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Is it weird that I have a huge metaphoric boner for zombies?
All summer I’ve been eagerly waiting. Just ticking down the days, doing meaningless tasks to fill the void. At first I was skeptical but with every news piece that comes out about it I become Veruca Salt screaming “I want it now.” This thing that makes me salivate at the mention of it is AMC’s new show “The Walking Dead,” based on one of my favorite comic books of the same name.
If you don’t know what The Walking Dead series is…I just don’t know what to say. Stop dicking around on the internet and go to your local comic book shop now and pick up the first trade. The Walking Dead follows Rick Grimes, a cop from outside Atlanta, who awakes in the hospital to find his entire neighborhood a war zone. Desperate to find his family, Rick travels to Atlanta to find them. There’s only one problem – there’s a hoard of zombies between his house and the city. Writer and creator Robert Kirkman has redefined the survival zombie epic with The Walking Dead. Hard to do when the 70s and 80s nearly made it into a joke. I was introduced to the series by a friend Sam during a presentation in my Undead Cinema class (yeah I had a class about zombies, welcome to film school). That summer I picked up the first book of the Walking Dead. By the end of the summer I had devoured all four volumes and had become utterly obsessed with the world Kirkman created.
The Walking Dead is so intriguing because it’s not another action-packed, blood on every page zombie cartoon. It’s ultimately about survival and how Rick must deal with protecting his family on a day to day basis from zombies, marauders, sickness, crazy people, even people in his own group. You become emotionally attached to these characters because they are so real. Put yourself in the situation. You and maybe twenty people are in a group, camping in the wild knowing that all around you are thousands of undead. You’ve never fired a gun, let alone hit somebody in your life. Now you’re forced to learn. Your friends and family are all dead. Food is scarce and when you find it it’s probably spoiled. You’re cold, tired, paranoid, lonely, hungry but you survive. Think about the person you would turn into. I guarantee there’s someone who matches it in the Walking Dead.
When I heard that AMC had bought the rights to the series I was excited but cautious. AMC has produced nothing but fantastic television series (Mad Men and Breaking Bad) but this was above and beyond their regular output. It’s a show about zombies. In an abandoned Atlanta. How the hell are you going to shoot a 12 part season successfully with those stipulations? And what about the cast? TELL ME AMC!? As the summer progressed more and more information was released on the show. The cast is filled with relatively unknown actors. They snagged Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) to direct the series. But most importantly they nailed the zombie look. Just watch the trailer. This almost five minute clip previews what Rick is going to go through and shows the first issue of The Walking Dead almost in it’s entirety.
The show debuts on Halloween. How fitting right? The Walking Dead series is still in publication through Image Comics. Trades are about $5-10, but if you want to jump right in I suggest buying the volume 1 version. It collects five trades in a very nice hardcover book with larger artwork and artist sketches in the back. If you search online you can find these at $20 a pop which is a steal for something this good. Go support good comic books!
Posted by Amy Dittmeier on Sep 03, 2010 @ 10:10 am
