I recently read the Walking Dead comic book series. I'd already watched the first season on TV, and a little of the second. Several of my friends talked me into reading the comics, so I could see where the show deviated from the source material and whatnot. I read the entire series and I'm now caught up to the current month. I don't know if I'm going to keep reading it, though. For one thing, I'm at a great stopping point, where I can just say "...and they lived happily ever after" rather then see how things get screwed up this time. For another thing, I don't really like reading comics month-to-month. A single issue of a comic is just too short, and I don't remember from one month to the next what's happening. I'd rather wait until there's about 25 more issues, so I don't have to read it as "story McNuggets."
Anyway, Walking Dead is a pretty decent comic series, though it's not the type of story I generally like. I'm told that when it first came out, the writer said he didn't like the way zombie movies end. The survivors always get into a helicopter or a boat, and ride off into the sunset... but you never know what happens next. It's a world filled with zombies; where are they going to go? So he made the comic intending to be a long-running series (it's on issue 90-something right now, with no signs of stopping), so it would cover all the day-to-day stuff: where they go for safety, how they keep finding food, and so on.
That's where the really shines, in my opinion. They cover all the little details, the stuff you rarely see in a two-hour movie. The longevity also gives it drama as well - they have to worry about changing weather, the longevity of canned goods, looting buildings that have already been picked clean, pregnancy, relationships, mental stability, and so on. The movies usually all take place right after the initial event, so they don't get into these long-term problems.
The downside? Well, it's a cruel world with very few pick-me-ups, and after a while that gets pretty depressing. It's hard to really look forward to reading a comic where only bad things happen. It has a large revolving cast, with people constantly getting killed off while others are introduced. Just like in the zombie movies, no one is safe, not even the major characters. I know many people regard this type of writing as a refreshing change of pace, but you know my feelings on downer endings. I generally give horror a pass, zombie stories doubly so, because tragedy is an important part of the genre. But that doesn't make it fun to read. Some of the more significant deaths still haunt me 40 issues later. It's no secret that the title doesn't just refer to the zombies, but to the main characters themselves (in fact, it kind of beats you over the head with it). All the survivors are living on borrowed time. It never seems like they're actually working toward something, except maybe a safe place to stay for a few months. This is not a story about humans working against all odds towards ridding the world of a zombie infestation. This is a story of the last gasps of civilization, of how the final humans struggled to postpone their deaths for a few months.
So why did I keep reading it? Well, that just shows how well it's written. A true test of an author is whether they can keep you interested in a type of story that generally turns you off. There are no real "good guys" in the series. The main characters are the heroes only because those are the characters the story focuses on. They sometimes do selfless things, but in truth, everyone is just out to protect their own families and friends. Some of them are idealistic at first, but that gets beaten out of them eventually. The zombies are not the biggest obstacles in the series, and they quite often fade into the background. Most of the story's conflict comes from other live humans. It's a world where only the strongest survive, and that tends to breed a lot of jerks.
I've been a little obsessed with sexism in comics recently, and I'm happy to say that I don't see a lot in the Walking Dead. Two of the most competent characters in the series are female, and I see very little gender disparity. Both sexes get killed and maimed in relatively equal numbers. Both sexes have strong characters, weak characters, and every personality type in between. Others may disagree, but I don't see any evidence that the author even considers gender a factor in deciding who has the most skills or who gets killed next. Now, about midway through the series, there was one particular rape/torture scene that made a lot of people uncomfortable. It caused an uproar in their letters column, and they probably lost a few readers at that point. I can't say whether this plotline was really needed, though it build the villain up to be that much more despicable. When the victim finally got her revenge a few issues later, it was quite satisfying, though it didn't really make up for the initial crime. That entire storyline is considered by some to be a low point in the series (and not just because of the controversy... one dramatic scene comes off so silly it's listed on the TVTropes "Narm" page), but the series does get better after that.
