on the move, and that's part of what makes the comic entertaining, as movement usually results in some random zombie interactions. Contrast that with the excruciatingly long plot thread of the show's farm set, and the result is a comic that stands above tv in action.

Comic characters are a little more flat (haha) compared to the show, although there are several interesting ones that seems to have been dropped by the show writers. As generally slap-worthy as women are on the show (I'm talking to you, Lori), they are even more stereotypical in the comic. They clearly and quickly become the secondary and inferior sex, and the one woman who calls it out is drawn as dumpy and fat with dialogue showing her being judgemental, unhappy and hypocritical. On the other hand, there are more black characters in the graphic novel with greater presense and variety of roles. The show also does more with the tension of group leadership; Shane (view spoiler)

Noticeably, the graphic version has a little more sex/sexual tension subplots going, including one between a couple of teens that don't appear on the show, one between two people that do (but isn't explored), and one between a white single mom and a black man. Even in our supposedly multi-culti melting pot, how often do you see interracial or intergenerational couples (unless the focus of the plot is the unusual relationship)? However, it's a plotline that makes complete sense in the apocalypse for emotional and demographic reasons. Given television's fondness for the sexual substory, it was a little surprising to see several of those storylines cut out, and I wonder how much audience demographics had to do with those decisions.

Overall, interesting. I'm glad I read it, but like MickyD's, I won't be making it a habit. I will be following up with the second collection.

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/0...(less)

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Jun 03, 2009 Mikhaela rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels-and-comics

Wonderful artwork and good writing (I read this in French translation while in Paris, but I assume it was just as well done in the original). BUT! It doesn't really add anything original to the whole zombie thing, and starts the same way as 28 Days Later. Not to mention that all the ass-kicking and fighting is done by men, men, men--the women wash the laundry and scream and run from zombies and drop their guns and are fought over by men. And the only woman in the book who complains about this is...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Tim Lepczyk rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, horror, apocalyptic-fiction

I'd heard of The Walking Dead , but haven't read any comics for quite a few years. My source for comic books had always been my childhood friend who now co-owns Top Comics. Throughout college and those years between degrees, he'd fill up a long box of comics when I was home and sort it according to: titles I like to read, titles I should read, superhero comics, and random titles that he didn't care whether I read or not. My guess is The Walking Dead would be in the "titles I should read." It's f...more

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Sep 17, 2011 Erin rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This review contains spoilers for the entire series, be forewarned. Anyway, wow. Homeboy does not like women. There are a lot of things about this that were done really well, but I was actually feeling sick reading it because of the relentless misogyny. I mean, really. Some of the female characterization was downright offensive, like the unattractive, humourless middle-aged woman (who dies) who dares to question the fact that the men are out hunting while the women are doing laundry - she is bru...more This review contains spoilers for the entire series, be forewarned. Anyway, wow. Homeboy does not like women. There are a lot of things about this that were done really well, but I was actually feeling sick reading it because of the relentless misogyny. I mean, really. Some of the female characterization was downright offensive, like the unattractive, humourless middle-aged woman (who dies) who dares to question the fact that the men are out hunting while the women are doing laundry - she is brushed aside with the pithy explanation that, hey, we don't know how to shoot guns, and our menfolk don't know how to do laundry, silly! And it remains this way even after it's discovered that one of the main female characters (such as they are) is a crack shot. Some of the characterization is just non-existent, like the pretty co-ed (who dies) who lives with her sister and a much older man in a sexless set-up apparently designed to give him comfort after his wife has left - having women around to keep things neat and friendly is so nice for him, after all. And then there's Rick's wife (who dies), who cheated on her husband, so she's undermined constantly. When she is legitimately pissed that her husband, without consulting her, decided that their seven-year-old son should start carrying a gun, she comes off as shrill and overprotective. Then the kid shoots a zombie and saves her and she has to go cry to Rick about how wrong she was. Never mind that the next time the kid goes out hunting with his dad, he gets shot. Nope, Lori was 100% wrong - women, am I right?

