It was worth it, though. I mentioned before that I don’t care for
zombies but I made exception with The
Walking Dead after seeing a couple episodes from the third season. They were doing something that hadn’t been
attempted in a zombie story before and I was interested to see how this played
out and came to be. However, I did not
want to take the time to start the TV series from the beginning. There are other things I’d rather be doing
(like writing this stupid review.)
But I was all too happy to read the comic books,
which tell a different story than what the show does but still just as
delightful.
It starts off like most zombie stories: end of the
world, walking corpsicles, and lots of fear.
Plus, (and this is the strength of zombie yarns) forming a community
that battles more within itself than without.
What this one does different—and because they have
the space to do it—is turn it from your midnight horror, cabin-in-the-woods
scenario and make it a true post-apocalyptic tale, where the main drama is not
surviving the zombies, but creating a civilization that handles the undead the
same way you handle other forces of nature, like hurricanes, earthquakes, or
tornadoes. The zombies are just another
natural threat that they are finally learning how to take care of and are
building communities that can overcome that threat. The zombies really aren’t the worst force out
there but another obstacle in the grander drama of recreating civilization. It’s powerful and moving and I can’t wait for
the next volume.
I love how Rick never gives up. Almost every idea he’s gets blown off the
table and left him in a worse position than he was before, and yet he takes
those failures and does it better next time.
He will rise and the rest of the survivors will follow and for good
reason, because he puts himself on the line.
He never asks more from them than he’s willing to do himself, except
maybe in love.
Speaking of which, I hope he stops being a wuss and
hooks up with Andrea. Those two are perfectly compatible, more so than
his deceased wife and she would be a good mom for Carl. Certainly, nobody would defend the kid with
more fervor or ability in that harsh world.
Although if I’m going to be honest, there’s an evil
side of me that wants to see Carl croak.
Not because I don’t like him; I like the boy a lot. But this story is about Rick and I want to
see whether he could rise above his son dying and continue to do the right
thing—meaning make a better world, even though it’s one that his posterity will
never get to see. That would make him
even more heroic than he is right now, and as it is, he’s way up there in
fictional heroes.
Though I won’t complain if Carl lives either. It would be fascinating to see how the rising
generation lives in this world without any memories of the old.
Michonne is only going to get bitter, even more so,
as time goes on. Nobody could argue that
one.
Abraham is going to take over the new community but
I don’t know if that would be a bad thing.
By that point, I think Rick will be onto something even grander by
then. The story changed and reached for
something much more. Rick’s mantle will
get heavier and Abraham’s new role may be the thing that helps lighten the
load. But we’ll see. If the series goes on as long as I think it
will, there will be plenty more time to put Rick through the meat grinder and I
look forward to every painful moment.
As with all zombie stories, this one is incredibly
gory. Parents be warned, although, I
think with horror, this ought to have been a given.
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