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"The Walking Dead"
By Andy - 08.09.04
The beginning is a direct homage to 28 Days Later. A man wakes up alone in a hospital, which he finds to be entirely deserted. Sooner than later, he stumbles upon a large number of zombies in the hospital cafeteria, and like most people would do, runs away as quickly as possible.
Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore's "The Walking Dead" is an attempt to show what would happen if the world were inhabited by zombies, which has been a horror film staple for ages. Many zombie films have simply been excuses for horrendous amounts of gore and cheap frights. The best zombie films like Dawn of the Dead (1978), however, have more than violence and blood; they provide biting social commentary as well. Kirkman regards his work as a comment on the copious zombie films that have cropped up in recent years. He states that more often than not, zombie films end simply when the narrative finishes its arc; he wants to see what happens next and how the survivors, if there are any, continue to live their lives. To an extent, I agree with Kirkman; at the end of Dawn of the Dead when Ken Foree and Gaylen Ross fly off in the helicopter, I have an undeniable desire to know what will happen next. "The Walking Dead" is how he satisfied his own wishes. Does it work though?
Not really. The first six issues of the comic have an incredibly effective narrative. Rick, the man we meet in the hospital, turns out to be a cop who was shot in the line of duty. Once he makes his way out, he meets a few other survivors while looking for his wife and son. He makes his way into the heart of the city, where he gets surrounded by innumerable zombies, but gets help from a gutsy kid looking for supplies. Once they make their way out of the city via rooftops, they get back to a campsite where Rick's wife and son are. The campsite is populated by random characters, but the most important of the group is Shane, Rick's old partner. In Rick's absence, Shane had been taking care of Rick's wife and son, Lori and Carl, as well as running the campsite. As soon as Rick arrives, the power struggle that is to ensue is quite predictable. It is obvious that Shane is the less mentally stable of the two and will most likely lose his composure under much pressure.
Once Rick has caught up with his family, they come up with a few inventive ways in which they train to fight the zombies and get more supplies. Shane still has authoritative power over most of the group and decides that the campsite should stay where it is, though the cold and snowy weather is making their living environment much harder and food supplies are depleting rapidly. Rick, being the archetypically sensible protagonist, clashes with Shane's desire to cling to the campsite and status quo. After an attack on the campsite results in two deaths, Rick and Shane have multiple rows over how things should be run. Rick being an obvious threat to Shane's authority and sense of importance causes Shane to erupt in a violent outburst against Rick.
This initial story arc provides plentiful psychological analyses of these characters. The cathartic process Rick goes through when he talks with Lori and Carl is taut and very well-written. The self-defense training that Rick and Shane provide to the other members of the group is fairly standard but realistic. However, once the group decides to move camp, the comic takes a gigantic nosedive. Up to the point where Shane erupts against Rick, everything that had happened had been covered in most zombie films. Kirkman is able to take what has been done and successfully makes it his own. The conflict between Rick and Shane is very well-written, and the wide span of children, teenagers, adults, and the elderly provide a dynamic that would bog down the viewer if this had been a film. The problem, however is that once they leave, Kirkman has nothing to rely upon. So what does he decide to do? He repeats the same six comics over again, but this time without the brilliant struggle between Rick and Shane. Some characters die as others get introduced; the group finds shelter, zombies appear, and they run away; lather, rinse, repeat. The comic is still in its infancy, so I hope Kirkman will be able to find an original way to continue this story.
-Andy
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