Why do these women only ever talk about canned food and their husbands? What's up with the woman (whose only real point of characterization is that she has a kid and used to be married to a low-life) who kills herself after a dude she hardly knows leaves her for someone else? What's up with the dumb teenage girl who almost gets herself killed because she has to have sex with her boyfriend and then dies in a suicide pact gone wrong? What's up with the sniper who's totally fine shooting people at the orders of a crazed despot, until he makes her kill a baby, and then her maternal instinct or whatever kicks in because didn't you know, WOMEN ONLY CARE ABOUT BABIES AND FOOD AND LAUNDRY AND THEIR STRAPPING MEN. I have no beef with female characters doing questionable things, or being morally ambiguous, or cheating on their husbands, or wanting to have sex with their boyfriends, or being sad that they got dumped, or caring about canned food and laundry. Those things on their own are fine - it's when they become the only things they do, or things they are punished for (the women in this drop like flies - eventually men are dying too, but for a good while, aside from Shane, you just get the pleasure of a road trip with intermittent breaks for women to bite it), or the butt of unfunny jokes or thinly veiled misogynist speeches that I get riled up.

Why do Lori and Rick neverrrr speak? Why do all male-female interactions last five seconds and end in sex, except for one time, when Andrea brings up a perfectly legitimate issue and is called a cunt and a bitch and ignored? Why are all the decisions made by dudes, even after said dudes have made a million bad decisions? Why, why, why?

Look. I know feminists, both male and female, who love these comics. And that's fine. God knows I love some problematic shit, and I am confident in my (and their) ability to acknowledge what is shitty and separate it from the plot and not let it twist my view. But I also know that a lot of people don't read things very critically, and all this is doing is reaffirming their belief that, yeah, women are pretty dumb, and they'd totally suck in a zombie apocalypse - in fact, they suck now! Women! Just do the laundry and let me play with my guns! Like, really? We couldn't get a well-done post-apocalyptic series with women who were actually interesting and not offensive? Does that exist? Can I read that instead?
(less)

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view all 22 comments

Melissa But Max, you're comments are indeed sexist. But your talk about your god making women gives me an idea of where your sexism comes from. As the bible i...more
Oct 15, 2012 06:30am

Davey Totally agree with you. And I'm a dude. Testosterone overflow. His characters were stereotypical and flatish -- it'd been more fun if he broke gender...more
Oct 31, 2012 12:11am

Nov 16, 2011 Andrea Cleland rated it 3 of 5 stars

I wish I had read these before I watched the show. The characters are much more raw, and I identify with them less. I even dislike most of them, including Rick. I do realize that in an actual situation like a zombie apocalypse, it would be extremely unlikely that one person would remain the voice of reason in every stressful situation. Everyone would snap once in a while. The lack of a reliable "leader" made each setback almost unbearable. I have to say that I like Rick's character better in the...more

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Aug 28, 2010 Patrici rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, pop-psych

After trudging through pages and pages of one-dimensional character sludge and one too many sequences of dialogue about canned food, I just couldn't do it anymore. I enjoy post-apocalyptic survival stories as much as anyone, but I expected so much more; especially considering all the hype surrounding this title (from the rave reviews on Amazon and GoodReads to the upcoming TV show).

From panel to panel, you get humans trying desperately to fulfill the first level of Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of...more

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May 20, 2013 Karissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

I love graphic novels and zombies and have been wanting to read this graphic novel series for a while now. This volume 1 Hardcover edition is a compilation of the first two trade paperbacks in the series, Days Gone By and Miles Behind Us. While I didn’t love it as much as I had hoped it was still an engaging read. It’s more of a drama read than a zombie read. I guess I was really excited to read it and really expecting something special, so I feel a bit let down.

Rick Grimes, a small town cop, is...more I love graphic novels and zombies and have been wanting to read this graphic novel series for a while now. This volume 1 Hardcover edition is a compilation of the first two trade paperbacks in the series, Days Gone By and Miles Behind Us. While I didn’t love it as much as I had hoped it was still an engaging read. It’s more of a drama read than a zombie read. I guess I was really excited to read it and really expecting something special, so I feel a bit let down.

Rick Grimes, a small town cop, is in a coma from a gunshot wound. When he finally wakes up things are changed. The hospital is abandoned, the cafeteria is full of vicious dead things that used to be people. The worst is that his family is gone; he assumes they went to Seattle so he sets off to find them and try to figure out what’s going on.

