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The Walking Dead, Compendium 1 (The Walking Dead #1-48)

by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn, Tony Moore

4.44 of 5 stars 4.44 · rating details · 18,949 ratings · 884 reviews

Introducing the first eight volumes of the fan-favorite, New York Times Best Seller series collected into one massive paperback collection.

In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start living. With The Walking Dead #1-48, this compendium features more than one thousand pages chronicling the start of Robert Kirkman's Eisner Award-winning story of zombie horro...more

Paperback, 1088 pages

Published May 19th 2009 by Image Comics

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Community Reviews

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Dec 08, 2012 Trudi rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: zombie addicts, post-apocalyptic junkies

Shelves: graphic-novel, apocalyptic-types, horror, pulp-is-king, survive-this, series, zombies, group-in-peril, october-country, 2011-reads, uber-graphic-extreme, re-reads, 2012-reads, made-into-movie, loved-the-movie

This is my second go-around with this sprawling, epic compendium in preparation for tackling the follow-up. I'm so glad I did a re-read because there was a lot I had plain forgotten and much more I had gotten tangled-up with the television series. Only reading the source material again, did I realize just how much the producers of the show actually changed from Kirkman's comic. The fundamentals of the story are essentially the same, but the devilish details have undergone quite a makeover. I hav...more

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Dec 10, 2012 Madeleine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: peer-pressure, graphic-content, the-face-is-familar, mmxii

(Some spoilers for both the show and the graphic novel herein. I tried not to include too many. You have been warned.)

Okay. Forget everything you know and hear me out: Zombies are the great equalizing scourge.

One of the first books my younger self fell hopelessly in love with (which probably explains an awful lot) was Stephen King's "The Stand." The book's been out for, like, more than three decades, so it's your own fault if this is a spoiler but all you need to know for this review of an entir...more

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Feb 26, 2013 Lolly's rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone with solid upper body strength

Shelves: graphic-novel, living-dead-things

I was going to write reviews of the first three volumes of this series, but I decided to save my creative juices (and they are so little) for the compendium. So here we go...

First off, a general overview: The story concerns a local cop, Rick, who wakes in the hospital to discover the world has gone to hell. All the people have been turned into the walking dead. (I know, overtones of 28 Days Later, but go with it.) We then follow him as he struggles to find out what has happened, where all the zo...more I was going to write reviews of the first three volumes of this series, but I decided to save my creative juices (and they are so little) for the compendium. So here we go...

First off, a general overview: The story concerns a local cop, Rick, who wakes in the hospital to discover the world has gone to hell. All the people have been turned into the walking dead. (I know, overtones of 28 Days Later, but go with it.) We then follow him as he struggles to find out what has happened, where all the zombies came from, and if his wife and child are still alive. In later chapters (volumes), Rick gathers a rag-tag group of fellow survivors and we are further drawn into their story of how to survive in a world gone mad. As Simon Pegg pointed out in his afterward to Volume One, reading Robert Kirkman's tale makes you start to question yourself: Would I be able to survive a zombie apocalypse? Would I be willing to do whatever it takes, even if it reduces me to a savage, to protect those I love? Heady stuff.

Now we come to the most controversial aspect of the series, the artwork. In Chapter (Volume) One, all the art and grey tones were done by Tony Moore. His artwork gave life to the series, giving us clear and beautiful images, done in a simple yet at the same time intricate style. Every character was unique; the zombies were disgusting in their realism; light and shadow had the starkness of a well-made black-and-white horror film. In short, Moore set the bar high, a bar which the next illustrator, Charlie Adlard, fell quite short of. I still don't know why Moore left the project, but I truly wish he hadn't. Once Adlard steps in, the drawings go to hell. Everything's rougher, without the grace of lines Moore had; characters are so poorly drawn that it's hard to tell them apart, which goes for both male and female characters. The shading is the worst, though; it's so heavy-handed that it almost feels claustrophobic and while I can appreciate that one might want a claustrophobic feeling for a horror comic, you want that feeling to come from actions and situations, not from a lack of detail in your scene. At times, panels were so dark it was hard to tell what the action of the character was. I'm used to seeing excessively dark lighting in movies, in fact I've come to expect it in horror movies, the kind of lighting where you can see some movement, but have no clue what's really going on. I don't expect it in graphic novels and, in fact, if you'd asked me, I wouldn't have known that excessive darkness was even possible in the realm of drawing. Well, other than taking a panel and coloring it in with a black marker. However, despite my poor opinion of Adlard's drawings, I have to be fair and say that they do get a bit better in later volumes, as he gets more sure of his characters and the storyline.

