“The Walking Dead will be the zombie movie that never ends.”

-Robert Kirkman

So you like zombies do you? You watch every new Romero film that comes out. You have even tracked down a bootleg copy of [Rec] so you don’t have to sit through an American remake. And you just might be the type of person who keeps their copies of The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z in the Nonfiction section of their book case.

Or maybe you are one of those avid readers who still shuns comics because you think it is a medium only for kids and post-adolescent fanboys? You selectively ignore the number of critically acclaimed authors working in comics, or the numerous literary awards being won simply because it is easier to classify comics as something beneath you, and thus a waste of your time.

Or maybe you have one of a thousand other perfectly legitimate reasons for not reading The Walking Dead.

But what you should know is that The Walking Dead is one of the most ambitious literary undertakings I have ever had the distinct pleasure of encountering. Writer Robert Kirkman notes this in the introduction of the first Trade Paperback that his primary complaint about zombie movieswas that “As soon as things start getting good…those pesky credits start rolling.” Meaning that just when those characters have had their last bit of hope snuffed out, and just as you begin to wonder how they will deal with these new issues, the story ends.

So Kirkman set out to write a sprawling zombie epic centered on one man, Rick Grimes, and how he struggles to survive, cope and evolves in this new world. By doing this Kirkman has created some of the most fascinatingly rich and complex characters ever to appear in the medium. And just when you begin to become attached to them, they disappear, either evolving yet another layer of complexity to their character or they are simply eaten alive.

While the impressive character study will appeal to any fiction fan, The Walking Dead offers even more to fans of the zombie genre. Various films are referenced in subtle and blatant was with plot references to 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead being the easiest to recognize. But their are plenty of other pop culture references waiting to be discovered, my personal favorite being Lone Wolf and Cub.

So while it might be fairly easy to write off The Walking Dead as a mere horror comic, if you take the time to explore the book you will find it has something to offer everyone, and I think you will find that you love every panel just as much as I do.

What are you waiting for?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 1:40 pm and is filed under Editorials, Features, Why aren't you?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.