I have to admit, one thing that tickled me at Christmas was having my college-age boys give me absolutely perfect gifts. Now, given that those gifts were The Walking Dead and Sandman--I'm not sure about what that says for us as a family, or me as a mother. But all I know is that in conversations earlier in the year, I'd expressed interest in reading both of these, and they listened. Thoughtful!
Oldest son gave me The Walking Dead, Book One. He and I are both fans of the TV show (although I will say, it's a very up-and-down series, some great episodes and story arcs, some duds). It was a treat to read this volume and do a compare-and-contrast to the TV series. It's also interesting to see how different the characters look in the drawings as opposed to the TV show, especially Carol--they don't look anything alike, and it's weird, trying to connect them.
The book is, if possible, darker than the show on several levels. Which means I like it quite a bit. No spoilers, but there are things that have been toned down in the TV series that are more insane in the book. I will say that Hershel is a much bigger dick in the book than he was on TV, and Dale is a little less jolly and quite a bit more complex. Rick is far less grating (to me, anyway) in the book than the show.
Most of the book is in lushly detailed black-and-white, but at the end there are several bonus illustrations in full, blazing color. Visually, it's a striking book.
The final pages are devoted to an extra story involving Morgan and his son Duane (the first people Rick meets when he leaves the hospital in season 1) that, so far anyway, have not shown up on the TV show. It's a heartbreaking story without a single zombie appearance, but it speaks volumes to the human condition under these circumstances.
So...how long do I have to wait for Book Two, do you think? Mother's Day? Sheesh.
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