The storytelling helped come to grips with the post-Moore artwork. To be brutally honest, if this were not a graphic novel, I'd have to wonder how Kirkman managed to get published. Taken alone, the story is rather poor, especially the dialog, which can in turns be idiotic, banal, cliched, overwrought, nonsensical, and occasionally just plain painful to read. However, this isn't as bad as it sounds. First off, the graphics add depth to the ordinary writing, propelling it along when it might've stuttered out if it were merely a print novel. And secondly, the bad writing has actually captured the reality of the situation. After all, people say stupid things; they stutter, they get emotional, they put their foot in their mouth; they're inelegant in their conversations. In a zombie apocalypse, who has access to a speech writer, someone to whom they can turn to coherently and eloquently express their every thought? No one. Hell, only the slick bastards up in Washington have speech writers and they still manage to generate sound bites of them saying something moronic. Having awkward and not-well-written dialog gives The Walking Dead a depth and sense of reality not encountered in many other graphic novels, which, despite the later artwork, earns the Compendium 5-stars in my book.

Many people are put off by the Compendium, complaining about its lack of portability. Weighing in at nearly five pounds, they are right, it's not a book you can read on the commuter train into work. However, it's not put me off buying Volume 2 when it comes out. Not only will a matched set help me work out my biceps, when the zombie apocalypse does come, their heft will make them ideal weapons. I'm sure they'll be able to take off a rotting zombie skull or two, making them not only informative but useful as well.(less)

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Apr 29, 2011 BarkLessWagMore rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel, horror, disturbing

I cannot believe the dark places this graphic novel delves. No one, and I mean no one, is safe in this ongoing saga. It takes place after the dead have risen and destroyed everything and follows a handful of often rotating survivors as they try to get by in a frightening new world. It starts out a little slow as everything is set up but once it gets going I didn't want to put it down.

It is less focused on the zombies than its core of characters and their interaction and relationships but there i...more

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Apr 04, 2013 David Marwood rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of the TV show / video game - zombie fans - fans of an end of the world type scenario.

Shelves: zombies, survivors, the-walking-dead, robert-kirkman

Well where to begin..I first got into the comic after being a big fan of the TV show, anyone who's a fan of the show and looking into reading the comic needs to know there two different worlds - different story different characters etc. and in my opinion the comic is a lot better.
The comic is dark and gritty, the characters react to situations with logic and intelligence, many times i was agreeing with some characters choices that they made, and thinking to myself i would do the same in that sit...more Well where to begin..I first got into the comic after being a big fan of the TV show, anyone who's a fan of the show and looking into reading the comic needs to know there two different worlds - different story different characters etc. and in my opinion the comic is a lot better.
The comic is dark and gritty, the characters react to situations with logic and intelligence, many times i was agreeing with some characters choices that they made, and thinking to myself i would do the same in that situation, this brings a realism to the comic book which i love. no one is safe in this world anyone can die at any time trust me when i say this. the artwork is great, but it switches artist about a quarter way through, this didn't bother me, although at first i thought the first artists drawings where better, but as i kept reading my opinion changed and i cant see it going back to the first art style. the characters are great and although they have there different personalty's, no character seems to annoy me like in the TV show. now for the negatives- and the only one i really have is they could do without killing off certain characters, i'm all for the comic being unpredictable but at times it just seems that the writer is just trying to depress the reader, (towards the end of book, no spoilers)this may sound strange if you haven't read this compendium yet, but you really grow attached to the characters as you start to pick favorites, that's the only small negative i have, and anything else i come up with would just be nitpicking. in the end this is the best book or comic book iv'e ever read and would, recommend anyone who's into the TV show, zombies, a realistic story, end of the world type scenario to pick this up, you wont be disappointed. anyway I hope my review helped you make a decision. I tried to make it spoiler free. i look forward to reading compendium 2 and possibly writing a review of that as well. :)The Walking Dead, Compendium 1 The Walking Dead, Compendium 1 Robert Kirkman (less)

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Aug 19, 2012 Gaijinmama rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, paranormal, favorites

Although I gave it 5 stars, I cannot say that I liked this book, because this is some truly nasty, scary s***! I haven't been this upset, freaked out, disgusted and thoroughly absorbed in a story for a very long time.
Modern-day America is no more. Not only are there no video games, no Internet, no hot showers or even running water, but at any moment you and your loved ones could be eaten by a zombie. It's about as horrific a scenario as they come, not so much because of the scary gory monsters...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Hans Anderson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pretty sweet. When something becomes very popular it usually has an immediate effect on my appreciation for it. Not wanting to "jump on the bandwagon" I usually avoid these things. Zombie fiction is, however, a bandwagon I'm happy to jump on to when it's done right. I went through this walking dead collection after having watched the first 2 seasons of the show. The 2nd season had some cool episodes but generally the pace of it was much too slow. The format of the comic books is paced a little b...more

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Jan 14, 2013 alluu rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

Wow. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

Where to begin? I really enjoy reading comics (or graphic novels, if that's the term you prefer) and am constantly on the lookout for something new to enjoy in the genre. For the most part, I tend to read classic, well known stuff like Alan Moore's work or Maus or things like that. Recently I got the itch to try out something a bit more, well, recent! Something new and fresh.