The illustration is very well done. I enjoyed the illustrator for Days Gone By more than for the second book, Miles Behind. Mainly because it was more detailed artwork. The whole book is in black and white. It’s easy to tell what is going on in the illustration and easy to read facial expressions and things like that.

I absolutely loved the first book, Days Gone By. Rick is an engaging character and him meeting up with his family is wonderfully done. He’s a natural born leader who is doing his best to survive and find his family. It’s when he meets up with the other small group of survivors that things get a bit well, I don’t know...I guess just so typical.

These are very typical zombies of the shambling and flesh eating sort. When they bite you, you get sick and turn into a zombie after a few days time. Pretty normal zombie stuff. In this hardcover edition there isn’t any speculation yet as to what caused the outbreak or what happened. The survivors Rick runs into are sitting outside of Seattle waiting for the government to come help them...this seemed a bit naive to me. I mean if whole cities are overrun, why would the government be available to rescue civilians? And would you want them to, giving that means lots of stressed people crammed into some government facility? Anyway, I guess I have read too many zombie books.

The second book, Miles Behind, was way more drama than the first book. This one starts dealing with whom among the survivors is sleeping with who, who dislikes who, etc. etc. It gets very soap opera like with occasional zombie attacks sprinkled throughout. I get exasperated with people that do stupid things and make their situation worse. I mean really would you sleep with some guy after being away from your husband for a week because you think he is dead? Wow, that is some strength there, must have been a really solid marriage. The survivors attack each other, making things even worse. I understand these people are stressed, but why be so stupid and make things so much worse?

Eventually they end up at a farm with a guy who’s locked up zombies to cure them later. Yeah, okay totally read that scenario before a number of times...we all know how that ends up.

So while I enjoyed the detailed illustration and found the first part of this book very engaging, I started to get a bit annoyed at the second half of the book. Having these people surviving the zombie apocalypse isn’t enough, they also have to do a lot of really stupid things that make the situation worse. Towards the end I just couldn’t stop rolling my eyes every time yet another crazy thing happened that made their lives worse; especially since many times these things happened from the people just not thinking.

Let’s take a quick diversion to talk about the mess that is Rick’s wife Lori. Wow do I hate her. She has got to be the most incompetent woman on the planet. Why did Rick marry her? She is whiny, unfaithful, and can’t even raise a gun to protect her son from being eaten by zombies. Ugh, I disliked her. She doesn’t want Rick to take risks to help them survive, but also won’t take risks herself. She doesn’t want her son Carl to learn to protect himself because he is too young...seriously?! Many of the women characters in this book leave a lot to be desired.

As with many zombie stories you just know things aren’t going to end well. By the end of this book the level of stupidity coupled with all the bad things going on was just annoying and depressing. I didn’t expect this to be an uplifting read, but I did expect it to be a creative read that wasn’t just soap opera plus zombies.

Reading what I wrote above I don’t sound very positive about this book. I did enjoy the first book and I think it was well done. I did not enjoy how the second book turned into a soap opera with intermittent zombie attacks. Right now I am kind of on the fence about whether or not I will keep reading this series. So some feedback from people who are further into it would be nice. Does it get better? It is all just people making stupid mistakes and having increasingly horrible things happen to them to rachet up the drama? Do we actually get to a back story about why all of this is going on? Or is it just more of people being mean to each other, sleeping with each other, and dying?(less)

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Mar 30, 2013 Tracy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-reads

Since I have become somewhat obsessed and season 3 is coming to a close, I thought perhaps I should give the Graphic books a try. This would be my first experience with a Graphic book. I was a little bit hesitant at first and will admit it did take me a bit to get into the groove, but once I did I actually enjoyed it more than I thought. I am not so sure I would have, had I not started with the TV series, but I definitely think that the two together enhance The Walking Dead experience on a whole...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Trike rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2013, graphic-novel, zombies

Frankly, Kirkman isn't a very good writer. His characters are weak and his dialogue rarely rises above clunky. What generally carries one of his books is the high concept behind it and the plot driving it. Like Invincible, The Walking Dead is mostly plot-driven. The characters are thinner than the paper they're printed on and their motivations are just as flimsy.