Anyway, whether I continue to read it or not, I'm glad I read what I have so far. Now, regarding the TV series... it's not bad. I really enjoyed the first season, and I like the way it goes off in so many different directions from the comic. It's similar enough to where you say, "wow, that's good casting for that character", but it's different enough that reading the comic won't give away what happens next (or vice versa). Like a lot of people, I did get bored during their stay at the farmhouse in the second season, and only time will tell if I start watching again. (I'm also a little miffed that they fired Frank Darabont.)
Really, TV series or comic, you won't go wrong to give either one a try.
Update 1/12/2012; Some Spoilers:
Okay, I was thinking it over, and there actually was one additional reason I might not return to the comic. It's because everybody's fair game. There's a few characters I really like, and I know they're going to die sooner or later. It might be 100 issues from now, when sales start to falter and the writer decides he needs to shake things up a little. But it will happen. Heck, I'm an issue or two behind by now, so it might have already happened. And this isn't like Marvel and DC, where death is only temporary. But as long as I stop reading now, they'll live forever.
I know that sounds silly. I mean, I can't just stop reading/watching all fiction out of the fear that characters will die. But I don't look at a long-running ongoing series as "art" the same way I would with a stand-alone movie or novel. In a novel, everything happens for a reason. Usually the entire story is plotted out from the beginning. Yes, the author comes up with new ideas as the story comes along, and things might not end up playing out like the author originally intended. But there's still time before publishing to go back and edit the early chapters to make sure they're more in sync with the later ones. The point is, novels and movies are subject to Chekhov's Gun. Superfluous details are kept to a minimum, every death has a point, and the entire package can be viewed as a piece of art.
An ongoing TV or comic book series doesn't work the same way. Individual episodes (or issues) might, and often even an entire TV season (or comic book story arc) will follow a novel's structure. But very rarely will issue 94 of a comic book series feature a twist that was foreshadowed in issue 3. The writer (if it's even the same writer by then) might wish he could go back and stick a detail into an earlier issue, but it's way too late by then. No, series fiction just sort of plods along like life, changing with the seasons, and only the most recent events tend to really matter. In a way, that makes them more realistic than stand-alone stories, because the patterns are less predictable.
What am I missing here... oh, yes, a point. My point is, while a series does have some advantages over novels and movies, they are less of an "art" in my mind. The series gets handed to different writers and artists after a while, and it becomes a communal storytelling experience, like that flashlight game you play around the campfire. And enjoyable experience, sure, but nothing I'd stick in a museum. Even if it keeps the same writer throughout, after a while he loses his original vision, and quality goes downhill. Sometimes they'll keep it going long after they've run out of ideas. This is unfortunate because the same writer might still be capable of doing something great on a fresh project. Instead he wastes those ideas by trying to fit them into his existing universe, where they don't work quite as well. And then his work becomes something so rotten that humanity itself is infected, causing the entire human race to die off, leaving penguins to rule the Earth. Sorry, I was seeing if you were still listening.
In any event, I wouldn't say that the Walking Dead comic is getting stagnant quite yet, and the author probably still has a lot of great twists up his sleeve. But so far the pattern has been "Find a safe place, make the safe place better, get betrayed by humans, find a new safe place" over and over. It was fun the first few times, but I need a break. I'm going to go read something else now, and let the Walking Dead survivors enjoy their current safe place.
Also, I wanted to revisit my paragraph on sexism, and clarify that my praises only apply to the comic book. The TV series keeps missing the mark on the gender equality front. Most of the women on the show are weepy complainers. It's particularly irksome because one of them, Andrea, is one of the most capable characters in the comic. On the show, she's whiny and suicidal. But some things are actually handled better in the TV series. The affair between Shane and Lori actually plays out much better on TV, IMO. Shane was killed off very early in the comic, and his presence on the show almost works like the butterfly effect - that one little change makes the entire plot play out in different directions. I like to think of the comic and the TV show as existing in the same continuity, until Shane's death splinters the timeline. It's almost like one of Marvel's "What If" comics; you could call the show, "What if Shane had never been shot?"