It seems like everybody's reading The Walking Dead nowadays, and...more Wow. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

Where to begin? I really enjoy reading comics (or graphic novels, if that's the term you prefer) and am constantly on the lookout for something new to enjoy in the genre. For the most part, I tend to read classic, well known stuff like Alan Moore's work or Maus or things like that. Recently I got the itch to try out something a bit more, well, recent! Something new and fresh.

It seems like everybody's reading The Walking Dead nowadays, and also raving about it. This compendium holds an average rating of 4.44 here, which isn't half bad, and there's a lot of very positive reviews on here. So I decided to pick it up. Now, having read through it all, I'm confused. I just don't get the praise the series gets.

I like the concept. I like the dark no-one-is-safe atmosphere. The art is fittingly bleak and gritty, if not particularly inspired.

The problem with The Walking Dead is that it's boring and badly written. Nearly all of the characters are either shallow, plain or outright annoying, especially the women (except Andrea). Dialogue is awkward and clunky, riddled with cliches, worn phrases and forced exposition. It just sounds unnatural, which is *pretty* problematic for a comic that centers around conversations and social relations.

So the series is basically about about character development. And that's great! But if you do it badly, you end up with a cheap soap opera. And that's what The Walking Dead really is: a mediocre soap opera. With zombies. Even the zombies are kind of lame and serve primarily as an excuse to include mindless action scenes, which do little to break up the monotony of it all.

Rarely does anything too exciting happen and the plot moves forward at a snail's pace. People die and argue violently with each other all the time, but it all lacks dramatic punch. After the a while, you just stop caring.

This review may sound harsh, but reading through the compendium has been a frustrating experience. I really wanted to like this and there were some good bits here and there, but I expected something much better based on all the positive reviews.

What is it about The Walking Dead that I just don't get?(less)

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Jan 21, 2013 Angie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, graphic-novel, zombies

I have to admit that I read this because I have been watching the AMC series. I wanted to see how the comic differed from the series. It is basically the same storyline about a ragtag group trying to survive the Zombie Apocalypse, but there are differences that made this book a fascinating read. The story is brutal and honest and definitely not a pretty one. People die horribly and it becomes a part of life. It makes you question how you would act at the end of the world. Would you retain your h...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars

Okay, I'm going to say this right up front, and everyone can get as huffy as they'd like: it's all true.

The Walking Dead is highly overrated.

The writing is melodramatic as all get-out. I didn't get the impression that the writers had any idea what characters they had intended to survive - it's an amateurish device to kill off your characters, particularly given how dependent the story becomes upon characters constantly dying. Sure,it's meant to convey the new reality - but we all know how zombie...more Okay, I'm going to say this right up front, and everyone can get as huffy as they'd like: it's all true.

The Walking Dead is highly overrated.

The writing is melodramatic as all get-out. I didn't get the impression that the writers had any idea what characters they had intended to survive - it's an amateurish device to kill off your characters, particularly given how dependent the story becomes upon characters constantly dying. Sure,it's meant to convey the new reality - but we all know how zombie movies and post-apocalyptic scenarios work... lots of people die, because it's no longer a friendly world in which everyone can survive without a thought. Killing off so many characters, when you've already got a very small cast, just strikes me as emotionally manipulative. In a movie, it's cool with me; your commitment is two hours or less and it doesn't really matter if the entire character cast ends up butchered or eaten alive. In a long-running series of books or comics, it's cliched and awful.

Consider this: the human body cannot tolerate constant adrenaline. Similarly, the average reader is not interested in persistent drama! When there is absolutely no down-time, you cannot make an impression. It's why popular music structure is as it is - you can't have constant choruses because it would be tedious and boring. As such, I found the constant action and drama in The Walking Dead rather droll.

