The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore
Series: The Walking Dead
Publisher: Image Comics, 2006
Genre: Horror
Sub-genre: Comic book
Rating: 4 pints of blood
I love the broken and bloodied picture in the background of the cover art. It's a really poignant image and speaks a lot to the content and tone of the book. And the monochromatic tones is a great choice. Also, there are zombies! With flies circling them! Details are important, and these details are awesome.
Yup, this is an older one. There are currently I believe 14 volumes in the series, as well as a tv series based on the comics. But how could I do zombie month without adding this ultimate zombie comic to the list? Obviously, I could not.
After small-town officer Rick Grimes is shot in the line of duty, he wakes up from his month-long coma in an empty hospital. When he goes looking to find any doctors or nurses, what he finds are zombies. More than a little freaked out, he heads home to find his wife and son missing, like most of the rest of the town.
He gets word that when the zombies first broke out, people were instructed to head for the cities for protection, so he heads for the nearest one, hoping his family are there. The city has been long overrun by zombies, but there are a few survivors camped out nearby, and Rick joins them. Survival under these grim circumstances involves more than being able to shoot at any zombies that come near them, though. If they want to live, these former strangers are all going to have to learn to live with each other and work together.
The Walking Dead series is very character-driven. It's not the tale of humans uprising over the forces oppressing them, this is the story of one man and the people around him trying to survive in an otherwise dead world. As might be expected, they've all seen a number of tragedies, and in some ways those are more dangerous than the zombies: the man who watched his wife and children eaten alive hasn't got much reason to keep fighting.
It's not all bleak, there are a few sweet moments, but it's a very dark story, as you'd expect from something categorized as horror and involving zombies. People die (and not always due to becoming a zombie meal), there's a bit of gore (both onscreen and implied), and even the children aren't immune to horrible things happening. The characters are all beautifully, painfully human, with human motivations and emotions. If you were to pick up this book just as a character study, it would be worth your time.
The artwork is all graytones, in a very western style. The art doesn't pull any punches, emotionally speaking, and manages to suit both the quiet character moments and the zombie action scenes. It often doesn't require dialogue to convey what it's trying to say, which is really the mark of an effective artist in the terms of comics.
This is not always a pleasant story, but it's one that always rings true, and I'm not sure there's much higher praise to give than that.
The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye is available in paperback
.
Publisher: Image Comics, 2006
Genre: Horror
Sub-genre: Comic book
Rating: 4 pints of blood
I love the broken and bloodied picture in the background of the cover art. It's a really poignant image and speaks a lot to the content and tone of the book. And the monochromatic tones is a great choice. Also, there are zombies! With flies circling them! Details are important, and these details are awesome.
Yup, this is an older one. There are currently I believe 14 volumes in the series, as well as a tv series based on the comics. But how could I do zombie month without adding this ultimate zombie comic to the list? Obviously, I could not.
After small-town officer Rick Grimes is shot in the line of duty, he wakes up from his month-long coma in an empty hospital. When he goes looking to find any doctors or nurses, what he finds are zombies. More than a little freaked out, he heads home to find his wife and son missing, like most of the rest of the town.
He gets word that when the zombies first broke out, people were instructed to head for the cities for protection, so he heads for the nearest one, hoping his family are there. The city has been long overrun by zombies, but there are a few survivors camped out nearby, and Rick joins them. Survival under these grim circumstances involves more than being able to shoot at any zombies that come near them, though. If they want to live, these former strangers are all going to have to learn to live with each other and work together.
The Walking Dead series is very character-driven. It's not the tale of humans uprising over the forces oppressing them, this is the story of one man and the people around him trying to survive in an otherwise dead world. As might be expected, they've all seen a number of tragedies, and in some ways those are more dangerous than the zombies: the man who watched his wife and children eaten alive hasn't got much reason to keep fighting.
It's not all bleak, there are a few sweet moments, but it's a very dark story, as you'd expect from something categorized as horror and involving zombies. People die (and not always due to becoming a zombie meal), there's a bit of gore (both onscreen and implied), and even the children aren't immune to horrible things happening. The characters are all beautifully, painfully human, with human motivations and emotions. If you were to pick up this book just as a character study, it would be worth your time.
The artwork is all graytones, in a very western style. The art doesn't pull any punches, emotionally speaking, and manages to suit both the quiet character moments and the zombie action scenes. It often doesn't require dialogue to convey what it's trying to say, which is really the mark of an effective artist in the terms of comics.
This is not always a pleasant story, but it's one that always rings true, and I'm not sure there's much higher praise to give than that.
The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye is available in paperback
.