The TV series is far better in this regard, with a firmer grasp on how to dole out the story as well as sustaining tension. It was a go...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Chris Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, graphic-novels

I read the Walking Dead in trade paperback during the middle part of the last decade, and my memory of that experience is warm and fuzzy. In response to the brilliant TV series, I've decided to go back and revisit the source material. Unfortunately, whether due to the interpretation that the television writers and producers have made or just the fact that my own tastes have evolved, this story doesn't seem to hold up. In contrast to the TV show, the characters come off as two-dimensional, the di...more

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Jan 22, 2013 T. Edmund rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was introduced to the Walking dead via the television series, which I especially enjoyed so I've been keen to see how the originating graphic novel compares.

So the comic? I found it a slightly strange experience. Rather than balance dialogue with narration, the Walking Dead is only populated by the out-loud voices of the characters. At first this did wonders leading towards the bleak setting, however I struggled at times with panels dominated by speech bubbles.

The artwork is gruesome as to be...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: do-you-draw

It's been a while since I've indulged my love for most things graphic novel, and zombies are as good a place to step back in as any, so I was pretty excited to crack this beast open. And it's good. I haven't seen the television show (yes, I live under a rock), so can't speak to how they do or don't compare, but here's my two cents on the first volume of this series:

I completely dig the man vs. monster heart of this. It's a theme that never grows old.

Even cooler, we touch on "man becomes monster"...more It's been a while since I've indulged my love for most things graphic novel, and zombies are as good a place to step back in as any, so I was pretty excited to crack this beast open. And it's good. I haven't seen the television show (yes, I live under a rock), so can't speak to how they do or don't compare, but here's my two cents on the first volume of this series:

I completely dig the man vs. monster heart of this. It's a theme that never grows old.

Even cooler, we touch on "man becomes monster" a few times here, or maybe it's even "man becomes something more vile than the monsters"--which might be a predictable turn, particularly in a longer series, which this appears to be (not sure how many volumes--at least 7?), but it's also juicy and gives good tension...

The artwork throughout is solid, but the zombies (okay, and gory closeups of recently zombie-munched limbs) are where it really shines. Something about the detail of all that delicately-rendered rotting flesh ends up looking more real than the other panels.

The characters are a good range of everyday folks. We get a wide variety of ages and skill sets and body types and panic levels. There are no superheroes, just a bunch of pretty average people trying to grapple with the fear and disbelief and anger and confusion and occasional hope of this situation. I can get behind that depiction.

Here's the downside, though (and the reason I couldn't quite go 5 stars on the rating): despite all the potential for more, and despite a strong and emotionally varied first half to two-thirds, by the end of this volume the emotional range devolves to: angry, angrier, mildly psychotic, and completely hopeless. It's bleak, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's also abrupt--characters' shifts from one mood to another can be hard to follow and the constant state of negative intensity starts to feel pretty melodramatic by the time we close...just a little forced or over-the-top.

I liked it enough that I've already read the next volume and am picking up the third at my local library tomorrow, though, so the one downside isn't on any level a dealbreaker for me. Overall, this is an enjoyable, well drawn and well paced story with an interesting cast of characters. Definitely worth picking up.(less)

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Jan 13, 2013 Liam rated it 4 of 5 stars

I LOVE The Walking Dead, don't get me wrong, but I enjoy the TV show much more. Hear me out though! I discovered The Walking Dead while it was in the middle of it's second season and it seemed interesting, so I gave it a try, I DID NOT KNOW WHAT I WAS GETTING INTO! Oh the feels, the many panic attacks after realizing I have to spend an entire week to find out what happens next! So I figured since I love the TV Series so much, why don't I read the book? Well I did, and I did not like it. But I ha...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Karissa Cooper rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-lit-1-12

While Rick is in a comma after being shot there is an outbreak and people are dying of a disease that makes them come back as walkers. Since Rick was in a comma his wife, Lori, and his son, Carl, left for Atlanta where they were told they would be safe. Rick wakes up safe in the hospital room but abandoned by his friends and family. He packs some belongings and heads to Atlanta to find Lori and Carl. When Rick reaches Atlanta he sees it is overrun and that not even the military could keep out th...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf, owned, graphic-novel, fiction

Okay, this is the one. The one that you could say I pulled at this time for no other reason than to inflate my numbers at the end of the year. But, of course, I still had this book on my shelf. Actually, I have no idea how years went by before I finally read it. I mean, it's a little embarrassing.