The dialogue is awkward and often very poorly written. The only time I found myself thinking, "I really liked that dialogue" was when Lori finally tries to come clean with Rick - it was the only part that seemed even mildly true to how a conversation works, and how people really interact. What really bothered me about the writing was how flippin' awkward it could be - it's riddled with sentence structure issues and redundant phrasing. I frequently had to re-read dialogue bubbles just to figure out what had been intended.

I hated how the characters were penciled so inconsistently. Glenn in particular is either a fairly good-looking Asian kid, or a chubby and unattractive white boy. What the fudge? He's not a difficult character to draw - I mean, he doesn't even have hair. C'mon - a little more effort, please?

I was really psyched to hear about this series - I love Romero-style zombies and I've always been a very big fan of post-apocalyptic literature. Generally, I liked elements of The Walking Dead, but the particulars are just sloppy and distracting. I've mostly lost interest in the television show since picking up the comic. Maybe I'll come back to it after finishing the entirety of the comic.(less)

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Nov 20, 2011 Richard rated it 2 of 5 stars

I read through this, and wanted to read all through this (granted, with some skimming towards the end), but I have to admit that this reminds me why I'm not a fan of graphic novels. A LOT of exposition in the form of dialogue (though no thought balloons, should be thankful for that), and a rather episodic approach that makes me feel like the storyline is more about "Okay, who can we kill next?" than necessarily digging into something uncomfortably human, but a lot of classic elements here that m...more

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Feb 08, 2013 Julia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 50-states-locales-ya-challenge, based-on-folksong-myth, best-book-i-read-in-2012, dystopian, favorites, zombies

This collection is not just crazy heavy, this situation and the people surviving in it are crazy, as in mad. I think there may not be a sane person in Woodbury or at the Prison. Not one who is both alive and knows what’s going on. Not that there are many people alive at the end of this… Or seem to be alive. Robert Kirkman and his collaboraters have a talent for surprise.

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May 23, 2013 Brandon Winner rated it 5 of 5 stars

Savage or Good
Zombie, savage, or human – which do you choose? The Walking Dead, a dark graphic novel written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard, receives a five star recommendation from me. The thriller novel is intriguing not only due to its gruesome scenes and imagery, but also because it questions whether humans are truly good or if they revert to savage-like behavior when confronted with hardships.
Kirkman’s The Walking Dead proposes the insightful question as...more Savage or Good
Zombie, savage, or human – which do you choose? The Walking Dead, a dark graphic novel written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard, receives a five star recommendation from me. The thriller novel is intriguing not only due to its gruesome scenes and imagery, but also because it questions whether humans are truly good or if they revert to savage-like behavior when confronted with hardships.
Kirkman’s The Walking Dead proposes the insightful question as to whether humans will fight to preserve humanity or selfishly fend for themselves when the world disintegrates. As if ignoring the likelihood of society perishing, Rick states, “There’s no guidelines for behavior in this situation—everything is unknown” (Kirkman Chapter 6 – no numbering). Rick has entirely ignores the rules of society and seems disillusioned and disinterested in living by them to prevent further destruction and mayhem. He believes the world, as he knew it, crumbled, and the regulations and principles will vanish as well. This example clearly demonstrates how the characters disregard a functional society and provokes questions as to whether people become savages during times of trouble. The philosophical question that is proposed throughout this graphic novel intrigues avid readers to consider how they would react given a like scenario. Therefore, I highly recommend this book to all that enjoy thrillers and are looking for a different perspective of humanity and whether humans are truly good or savages when confronted by devastation of their society.
In chapter 6 of the compelling graphic novel The Walking Dead, the selfish savage of each character is exposed. For instance, after one of Rick’s long monologues, he shares nervously, “I’ve seen so many die already—I have almost no attachment to these people at all anymore… and I could kill any one of them at any moment for the right reasons” (Chapter 6 – no numbering). The selfish savage within Rick is exposed – he is willing to do the unspeakable, disregarding the laws of society as he has practiced them prior to tragedy, if he feels it is right for he and his family. Without considering perspectives, ignoring the impact and effect of actions, and disregarding prior laws of acceptable human behavior, Rick will harm others to do what he feels is right. This exposure of the savage within Rick is an ideal example of the aforementioned question offered in The Walking Dead. The example described, and many others throughout the novel, reveals that anybody can revert to a savage when society breaks apart. This fascinating issue posed in The Walking Dead is a key reason for why this novel is entitled to a five star rating.
The characters in Kirkman’s highly recommended graphic novel The Walking Dead, relinquish their connections with modern society and transform into savages disrespecting life. Rick, a former police officer, admits, “My job was to uphold the law. Now I feel more like a lawless savage—an animal. I killed a man today and I don’t even care” (Chapter 6 – no numbering). Rick, who served as a police officer prior to the apocalypse, has neither means nor motive to enforce the law. Instead, he conforms to a savage beast and commits crimes. Moreover, Rick does not simply commit mild crimes… he murders a man and does not even care. The police officer is overtaken by an animalistic and savage-like behavior. I highly recommend The Walking Dead, especially due to its exciting, gruesome, and most fascinating contemplation of the philosophical question proposed throughout the graphic novel: are humans truly good and do they preserve their society, or do they metamorphose into savages and animals when the world disintegrates?(less)

