Even though “The Walking Dead” comics have been published
for years, I hadn’t read any of them until I learned about the AMC series that
was being helmed by Frank Darabont. At the time, I still had this strange habit
of wanting to be familiar with the source material before watching an
adaptation on the screen. I’ve never been a huge fan of the horror genre, but
at the time I was on a bit of a horror-kick and had just read a bunch of the
old EC Comics as well as Stephen King’s nonfiction horror treatise, DANSE
MACABRE. That’s the state of mind I was in when I first read THE WALKING DEAD,
VOLUME 1: DAYS GONE BYE. However, even if I hadn’t been on a horror-kick, I
think I would have found the book fascinating because of the fascinating
premise and the great storytelling.
THE WALKING DEAD, VOLUME 1: DAYS GONE BYE follows Southern
police officer Rick Grimes. Rick was involved in a traffic job gone bad and
ended up in the hospital in a coma because of it. When he awakens, he finds
that the hospital is deserted. There’s no one around. There are several dead
bodies and half eaten corpses, but no people. Oh, and the cafeteria is full of
zombies. While facing the shock of the situation he’s in, Rick discovers that
his family is missing and other than a bunch of zombies, the town is deserted.
After being knocked unconscious by a squatter living in his neighbor’s house,
the events of how the world changed are revealed to Rick. A zombie infection
has swept the world and the walking dead now rule. Most people in the area fled
to Atlanta where the government said they would be safe. Rick travels to
Atlanta to seek his family and discover if they are still alive.
Usually, even the most-cliché-riddled zombie story can be
entertaining; there’s nothing quite like reading about or watching a group of
survivors trying to fend off a massive horde of the undead. However, THE
WALKING DEAD really isn’t about zombies. The series is about the normal humans and
how they react to the horrible extraordinary circumstances around them. A
zombie apocalypse is a very extreme situation. It allows for both the best and
the worst of humanity to be displayed. DAYS GONE BYE is a perfect example of
that. Rick literally awakens to a world gone mad; the citizens he risked his
life protecting before he went into a coma are now trying to kill him and eat
his internal organs. His wife and son are missing and other than a vague
heading, he doesn’t know where they’ve gone. In DAYS GONE BYE, Rick is an
example of the best that is in humanity. It remains to be seen how the constant
strain will affect Rick. Also, DAYS GONE BYE doesn’t even touch how such
extreme circumstances can bring out the worst in humanity (from what I’ve
heard, that comes later in the series). Despite these variables, DAYS GONE BYE introduces
a wonderful group of characters and sets the stage for a great saga set against
the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse.
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