So, horror isn't usually my thing. But then, I like it better in a book than I do in a movie. And I had a more than reasonable expectation that I would like this, as I'd read a few of the individual com...more Okay, this is the one. The one that you could say I pulled at this time for no other reason than to inflate my numbers at the end of the year. But, of course, I still had this book on my shelf. Actually, I have no idea how years went by before I finally read it. I mean, it's a little embarrassing.

So, horror isn't usually my thing. But then, I like it better in a book than I do in a movie. And I had a more than reasonable expectation that I would like this, as I'd read a few of the individual comics that make up this volume, back when I could still almost justify regular trips to the comic book store as a reasonable use of my time. I know that picking up this series now, now that it has been a tv series for a season or two or three is nigh inexcusably late in the game -- but as always, better late than never, right?

What I like about this story (so far -- this is clearly just the first installment in a series that has had a significant life), is that it blatantly skips over the parts it isn't interested in. Our main character is shot in a police standoff (he's one of the cops), then wakes up from his coma in a hospital that's apparently been abandoned. Until he opens the door to the cafeteria and it's full of zombies. The whole emergence of the plague, panic, government response, the overwhelming of the response, is only related briefly to our guy, Rick, in "how I got here" stories when Rick meets other people. Theories about how this started or how people turn into zombies? None. Bitter but secretly hopeful scientists working on a cure? None. There is only the grind. Slow, not terribly intelligent, easily overwhelmable zombies whose only chance of getting to eat your tasty tasty flesh is surprise, or overwhelming numbers. Oh, and one bite will infect you. And firing a shotgun seems to trigger a swarming response. That's the set-up. Go.

So, how do you survive? You need the cooperation of other people, but other people's brains have differing abilities to grasp this new normal. What can you count on now that so many rules have changed?

I will definitely be following this a little ways. (less)

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Nov 16, 2012 Chelsea rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: a-plus-characters, horror, pictures, own, post-apoc, zack, reviewed

When I first read The Walking Dead, I got it on loan from a friend a few months before the show aired back in 2010. Long story short, I fell in love. I can tell you right now they only get better from here.

For a survival comic, the pacing is just right. There were no points where I got bored and wanted to put it down. There's always something happening for the characters to react to, and that's what I like about this comic. The dialogue is just enough to give the characters a voice but not enoug...more When I first read The Walking Dead, I got it on loan from a friend a few months before the show aired back in 2010. Long story short, I fell in love. I can tell you right now they only get better from here.

For a survival comic, the pacing is just right. There were no points where I got bored and wanted to put it down. There's always something happening for the characters to react to, and that's what I like about this comic. The dialogue is just enough to give the characters a voice but not enough to drag the story on, leaving a lot to be left to the illustrations, which are, in my opinion, fantastic.

The characters themselves are fairly fleshed out (pun intended) for as much time in the spotlight they get, and none of them (Rick included, even though the story seems to revolve around him) are truly essential to the story. Any person could die at any time, and I think that's what the zombie genre needs the most--character equality when it comes to death. Zombies don't play favorites.

When comparing the comic to the TV show, however, it's like apples and oranges. They're two different mediums of storytelling.

But, since I love apples, I recommend the comic to anyone who says they are even remotely interested in zombies.

I stopped watching the show about two or three episodes into the second season (I picked it up again at the beginning of the third season in order to discuss it with my friends, but I was and still am extremely unsatisfied with both the pacing and the writing). I can understand where people think the comic is too fast if they read it after, but the show is painfully slow. While the characters are given time to develop, the side plots are exhausting and nearly irrelevant to the big picture.

Not to mention some of the characters aren't nearly as awesome as they could be and the inadequate common-sense-to-character-death ratio. That's a quarrel with the writers, though. (Don't even get me started on the headshot count--the show in general has more than a couple problems in my book.)