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May 22, 2013 Ejayy De'vaughn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: none

The Walking Dead Compendium 1, by Robert Kirkman is a gruesome, graphic novel that takes place in Atlanta, Georgia. In the story, a world of frivolous necessity is replaced by a world of survival for the characters when the dead suddenly comes to life. Zombies terrorize the streets, overrun the city, and do anything in their power to deplete what’s left of the sane, living people. Over the course of the novel, Robert Kirkman, highlights on the intriguing topic of how humankind can be so heavily...more
The Walking Dead Compendium 1, by Robert Kirkman is a gruesome, graphic novel that takes place in Atlanta, Georgia. In the story, a world of frivolous necessity is replaced by a world of survival for the characters when the dead suddenly comes to life. Zombies terrorize the streets, overrun the city, and do anything in their power to deplete what’s left of the sane, living people. Over the course of the novel, Robert Kirkman, highlights on the intriguing topic of how humankind can be so heavily influenced by a change in their surroundings in both negative and positive ways. Moreover, in the book he specifically exemplifies how an environment filled of death, savages, and horror forces this particular group of people to become united as one and fight for not only themselves, but eachother; however, he also shows, how overtime, fighting and trying to overcome huge obstacles in this environment wear them down, and make them simply give up if success doesn’t look promising.
During the novel, the author highlights on how a horrid environment forces these humans to work for what they want; additionally, the environment powers these humans to not only fight for their survival, but their peers’ survival as well. When the group concluded that everyone needed to carry a gun, in order to be safe, Glenn and Rick went to a gun store deep in the city, risking death. They avoided attacks from the zombies on the way there, but as they ventured back, the zombies came charging for them; Glenn said, “We’re never going to make it,” then Rick responded, “Get the cart upright and grab as many guns as you can, hurry!” In the quotation, Glenn and Rick are staring death in the face, and they do not choose to run. Instead, while the zombies are attacking them they gathered all the guns they could then began to flee. This shows a true determination to get something they really needed, but more importantly this shows their willingness to fight for themselves as well as their peers. When they were being attacked they could have simply ran away, but instead they gathered the guns because they knew their peers would need them for survival. All in all, addressing how humans can begin to work for what they want and fight for themselves, as well as their peers, when their environment changes shows mankind’s strength to fight for survival.
Secondly, Robert Kirkland shines light on how trying to overcome huge obstacles and fighting for survival, overtime, can wear men down when it doesn’t look like they will come out on top. After Rick realized that the new city the group had settled in was infested with zombies, he began evacuating. In the midst of this chaos, Donna, the wife of Allen, was attacked by one of the dead and killed. Allen stood over his dead wife and screamed, “No, I can’t leave—not without her. Just leave me Rick; leave me here.” When Allen made this statement, he was asking to be left for dead. He had been fighting not only for his survival, but also for his wife and children. He had made a commitment to himself to keep his family safe, which was a enormous challenge. When Donna died, he had failed to overcome this obstacle, of which, he had been fighting very hard to conquer. He was worn down, and he had not fight left in him. He knew in his mind that death was the only escape. Overall, the idea that man yearns for escape when placed in an environment where you have to constantly struggle with obstacles can break a man down when victory seems to be a distant reality.
In the novel, Robert Kirkman discusses mankind’s true durability and discovers that men are not made of steel. If you are interested in discussions regarding the deeper meanings of life, I strongly recommend you read The Walking Dead Compendium 1. However, if you are someone who dislikes gruesome novels, graphic pictures, and books that stretch the mind conceptually, I do not recommend this book for you. This novel is filled with many twists and turns that make your journey along its road an exciting and suspenseful ride. The Walking Dead Compendium 1 truly represents how strong mankind can be, and how its strengths can prove to be its weakness.

