The Walking Dead

[surfacing3d]

Does anybody else feel the same way? I think the comic books have a better story line than the show. I read a few interviews and they have to do certain things to keep people interested but i find the books much more enjoyable. Not saying anything is wrong with the show, I love it.

[layzer phish]

I LOVE them both in their own separate ways. I am also reading one of the novels as well, and it is a whole different feel, a side story not related to the novel or TV show. Kind of cool.

Yeah, I did notice a few differences, mostly how long each character lives, but I understand TV is a whole different medium and has to be done a bit differently in order to be enjoyable and also marketable.

[Brandon Locke]

I really enjoy both.

What I like about the comics is the desperation of the situation really comes off. You can feel these people are miserable, smell like a bag of funky socks, and generally have no hope. There's no one to trust etc.

I don't get that as much with the TV show. They've spent too much time at the farm. Maybe it just irks me a little, but they're all too clean, if that makes sense.

What is cool for me though, is I live in the same town Rick and Lori are from(in the comics). Woo hoo.

[bjcox]

I think compared to the comic books, the show absolutely sucks. That usually happens with "based on" shows though.

[MttStrn]

Originally Posted by bjcox

I think compared to the comic books, the show absolutely sucks. That usually happens with "based on" shows though.

Word.

They have such a rich source material of almost 100 issues. I really wish they had taken a page from Game of Thrones and done a more literal translation to screen.

Also, and I keep saying this, I love Andrea on the page and loathe what they did to her in the TV show.

[Pinguicha]

Ugh. I hate The Walking Dead on TV. The only reason I watch is because my boyfriend is hooked and refuses to read the comic books - which, in my opinion, are so much better.

Still, I'm sort of excited for season 3. They'll probably ruin that story arc, but I'm still curious.

[Once!]

Not read the books, but I've got a love-hate relationship with the show. It's a subject matter that I enjoy (see my Loving Dead in the horror SYW), but the pacing of the action just seems to be a little bit off:

• Too long at the farm.
• Didn't they realise that the farm wasn't secure?
• Too much talking and not enough ... dead things.
• An oh-so-obvious "mid season finale" in season 2.
• The sudden jump into fantasy at the end of season 2. A hooded ninja with two armless zombies on chains? Now where did that come from? Not so much a zombie invasion as a genre invasion.

For all that, I'm sure I'll watch season 3. Even if I am muttering and grumbling all the time...

[GradyHendrix]

I thought the comic suffered from extreme talkiness, but that was before I saw the TV show. Holy cow! Is that the one weakness of the zombies? Endless debate? Because if so, I think the humans are winning.

The other thing that really bugs me about the TV show is how lame the non-white, non-male characters are. Lori is annoying, Andrea is pretty weak, and T-Dog is...sorry, I fell asleep there for a minute. In the comic, Andrea is a true badass, Lori was a complicated character who often made choices I didn't agree with, but I believed in her. And Tyrese and Michonne were two of the best black characters around.

[Lissibith]

I think I made it about to the ninth trade (when they got to the compound near DC?) before I realized I'd stopped enjoying what I was reading or wanting any of the characters to survive.

But the show? I got through the first episode. Barely. So I guess I'll have to go with I definitely enjoyed the comics more.

[Zellyn-Skyy]

Season two was crippled by budget constraints. The farm was cheap to film on, so they stretched it out agonizingly long as they could without driving us into madness. Basically, Mad Men resumed filming, requested pay raises, and it was granted. To fill the gap in the budget, Walking Dead took a serious blow. The show's producer Frank Darabont protested, and was removed, and new "budget friendly" producers were brought on. Since the last season of WD trounced Mad Men in viewer numbers, and came dangerously close matching their critic reviews, I don't foresee this season being quite as hamstrung. But that doesn't really promise us the same caliber of plot and motion the comics offer. AMC seems like an improper vessel for WD, I imagine it would be more at home on HBO, or some station that has a bit more leeway with their content.

[BigWords]

Originally Posted by Zellyn-Skyy

I imagine it would be more at home on HBO, or some station that has a bit more leeway with their content.

When the initial announcement was made that a series was in the planning, I somehow had it in my head that it would end up on HBO. Same thing with Jeremiah back when it was announced - seems to be the most natural place for intelligent and edgier material, especially with the kind of track record the channel has.

[Stelle]

Originally Posted by Once!

• The sudden jump into fantasy at the end of season 2. A hooded ninja with two armless zombies on chains? Now where did that come from? Not so much a zombie invasion as a genre invasion.

I realize that this thread is probably dead, but...

The hooded "ninja" with the two armless zombies on chains was from the comic book. Michonne is a bad-ass. You'll love her. And she's neither a ninja nor a fantasy character, so no worries there.

[taichiquan.panda]

Ok, I never read the comics, but I am hooked on the tv series. Although...

1. They stayed waaayy too long on the farm
2. Rick is lost, and IMO, stupid at times
3. Lori pisses me off

My best scene is by far the end of season 2...aaagggghhh! Shane's "enough" speech, critters spilling out of the barn, and then, Sophie. I knew it was coming, but damn.

This doesn't even begin to describe how I felt!!

[knporter]

The comic series is definately worth reading. There are some slight differences from the comic to the Television show. Kirkman (Writer) is keeping the show close to the books though. Season 2 was a little slow and not packed full of zombie killing but Season 3 is supposed to be brilliant. They just had a great article about the show in Entertainment Weekly magazine.

[knporter]

Originally Posted by Stelle

The hooded "ninja" with the two armless zombies on chains was from the comic book. Michonne is a bad-ass. You'll love her. And she's neither a ninja nor a fantasy character, so no worries there.

Michonne is a bad ass and is really going to be a positive asset to the season. I CAN'T WAIT

[Bread]

I've never seen more than a few minutes of the tv series, don't really have much faith in it, or the american entertainment industry in general. so I'll just stick with the comics for now.
I'm months behind on the comics as well, I really need to catch up with my comic reading.

[Anthony Mathenia]

As mentioned, Season 2 suffered from budget cuts. I'm not going to complain because Mad Men and Breaking Bad are better shows. Looking forward to Season 3, none the less. The prison arc in the comics is a fan favorite. I can't wait to see what AMC does with it.

I'm current on the comic books. The cheap art drives me nuts. In order to meet deadlines panels are often copied-and-pasted, sometimes with slight changes, sometimes exactly the same. The use of splash pages irks me as well. A recent issue had multiple splash pages (including a double) of Rick simply talking. It was like script ran short and they had to stretch it out to fill the book.

A common complaint about the show is the plodding pacing. However, the book reads the same way. Especially in recent issues you have all of these soap opera plots going on with background characters that are tough to distinguish from other similarly drawn background characters. There will be a token zombie attack and then it is right back to Dawson's Creek.

The positive thing about the Walking Dead is that the success has opened things up for other comics on television (Chew!), and non-superhero stories on the shelves (Image is experiencing a creative Renaissance.) For that reason I'm thrilled it exists, even if it is not my thing.

[knporter]

Originally Posted by Anthony Mathenia

The positive thing about the Walking Dead is that the success has opened things up for other comics on television (Chew!), and non-superhero stories on the shelves (Image is experiencing a creative Renaissance.) For that reason I'm thrilled it exists, even if it is not my thing.

I just had a conversation this weekend at the Orlando Comic Expo about this and how The Walking Dead has opened up the doors for other non-superhero comics to be made into shows. Some of the artists mentioned the difficulty in this process however stated it is necessary to get the industry some more attention.

[neilfriske]

I really don't put the comics on any kind of pedestal, they're meh and so is the show.