Not five stars because I've read ahead and I know what my favorite arc is--everything will be slightly dimmer compared to that one.(less)

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Oct 25, 2012 Rick Vilante rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is one of those extremely rare cases where discerning whether I liked the television version or the original over the other is quite difficult. I love the depth and characterization of the AMC series. The book seemed a little rushed, and I didn't feel as much of a connection with the characters as I do when watching the show. This isn't to say the original book is bad, on the contrary, there are elements of the book that strike multiple chords for me. There's definately a lot more action in...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Christopher Cook rated it 5 of 5 stars

Book 1 of THE WALKING DEAD comics was a very enjoyable read for me, and the contributors definitely put a lot of time and effort into its creation; that much is plainly evident. At first, I wondered how I was ever going to get through a graphic novel with no color (since it's all in black and white), but that ended up not being a problem at all. It was so easy for me to immerse myself into the story, and as a fan of the TV series, it was so much fun reading the stories that were familiar and als...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Cody Traylor rated it 4 of 5 stars

First things first. THIS BOOK IS AWESOME!

The reasons I think this are as follows

1: The art style is just simply beautiful. The characters look real but at the same time cartoony. The zombies have such an amazing amount of detailing even In a very small box on the comics page.

2: The story that goes along with the art is very detailed even when its explained only in pictures (no text bubbles). The characters have a very real aspect to them, showing how truely desperate the human body and mind can...more

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Jun 12, 2012 Suvi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: misc

Here's another who first stumbled upon the AMC show, fell in love and then realised it's based on this series. So, basically there are issues with both, a little different but easier to pass with the TV show than with this one, hence my rating. The pace in here is much better, leaving no dull moments and taking very different solutions in terms of the plot. Didn't like how quickly the issue of Shane was put forward, but I'll live. The character of Daryl in the show is also quite awesome, so I mi...more

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Jun 08, 2012 Nenia Campbell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, x-2010s

HOW TO SURVIVE A POST-APOCALYPTIC ZOMBIE-PLAGUED WORLD
(a reader's guide)

1. the only thing that kills more than zombies is overconfidence. never underestimate your surroundings. and under no circumstances pronounce something as "safe" or "beneficial." it will be the last thing you ever endorse--apart from your death certificate.

2. don't hold any faith that the government will save you. they're usually the ones responsible for these kinds of messes in the first place, and even if they're not, they...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Josephine rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 01, 2012 Action rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Action by: Robert Kirkman

This is the begining to an Epic tale of human survival in the worst of conditions. The zombies are not the main story, the people in the story who have to try and stay alive while being chased by the Zombies are the focus. Obivously the author (Robert Kirkman) not only watched a lot of Zombie movies to learn about zombies, he watched them and thought "What is missing? What makes the zombie movies interesting? What would make them more interesting and believeable?" He definatley answered those qu...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Sarah (Tail-Kinker) rated it 4 of 5 stars

I haven't had much experience with graphic novels before this, and in the previous novels I've read they were adaptations from other series (specifically the Dresden files & King's Dark Tower).

So I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't reading a regular novel, and to SLOW DOWN and look at the pictures!! When I did, I found a lot of great art and incredible details. Makes me wish I had been introduced to comics as a young geekling rather than dabbling my toe in them as an adult.

This was...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Kerry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite

This is the first time I've read a graphic novel. I'm hooked on the tv show, and when I found out the show is based from comics, I just had to start reading them. Last night my boyfriend gave me the book. I started it this morning and finished it just moments ago. I found myself engrossed in it. I was anxious to see what the book had to offer. The artwork is pretty good, and I especially loved the last pages with full colored art. The story is well written. Since it had been years since I read a...more

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Mar 31, 2012 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, zombies, graphic-novel, 2012, post-apocalyptic, series, horror

This is the first time I've ever read a graphic novel, but it has good ratings on Goodreads, I like the television adaptation, and a friend recommended that I try it so I decided to give it a go! Since I don't have anything to compare it to directly, as I've never read any other graphic novels, I'm not really sure how it compares, but I can say it wasn't bad. It took me a little bit to kind of get into the groove of reading it, but then my brain figured out how to read the words and illustration...more

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Mar 25, 2012 Janelle Dazzlepants rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: apocalypse, zombies, utopia-dystopia, movie-tv, graphic-novels, horror, comics

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 12, 2012 Ashley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, dsytopian, horror

I like the approach this series took, focusing on the people more than the RAWR ZOMBIES WILL EAT YOU!!! (Which is cool too, but there's only so many ways a zombie can eat a person, there's a lot more variation in how people will respond to the threat of being eaten.)