(less)

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Apr 19, 2013 Nathan Bowerbank rated it 2 of 5 stars

I like the post apocalypse genre. Zombies, nuclear war, plague, whatever the cause of mankinds downfall, I generally find this genre of stories to be entertaining and interesting. Not so much with The Walking Dead. The premise is a standard Romero-style zombie apocalypse that we've seen in a thousand other books and movies: slow stupid flesh eating zombies who can kill you with a single bite, and it doesn't really get much more creative from there. The primary conflict isn't human vs. zombie, it...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Chicago Heights Public Library rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1-library-reviews

Kyle

The Walking Dead is a wildly popular graphic novel series (in this case, the first few issues were compiled into a larger 'book'), which has also spun off a TV series, merchandising, and more. So what makes this story about zombies different than any of the plethora of other books, movies, comics, etc. that have come before? Well, I think there are two reasons. First, the novels have a high degree of realism, considering the unrealistic scenario of zombies, of course. The characters in the...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Yumimi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library

6/10

The Walking Dead is currently a very popular TV show, with a lot of the internet raving over it I decided to give this a shot when I saw it in the library. It's quite annoying to read because it's just so heavy .-. Definitely had lighter (and smaller!) textbooks.

TWD runs like a bad soap, predictable in the sense that every time they find somewhere "safe", guess what? ZOMBEH TIME. Or typical idiot redneck time, I'd actually say the zombies were much better. It certainly has enough sex, annoyi...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Jukka Kuva rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review is long overdue. The Walking Dead is Kirkman's take at zombie fiction. The premise is pretty basic. A zombie outbreak occurs, a handful of people survive. For a while it's just like any zombie movie you've seen (except of course, on paper). The difference is that where a zombie movie would end, TWD is just getting started.

The long length is a big challenge for the writer. How to keep the tension? How to keep things interesting? Kirkman not only overcomes that challenge, but uses it t...more

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Feb 05, 2013 Ayshbot rated it 2 of 5 stars

Just way too unrelentingly dark for me. Don't get me wrong. I realize that there's a certain absurdity to reviewing a zombie comic as "too dark." But hear me out.

My big problem is that Walking Dead's the-people-are-worse-than-the-zombies theme didn't work for me. If you're not going to do the cartoonishness of "Return of the Living Dead" or the mindless gorefest of "Dawn of the Dead," I have to connect with the poor humans fighting it out to survive. There needs to be some redeeming spark of hum...more

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Feb 05, 2013 Kendra rated it 5 of 5 stars

Oh Kirkman, you got me with your prologue and I haven't looked back. So many times in my life I've found that graphic novels don't live up to the hype. The Walking Dead does. Amazing, amazing artwork, and an incredibly interesting plot. I'm nearly done compendium 1 (if you want to read them all, I'd definitely recommend getting the compendiums as they're MUCH cheaper (instead of $10 per volume you're looking at about $50 for a good chunk of them). As much as I hate to admit that I betrayed my lo...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Franki rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

I decided to pick this up and give it a go as I'm a huge fan of the television series. I had already heard there there were countless differences between them so I was looking forards to reading something vaguely familiar but still brand new.

I thought I'd just pick it up and go through it in one or two sittings but my gosh, TWD comics are a LOT darker than the sho (no wonder they changed so much!) and, at times, I found it quite hard to stomach and I had to put it down- the hopelessness and brut...more

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Jan 01, 2013 M.P. Johnson rated it 5 of 5 stars

It's About The Nuances

Before I read it, I hated the Walking Dead. I hated that it was getting all the attention that I thought (and sort of still do think) that Deadworld (the definitive zombie comic) should have gotten. Having read this, I now understand that it's deserving of all the attention it's gotten, although maybe not for the reasons you may have heard.

