The Walking Dead Volume 1: Days Gone Bye - Robert Kirkman

Zombie horror and subtle drama can exist in one story

Visceral horror and subtle ongoing character serial combine to make "The Walking Dead" one of the most engaging comic-book series currently being produced. This initial volume, "Days Gone Bye", takes the first six issues of the Image Comics series and edits them together into one seamless (no easy feat when it comes to compilations) 130-plus page epic. Subsequent volumes collect later issues, with new volumes coming out like clockwork once there are six new issues of the monthly comic book to collect.

With its realistic looking characters (no abs-of-steel guys or buxom bimbos here) and gritty day-to-day situations (often horrifying but never over-the-top with silly horror movie situations), "The Walking Dead" is a comic book that doesn't feel "comic-booky", and would be a good title to recommend to friends who don't normally read comics. If they enjoy horror stories, that is.

Quibbles? Robert Kirkman is telling a great story here, but sometimes the word balloons can be a little dense with verbiage. These characters DO go on a bit. But that's really about it.

As this is a comic book, I guess I should touch on the visuals. Tony Moore's art is wonderful: detailed, subtle, yet fast-moving, if that's way to describe comic book art. What I mean is that the art makes your eye fly from panel to panel, drinking in the action. But his detail and subtlety make the quiet scenes resonate the way they should, too. Though Charlie Adlard's art in future volumes is perfectly fine, and has its own plusses, for my money the series never looked better than in this initial collection.

Give "The Walking Dead" a try. Its unusual mix of subtle artistry and firing-on-all-cylinders outright horror will grab you and keep you coming back for more.

START HERE AND BUY THEM ALL

just like lays potato chips . the best zombie saga that george r. never wrote . all the books are compelling . i don't even miss the color . kirkman rocks .

Not the best intro, but it's VERY worth it to keep going

Some of the more negative reviews of this first Walking Dead book are quite merited. In many ways it feels derivative, even a bit lazy. I'd only like to add that the series does get better, a whole heck of a lot better. Read this first one just so you can get to know the characters, but if you're feeling put off, do yourself a favor and keep going. By the time I was halfway through the second book I was hooked hooked hooked, and I devoured the rest of them as fast as I could. These have some of the best character development I've ever seen in any media, let alone in comic books, which are NOT known for their depth.

Kirkman has made a decent name for himself in this business, and The Walking Dead series is a fantastic testament to his deserving respect.

Copycat

Adds nothing new to the zombie genre and yes it starts out exactly like 28 Days Later (Widescreen Edition), convieniently makes the main character a cop so he has access to weapons ad nauseum. Add simpering weak-willed wife and 'Jonny Boy' cookie cutter son and you've got yourself the Walking Dead vol 1. And you think the drawings might even be okay. I hate manga pop a lot less than this black and white rendered blob.

This zombie fan gives it a big MEH.

I'd give it a negative star if possible for the crappy steriotyping alone. And the whole male cast is straight out of a Budweiser/Coors commercial complete with the token ethnic characters & square-jawed main manly characters.

The End Has Come

Volume 1 (of 8 so far) collects 1-6 of Robert Kirkman's ongoing series for Image Comics. I had been recommended this book by many people so I snagged the first 4 trades cheap and ate them up like a plate of warm brains. Zombie humor. Of course, there is really no humor to be found in this series. It's gritty, rough and deeply interesting. This book is not so much about the zombies as it is the human condition - and how quickly it corrodes under apocalyptic circumstances. As is typical of Kirkman, the writing is excellent, building suspense and establishing characters while moving the story along at a satisfying pace. If you read the first trade, you'll want at to have the next few handy.