Customer Reviews
Poor dialogue and 2d characters let down some good ideas - By: Alan, 24 Aug 2008 
Robert Kirkman has been praised for creating this ongoing zombie saga; & while he deserves the credit for a great idea, & a decent plot, his execution & technique are sorely lacking. His dialogue has each character providing detailed exposition for their every action, leaving nothing to the reader's imagination. The characters themselves are pretty two dimensional & predictable, especiallly the women (I reallly wouldn't recommend this for female readers - you'll probably come away frustrated).
It's a pity because there are times when the book veers to enjoyable, as Kirkman uses a few good ideas to create interesting scenarios. The story also moves forward & you get a nice feeling of progression from the changing relationships & locales that is most often missing in ongoing comic book scenarios.
The artwork in the first half is excellent, the use of the gray tones & detailed pencils make it feel almost like an old black & white horror show on TV. The art takes a downturn at the halfway point, however it is still passable & easily followed.
Not bad then, but would be a lot better if Kirkman passed the scripting duties to someone who knew how to write dialogue.
They keep on coming - great! - By: G. A. Kester, 23 May 2008 
I was 10 years old when Dawn of the Dead was made, & 13 when I finallly saw a grainy version on home video. From that moment on I was a fan of the zombie genre (Day of the Dead was the first X film I ever sneaked into!)
One thing about a great zombie film though, is how they always seem to end with lots of unanswered questions & unexplored scenarios. Evidentallly Robert Kirkman felt the same, & The Walking Dead was created in an attempt to present an ongoing story of survival in a world overrun by the living dead.
He doesn't worry about why it happened, or what official responses were (these are brushed aside fairly quickly & at the periphery of the story). Instead, he extrapolates the effect on a band of ordinary people - their relationships, their plans & their struggles.
Kirkman obviously knows human nature, & that in such a situation people wouldn't do the logical things needed to survive but still concentrate on selfish agendas & petty jealousies, as well as the struggle between the male members of each group to be the "alpha". As in Romero's films, female characters tend to be strong, having to fight not only the undead, but the testosterine pig-headedness of the menfolk as they squabble, or run off to execute hair-brained plans of dubious benefit.
Taking a further leaf from Romero, the zombies are often merely a catalyst for drawing out the drama - the real enemy is within. Books 2 & 3 especiallly take this path, & contain some of the most shocking scenes ever to grace the pages of a graphic novel - generallly ones where the zombies are barely in sight. When they do become the direct threat, though, the creators pull no punches.
Tony Moore's polished initial artwork is fine, but when it gives way to Charlie Adlard's more robust style of drawing (though it is a lot tighter than his work on The X Files comics) things reallly ramp up. Like classic Mike McMahon Judge Dredds & ABC Warriors from the late 1970s & early 1980s, his sparse but energetic lines & high contrast use of shadow catch an urgency that suits the story magnificently. My background is in illustration, & I would always overwork things a little to the detriment of the piece - I envy Adlard's confident looseness!
As this review is written we are at number 3 in terms of hardback collections, with the comic run ongoing. The wait for a new collected book seems interminable, but the reread value of these stunning stories is high. May Kirkman & Adlard's dead keep on walking.
BEST EVER! - By: Lee Andrews, 09 May 2008 i got hooked!!! the artwork starts off gr8 but gets a bit slapdash near the end, BUT don't let that put you off! the story is so good! by far the best Zombie comic out there, the only down side is that you will end up getting book:2 then book:3 & thats where the cost starts adding up, but well worth every penny!
roll on the movie!
The evil other half! - By: Johnny Knoxville, 02 May 2008 
The first half of this graphic novel is great, the art by Tony Moore is crisp, clear, stylised & works very well. It's alll very entertaining...
until...
The evil other half of the graphic novel, were for some strange reason Charlie Adlard takes the reigns of the art work. Suddenly the characters look different, some of the characters look so alike it's hard to distingish who is who! I would go as far as saying some of the artwork is sloppy...in particular a child character in the novel is out of proportion most of the time, with a huge head & hands that are too big for the body.
The change in artwork is like flying first class for half of a flight & then being put in to economy class for the second half of the journey...it hampers your enjoyment.
The fact fact that Tony Moore only did half the novel stops me from giving it 5 stars...and will stop me buying the rest of the series.
zombie genre classic - By: J. Bennett, 30 Jan 2008 if, like me you love everything about zombies; in particular the terror of an inevitable, creeping death, then this collection is perfect. an open ended, continuing story that highlights not only action & horror but the strain on interpersonal relationships & morals that this kind of apocalypse would bring about.
my only criticism would be that in some places the artwork is a bit rough, it starts great but an early change of artist is not to it's credit, although charlie adlard's zombie drawings are excellent, his human characters can look a little rough. however this reallly does not take anything away from the story.
join the story now & be a part of what could be the greatest zombie yarn of alll time & let's hope for a televisation!