To me, it's about the nuances. Yes, there is plenty of zombie gore (and some really over the top sick stuff in the later issues in this...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a lot of material to cover in one review, so I'll basically share my thoughts about the series as a whole so far and maybe later I'l do a few of my favorite volumes individually.
I want to begin by saying that I'm not what you would call a "comic book reader". I don't DISLIKE them, but with the exception of a few artsy kinda-sortas (like Camilla D'Errico's "Tanpopo" series)I've a very limited experience with graphic novels. I AM someone who loves to read, and who has read A LOT, and am...more This is a lot of material to cover in one review, so I'll basically share my thoughts about the series as a whole so far and maybe later I'l do a few of my favorite volumes individually.
I want to begin by saying that I'm not what you would call a "comic book reader". I don't DISLIKE them, but with the exception of a few artsy kinda-sortas (like Camilla D'Errico's "Tanpopo" series)I've a very limited experience with graphic novels. I AM someone who loves to read, and who has read A LOT, and am (regretfully) a bit of book snob. I can guarantee, that ludicrous as the subject matter may seem, "Walking Dead" is as chock full of character development, creative plot progression, and underlying messaging as anything you could pull off of a "Literature" shelf.
The comics cover an array of characters - from the deranged to the devastated - but the 'hero' of the story is Rick Grimes, a small town deputy sheriff who wakes up out of a coma to find the world overrun by the reanimated dead. To survive in this new world, you have to learn quickly. How to kill, how to keep going, how to process loss and fear. That kind of rapid reprogramming leaves it marks, and a big part of the story is watching the characters, especially Rick, evolve into a shadow of their former selves.
As hypothetical as the character development seems (How would living in this environment effect people? What kind of decisions would they make? How would it change them? etc.) it still manages to hit home. Not only does it give us zombies (basically a picture of our own mortality to begin with) it uses them to confront us with our own existence. I felt like a recurrent idea in the book was questioning how much humanity had REALLY changed. Was the world so different? Or had the mask just been pulled back? You watch characters struggle with these and similar ideas, and its interesting to watch them evolve (DE-volve?).
Survival in the new world has as much to do with dealing with your fellow human beings as it does outrunning the living dead, and that can be a dizzying process as well. It gets REALLY gritty, and pretty much any depth of cruelty and desperation you can think of (and some you never would) are covered here. There's a heavy handed dose of action, death, and general carnage. The comics have a really realistic way of hitting you with such tragedies; they're often sudden, unexpected, and NO CHARACTER IS SAFE.
This is a series that is all at once thrilling, devastating and addicting; and comic book reader or no, its a must read for anyone mildly interested in survivalist fiction.
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Dec 01, 2012 Matt Carter rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'll admit it, I had to force myself to get into The Walking Dead. My first exposure to it was through the TV series, and having grown up as an old-school Romero purist, I was unimpressed with the TV series slow, methodical and oft-whiny approach to a world ruled by the dead. This hesitance kept me away from the show, and by proxy the comic, for the longest time. Still, time heals all wounds, and since it was one of those things that everybody was talking about, I figured on giving it a second c...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Carlos rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels-and-comic-books, horror

4,5/5 en general los 8 primeros volúmenes. Los primeros les daría un 4/5, y los últimos hasta el vol. 8 un 4,5. El empiezo no me entusiasmó, prácticamente no me empezó a encantar hasta el enfrentamiento con el Gobernador, aunque no lo veo ni una parte tan remarcable ni un villano tan memorable como dicen. Cuando de verdad me empezó a enganchar fue a partir del vol.9 (5/5), más o menos cuando dejan la cárcel y tienen que volver a sobrevivir ahí fuera, y se reencuentran y aparecen los primeros mom...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Noah winglob zingbad rated it 5 of 5 stars

I would recommend “The Walking Dead- Compendium One”, by Robert Kirkman to a friend because it is an exciting, suspenseful, action packed graphic novel. There are 3 reasons I would recommend this book.
1. Readers will be wondering nonstop weather their favorite characters will survive much longer.
2. There is plenty of action.
3. Plot twists are common and will keep readers questioning what will come next
“I saw Otis get attacked—I know he didn’t make it. Hershel was bitten” (after the zombies attac...more I would recommend “The Walking Dead- Compendium One”, by Robert Kirkman to a friend because it is an exciting, suspenseful, action packed graphic novel. There are 3 reasons I would recommend this book.
1. Readers will be wondering nonstop weather their favorite characters will survive much longer.
2. There is plenty of action.
3. Plot twists are common and will keep readers questioning what will come next
“I saw Otis get attacked—I know he didn’t make it. Hershel was bitten” (after the zombies attack the characters are confused about who really died. Hershel actually didn’t get bitten. This is an example of how action packed and suspenseful the story is). Characters die around every corner. You can never be too sure that your favorite character won’t die on the next page. Even when things seem calm and secure, remember, you’re in a world infested with the walking dead and that no one can be safe. This constant sense of danger and concern is part of what keeps readers reading. It is sad when a character you like dies though, so when you start reading this book you have to make sure that you don’t fall in love with certain characters because you never know what will happen to them. “We have to make it inside while they’re distracted, it’s our only chance” (at this part in the story the characters are being attacked not by zombies, but humans). It’s hard to find a quote in this story that shows the action, because most of it is shown with pictures. The detailed art in these pictures helps intensify the action to a level that makes it hard to put down the book. Once you get into one of these action scenes you’re not going to want to stop reading until it’s over. Some people may say that this book is a bit to gory. And it is. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a good book. As a matter of fact the gore ads a little extra excitement to the book. When you think about it, it wouldn’t be right to have a zombie story without gore! “Kill them all!” “NOW!” (I can’t say who’s saying this because it would ruin one of the biggest surprises in the book). The abundant plot twists in this book are probably some of the biggest I’ve ever seen. They sneak up on the reader and some of them manage to change the entire rest of the story. One of the most common types of twist in this book is saying that someone is dead, and then when you are absolutely sure someone is dead, they show up again. Plot twists, action scenes, zombies, suspense and more await you when you read ”The Walking Dead- Compendium One”.
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Oct 02, 2012 Forrest rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

I really should write more about this book. It deserves more. But this is all I have.