The comic is in black and white which might be symbolic - everything is bleak and depressing in shades of grey. On the flip side, I think it would have made it a ton better if it was in color - then you could see the bleakness in pas...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Leah Lucci rated it 4 of 5 stars

Was at a friend's and read this yesterday. Unlike HBO's Game of Thrones TV series (which sticks almost word-for-word to most of the book), AMC tweaked The Walking Dead. The plot is very similar, but happens in a different order/time frame, contains new scenes, omits others, and has different characters. (Shane, for example -- and this is a spoiler, but not a huge one -- dies pretty early on in the books, but has yet, at the time of this writing, to die in the series). If one is really into the T...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Kassie rated it 4 of 5 stars

In depth rating: 4.5 stars.

So due to my going through Walking Dead withdrawal after the TV show went on hiatus, I stole my uncle's Walking Dead comics. If you are going through similair feelings of withdrawal, I 100% suggest you find the comics and read those until it comes back to TV in February.

The artistry is beautiful. The way everything is drawn so sharp, so defined, and then the muddiness of the zombies pops up to contradict that definition, and it's so beautiful.

The characters are so in...more In depth rating: 4.5 stars.

So due to my going through Walking Dead withdrawal after the TV show went on hiatus, I stole my uncle's Walking Dead comics. If you are going through similair feelings of withdrawal, I 100% suggest you find the comics and read those until it comes back to TV in February.

The artistry is beautiful. The way everything is drawn so sharp, so defined, and then the muddiness of the zombies pops up to contradict that definition, and it's so beautiful.

The characters are so interesting, from the stoic Andrea, to the nosy Donna, to the sweet Sophia and Carl, all the characters are lovable and layered. Even Rick, who has all of the valiance and heroisism (is that a word?) of every stereotypical hero out there, does not fall into the boring main character trap. He's flawed and real.

The story is great as well. It address things that would actually happen in a zombie apocalypse, like people going crazy, because, hello, the dead are rising up and trying to eat us. It addresses lack of food, lack of shelter, winter setting in, and how all this is affecting relationships.

Two relationships really stick out - Rick/Lori and Glenn/Maggie. These are two relationships that would not have ended well if the zombies hadn't have come. Rick and Lori seemed to have been having some problems before Rick got shot. Honestly, if the zombies hadn't have happened, in a few years, they would not have still been married. In a weird way, the apocalypse saved their marriage. Then there's Glenn/Maggie. Maggie wouldn't have taken a second look at Glenn in the "real world." She would've married some hot farm boy. But because of the zombies, she looked at Glenn again, and saw he is a pretty epic person (I love Glenn). Both relationships happening because of the zoms are interesting concepts.

The only drawback is Shane Walsh. He and Rick were supposedly best friends for years. And then Shane goes crazy and tries to kill Rick? Uh, no. All that did was annoy me. Generally, I try to separate the comic book and TV series, but here, I really liked the TV series better. If they do go this route, at least we have build up to Shane going crazy. We are seeing his unraveling, instead of just him all unraveled.

In conclusion: Artistry, characters, stories, everything is awesome, but Shane should have been though through a bit more.(less)

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About Robert Kirkman

Robert Kirkman is an American comic book writer best known for his work on The Walking Dead, Invincible for Image Comics, as well as Ultimate X-Men and Marvel Zombies for Marvel Comics. He has also collaborated with Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane on the series Haunt. He is one of the five partners of Image Comics, and the only one of the five who was not one of the original co-founders of...more

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Books by Robert Kirkman

The Walking Dead, Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us

The Walking Dead, Vol. 3: Safety Behind Bars

The Walking Dead, Vol. 8: Made to Suffer

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The Walking Dead, Book One (The Walking Dead #1-12)

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