So thus begins volume 1 (Issue #1-6)
*I may throw some key details of the story in here so this is just a spoiler alert for those who care. I suggest reading the volume first then coming back to this.
For some background of the comic.
It is created, written and lettered by Robert Kirkman.
Pencilled, inked and gray toned by Tony Moore.
With additional gray tones by Cliff Rathburn.
Right off the bat the cover just grabbed me. Bullets, zombies, seemingly broken family situation. I had to read the intro and I'm glad I did. Mr. Kirkman lays everything out and says what the purpose of this comic is for. No confusion, no thinking you are getting into something you didn't want to get into. It allowed me to focus on the messages/themes he tries to convey in the writing & art.
From the first frames of the shoot out, I was already wondering what the heck is going on. In a good way. I was already hooked when I turned the page. Just the sheer mystery and my imagination running wild of the possibilities and what ifs. Fast forward to the scene of the bicycle zombie. This one page told so much. just even in the way they drew Rick's eye welling up. To me they did a really great job of showing Rick's take on the whole situation thus far. even though he doesn't really know the full extent of everything, something just hits him in this moment and they conveyed it perfectly. (I'll come back to this in a second)
I'm no gun fanatic but I loved the scene where they walk into the police storage room for guns and ammo. It's like a freaking candy store in a zombie apocalypse! from reading this comic, to playing games like Left 4 dead. I wonder at times what if. I'm sure I'm not the only one. You put yourself in these situations whether it be video game or comic and wonder how you would fare. Granted we will never know the full extent of it unless it actually happens (I rather it not). But it is intriguing to just wonder what if.
Okay back to the ending of the last last paragraph. The scene where rick is driving out of the town and he stops by the bicycle zombie and shoots it. To me this showed another characteristic of Rick. To me he has almost a compassion for the zombie. Or most likely just pity. That he doesn't want it to suffer in that state of zombie. Moving along.
The scene when he strolls through Atlanta is pretty intense. You obviously know he's gonna survive cause there's 12 more volumes ahead, but I was still on the edge of my seat. When Rick meets up with the group and his family, To me this is when the story really begins. This is where we really get to dive into the characters and find out who they really are. It's always interesting to watch characters develop in insane situations like these.
Theres alot of in betweens that I won't cover. Now that I think of it this isn't a review at all lol. This is just me, thinking out loud, then put back into a blog.
One thing I will say is that I didn't see the ending coming at all. They slowly built the tension between Shane and Rick since they first saw each other again. This just resulted in a ending that makes you wanna pick up the next volume right away.
So this is all I have for Volume 1. I know this is not a review, these are just thoughts. I think I rather like it that way. But just for fun i'll make a rating system that has no meaning (I'm thinking of whose line is it anyway and the points that don't mean anything). I give this first volume 5 zombie heads out a 5 zombie heads. Everything just came together so well in this first volume. To me they did everything how they should have. Kudos to the writers, artists and everyone who was involved in making The Walking Dead.
El Josho
The Walking Dead Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us...thoughts coming soon.