But first, I need to point something out: I detest zombies. I really can't stand the genre. At 5 years old, my older brothers made me watch "Night of the Living Dead." To this day, that movie still sends shivers down my spine and keeps me up at night. I can't even begin to account for the number of wet beds resulted from that film. So yeah. Not a fan of the zombie genre.

There's something else I need to point o...more

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Sep 30, 2012 Christopher Fowler rated it 5 of 5 stars

Gruesome, pitch black and sometimes genuinely disturbing, TWD is a comic that delves into ideas about our world far beyond most current novels. While most might try the comics as a fans of good ghoul gunning, the titular zombies of the series are second place to the characters involved, and the incredible detailing of human nature when placed in a world that provides only the smallest glint of hope. When i say this is a series not for the weak hearted, i cannot be more sincere, The Walking Dead...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Madeline rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really, really love zombie movies, and anything really that involves zombies. (Yes, even Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. If you can't like that idea at least a little bit, then I can't like you.) But pretty quickly after my zombie obsession started, I realized that what interests me about these stories isn't the zombie killing aspect at all. Instead, what really fascinates me about zombie apocalypse movies is how they portray the breakdown of society, and how people deal with this. Blowing zo...more I really, really love zombie movies, and anything really that involves zombies. (Yes, even Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. If you can't like that idea at least a little bit, then I can't like you.) But pretty quickly after my zombie obsession started, I realized that what interests me about these stories isn't the zombie killing aspect at all. Instead, what really fascinates me about zombie apocalypse movies is how they portray the breakdown of society, and how people deal with this. Blowing zombie heads off with shotguns and slicing them up with machetes is fun to watch (because zombies, like Nazis, can be slaughtered in the thousands and you don't feel even a little bit sorry for them - even when there's a really heartwrenching moment when someone has to shoot their zombiefied mom, it really doesn't make me feel that bad because she's not your mom anymore, she's a zombie who's going to eat you and there is a big difference) but what always interests me more in these stories is what happens when the normal rules of society no longer apply. If the world collapsed tomorrow and all that mattered was survival - not morality, not family, not religion - what would you do? When the zombie apocalypse happens, all bets are off and society crumbles. Once this happens, once we pretty much do whatever we want because everything has been destroyed, how do we react? Who do we become when we lose everything?

If these questions interest you more than simple zombie killing, The Walking Dead will make you very happy. Yes, there are zombie killings aplenty (drawn in super graphic detail, to the point where you probably shouldn't be eating anything while you read this), but the zombies are not the problem here. These aren't 28 Days Later zombies (which, if we're going to get technical, weren't really zombies at all) that are smart and run scary fast. These are slow, dumb, lumbering things that hunt mainly by smell, and whose strategy for finding food is basically to wander around and hope to stumble within grabbing distance of something edible. The zombies in The Walking Dead are not a huge threat. The threat is the people left behind, trying to make a life in this disaster wasteland aftermath.

Let me warn you right away: it ain't pretty. Even our good guy main character, the former police officer Rick, cracks under the pressure and becomes significantly less heroic than he wishes he could be. People kill other people. They torture and rape other people, and do similarly awful things in order to survive. This isn't a zombie movie, where the tight-knit group pf heroes find a safe haven or maybe even a cure and then the credits roll. There are no credits here, and even when our main characters find a relatively secure place where they can live, things aren't over. They still have to push the zombies back every day, and find a source of food, and keep other people from attacking their hiding place. And they still have to deal with each other. To paraphrase Sartre, Hell isn't a zombie apocalypse, Hell is other people. (less)

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Aug 20, 2012 Lauren Barber rated it 4 of 5 stars

I can't honestly say that I've ever really been into comic books or graphic novels. My interest in reading this came from watching AMC's adaptation of the graphic novel into a television series. Frank Darabont's vision in the first season really captured my interest and reeled me into the show. Plus, it's about the zombie apocolypse, and who doesn't love a show about zombies?

My husband brought home "The Walking Dead, Compendium I" is a compilation of the first eight volumes (issues #1 - 48) of t...more

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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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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, Compendium 1 (The Walking Dead #1-48)

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