The Walking Dead continue to impress, February 18, 2006

By 

A. Sandoc “sussarakhen” (San Pablo, California United States) –

  

  

Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead Vol.2 – Miles Behind Us puts together issues 7 through 12 into one collection. The first six issues introduce the reader to the main character of Rick Grimes and his discovery of a world turned upside-down and inside-out as the legions of undead walk and prowl the streets, fields and by-ways. The rest of that first volume reunites Rick with his wife and son and a ragtag bunch of other survivors just looking for a safe place to stay. I loved how Kirkman used the backdrop on a world of the undead to tell a story of survival and how extreme situations can have surprising and lasting effects on those left behind.

In Miles Behind Us, Robert Kirkman’s story has a new artist in Charlie Adlard. Adlard’s style has a similar look to that of previous artist Tony Moore, but has more of a rough line finished look. Where Moore’s pages and panels had a smoother and more cinematic feel to them, Adlard’s actually fits the mood and feel of the story Kirkman is writing. I love Moore’s work and the gory detail he put in the first issues, but Adlard’s just seems to resonate abit more with the subject matter of survival and doing what it takes to survive. There’s certain scenes in Miles Behind Us where its hard to tell the difference between the survivors and the zombies. I like this technique in how it shows that the zombies and the survivors may alot more in common after all in relation to the title of the story.

Kirkman introduces in this volume quite abit of new characters to the group Rick is leading as they leave the campground at the outskirts of Atlanta. They’ve lost three of their numbers in the previous volume. Two of them to the predations of the undead who stumbled into their campground and another to the stress and jealousy that weighed on the mind of one of their own. Miles Behind Us brings in two groups of survivors. One is a father, his daughter and the girl’s boyfriend. Tyrese is an interesting character right from the get go and hints of problems with the daughter and boyfriend are gradually doled out to help bring in new conflicts to the group dynamics. The other group is a farmer and his children and some neighbors from down the road. The introduction of Herschel and his family helps in showing how not everyone reacted the same way to the undead crisis. To say that Herschel’s reaction and temporary solution to how to handle the undead crisis is a bad idea all-around is an understatement. Hershel’s actions helps lead to the biggest sequence event in this volume and how far-reaching its ramifications are. While new characters are introduced some of the people in Rick’s group fall by the wayside as their search for a safe place to stay in becomes more and more dangerous and people are lost and/or nearly lost along the way.

I agree with the assertion that The Walking Dead is really not all about the zombies and the gore (it helps that it has them in abundance), but that its about the effects of extreme events and situations on the personality, psyche and behavior of those trying to survive. From the Dale (the oldest) all the way down to Crl (one of the youngest), the survivors are affected right down to their bones with all that has happened to them. Sometimes the result makes each individual stronger and at times it just leads to conflicts and brings out the baser nature of man as an individual.

Miles Behind Us just continues to impress me in how well Kirkman has taken the zombie apocalypse theme and run with it. It’s a testament to his writing and imagination that I consider The Walking Dead series as equal to anything Romero has done. I think from fans of zombie and apocalyptic stories that is high praise indeed.

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Braving the zombie-infested highways, July 3, 2005

By 

Matthew King (Toronto, Canada) –

  

The first Walking Dead volume was a sensational debut that introduced us to a world overrun by a strange plague that turned the populace into zombies. A group of survivors in the rural Midwest headed to Atlanta thinking things would be better there only to find out that the city was festering grounds for the undead. The survivors set up a camp on the outside limits of the city, waiting their turn and figuring out that if they were close to a major city then at least once the National Guard came to rescue people they would be seen, being close to a major city and all.

In this second volume, the surviving group, resigned that the national guard might be a pipe dream and that no one is coming to save them, decide to leave the campsite near Atlanta and instead hit the road cross-country in their RV in hopes of finding normal civilization or at least a safe place to shelter and start a new life. About 20 miles outside of Atlanta, they stumble upon an abandoned gated community called the Wiltshire Estates. Thinking they have found safety, they clean up the houses and occupy them. But of course, Wiltshire Estates turns out to not be as abandoned as they thought and the place is crawling with Zombies. How will they survive this turn?

The first thing I noticed when opening this second volume is that while creator Robert Kirkman is always still behind the wheels as the writer, the illustrator has changed this second time around, with Tony Moore replaced by the tandem of Charlie Adlard & cliff Rathburn. While the new tandem have consciously drawn in a similar style than their predecessor for continuity, subtle differences can be noticed. Todd’s strength was painting unsettling images and sweeping full-page apocalyptic landscapes. His pictures were epic, atmospheric and chilling. Adlard&Rathburn for the most part make away with this and draw the comic book in the more linear, square-box style of your typical comic book. While I miss Moore’s work and gory images, I do believe the new illustrators have done a commandable job filling in for him.

The absence of Tony Moore-type gore might not be the illustrators’ faults here, for it looks as though writer/creator Robert Kirkman intentionally was trying to focus more on story and character development this time around. Many new characters are introduced. Lori and Rick and their son Carl’s bond is as strong as ever in the face of adversity. And the rest of the survivors are all trying to be as strong as possible given the circumstances. Interestingly enough the physical pairing and mating of the survivors is becoming a prevalent theme in this novel and Kirkman is not afraid to be demonstrative about it. It amuses me how Kirkman is willing to throw in some nudity or obscene cusswords at the most inadvertent moments. When young Glenn finally meets a woman and the way they are so straightforward about what they’re after had me laughing my heart out as I have trouble picturing any kind of woman being so straightforward with a stranger about sexuality as she was.

The relative absence of gore and zombie action in this second volume did little to deter my interest. Really, a volume like this was necessary in order to get us further acquainted with the numerous characters and get us to feel for them and in doing this Kirkman definitely succeeded. I thoroughly enjoyed Volume 2 of this series and am eagerly awaiting the third volume. This is shaping up to be a truly epic series and I have no doubt that Kirkman will return to the gory stuff in volume 3 “safety behind bars” which will involve the survivors holing up in a fenced prison. Can’t wait!

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