by Ryan Richards

Created on: October 13, 2009

Z Day; the world has been taken over by the undead. Around every corner they lurk, they wait in anticipation for the next bit of living flesh they can get their cold dead hands on. Your only hope is that you get them before they get you. This is the plot of every zombie book, comic and movie we have ever seen. So what makes The Walking Dead different? The three D's: drama, detail and depth.

This story began in 2004 and hasn't slowed down since, which is unusual for a book in a genre where the premise is based on life or death, as it is easy to pull the plug at any time and do it in a number of credible ways. The story follows a group of people trying not only to survive, but to forge an existence in this barren wasteland. The books not only chronicle the group's fight against the hordes of living dead that attack them day in and day out, but also their attempt to maintain some sort of semblance of a regular life. It shows the tension built between characters, leading and supporting, as well as delivers the message that not everyone is stable all the time. After so long, the fight starts to wear on everybody.

The main characters are Rick, a police officer from Cynthiana, Kentucky and his wife and child. When the outbreak occurred, Rick was in a coma in the hospital. The hospital scene is 28 Days Later-esque in that it's just Rick in an empty hospital, and upon awakening he heads home, walking through the deserted city. He gets home to find out that no one is around, and starts out on his journey to find his family. He eventually comes across them and a small group of survivors living outside of a major city. They survive by simple means and re-con missions into the city for food and ammo.

The supporting cast is not only the other survivors in the group, but other people they come across in their travels. Some are decent folk trying to stay alive, while others are ruthless and selfish in their quest for safety. The characters are beautifully crafted. The development of personalities and relationships are so detailed, you feel for the good people and wish a slow gruesome death on those who betray others or are not so pure.

No one is safe in this story, whether from zombies or other survivors. Our survivors travel from place to place in search of some secure shelter in which to start a life and not worry about the scourge of flesh eaters chomping at the bit to get to them, no pun intended.

The art in these books is somewhat simplistic for comics today, but it doesn't need to be flashy. This is a survival story, not a cosmic superhero book. The black and white shading helps develop the feeling of hope and survival or the group's plight and fear when needed; and that is the true job of the artist.

All in all, if you are a fan of survival horror in general, not even zombies; this is the book for you. It comes in single issue form and trade paperback (multiple issues in one).

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