The Walking Dead

AUTHOR: Kirkman, Robert

ARTIST: Charlie Adlard (illustrator); Tony Moore (illustrator); Ryan Ottley (penciller and cover artist); Cliff Rathburn (inker, colorist, and cover artist); Robert Kirkman (letterer); Rus Wooton (letterer); Tommy Lee Edwards (cover artist); Erik Larsen (cover artist)

PUBLISHER: Image Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 2003–

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2006–

Publication History

Robert Kirkman had self-published the series Battle Pope (2000) and created the superhero series Invincible (2003–17) for Image Comics prior to pitching The Walking Dead to Image’s publisher, Jim Valentino. Kirkman’s aim was to create an open-ended postapocalyptic saga that used the zombie genre as a backdrop for a changing cast of characters. Valentino initially turned down Kirkman’s pitch on the basis that serious zombie stories in comics did not sell. In order to persuade Valentino that the series would be successful, Kirkman lied and said that the zombie plague would eventually be revealed as an alien strategy to weaken the human race in preparation for a mass invasion of Earth. Valentino apparently did not notice that this was a plot lifted from the infamous cult film Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). The series began with Kirkman scripting and Tony Moore providing the artwork; Charlie Adlard stepped in as illustrator after six issues.

Plot

The Walking Dead is a harrowing postapocalyptic adventure that follows a shifting band of survivors as they battle the undead and attempt to build a new life for themselves in a forever-altered world. In the opening sequence, Kentucky policeman Rick Grimes awakens in a hospital after being wounded on duty and finds himself the only living person in a city of the dead. On his way home, he encounters fellow survivors Morgan and Duane and learns of a camp outside the city where several other survivors have gathered. This group is led by Rick’s former partner and best friend, Shane, and also includes his wife, Lori, and son, Carl. Shane is interested in Lori romantically and fears that Rick’s return will displace him as group leader. Enraged, Shane attacks Rick, and Carl kills Shane.

Rick decides that the camp is unsafe, and the ragtag group takes to the road. Adding more members to their traveling convoy, they stop at a gated community that seems perfect but is overrun with zombies. They meet still more survivors at a nearby farm; after spending some time there, tensions rise, and they leave to seek another new home. At the end of their rope, with supplies running out, they discover an abandoned prison with a few surviving inmates and believe that this is where they will stay and make a new life. The prison proves to be a wonderful temporary haven for the survivors.

While investigating a crashed helicopter, Rick and several others are taken to a survivors’ community called Woodbury, led by a perverted lunatic known as the Governor. Under his rule, gladiatorial games are held with living and undead participants. He severs Rick’s hand and rapes and tortures Rick’s friend Michonne. Rick and the others escape with the help of a few Woodbury citizens and prepare for war. In the ensuing battle, many of the series’ original survivors die, including Lori and her new baby, Judith. The prison is also rendered unsafe, forcing the few left alive to return to the road.

In the aftermath of the prison massacre, the remaining survivors disperse. Rick and Carl try to make it on their own. Carl has become a hardened young man and resents his father for allowing Lori and Judith to die; however, when Rick struggles with illness and needs Carl’s help, Carl realizes that he still loves him. They eventually reunite with Michonne and several others.

Returning to the farm, the group encounters several survivors who are traveling to Washington, DC, where one of them, a scientist, claims to have answers that will enable the government to stop the plague and save the world. The two groups join together and set off again, meeting a lone priest named Gabriel Stokes and a vicious group of cannibals.

Rick is suspicious of a newcomer named Aaron, who tells the group that he is a recruiter for a nearby walled community that offers food, safety, and the possibility of a stable future. Rick and company meet its leader, former congressman Douglas Monroe, and are welcomed into the slightly strange but idyllic neighborhood inside its walls. Rick is made constable of the community, and the others are assigned to various roles in the maintenance of their isolated world. After the community weathers internal crises and faces a marauding rival band of survivors and a zombie horde, Douglas realizes that the community needs a different leader: Rick.

The group then tries to stabilize the community while also working with friendly nearby communities for trade and protection—which becomes especially important as new threats, aside from the persistent danger of the walking dead, continue to disrupt their lives.

Volumes

•The Walking Dead: Book One (2006). Collects issues 1–12. Rick Grimes awakens into a nightmarish reality, reunites with his family, and joins a group of survivors.

•The Walking Dead: Book Two (2007). Collects issues 13–24. Rick guides the survivors as they settle into postapocalyptic life at their new prison home. Relationships deepen, and a fragile stability is forged.

•The Walking Dead: Book Three (2007). Collects issues 25–36. Several of the survivors fall into the hands of the Governor, a twisted despot ruling a barbarous community that sets its sights on the prison.

•The Walking Dead: Book Four (2008). Collects issues 37–48. Rick and the group face devastating losses and the end of their hoped-for new beginning as the Governor wages war on their prison haven.

•The Walking Dead: Book Five (2009). Collects issues 49–60. After leaving the prison, Rick recedes into himself and Carl is forced to become a harder, more mature person. They join old friends and a new group as they head to the East Coast.

•The Walking Dead: Book Six (2010). Collects issues 61–72. The survivors face a band of ferocious cannibals and are recruited to join a walled community outside Washington, DC.

•The Walking Dead: Book Seven (2011). Collects issues 73–84. Rick and the group settle into life behind the walls but brace for the next potential attack.

•The Walking Dead: Book Eight (2012). Collects issues 85–96. The survivors establish a relationship with another community, the Hilltop, but also learn about a new, extremely dangerous group known as the Saviors and struggle with another difficult loss.

•The Walking Dead: Book Nine (2013). Collects issues 97–108. Rick tries to come up with a plan for dealing with the new group, whose brutal and merciless leader has forced his authority over the community.

•The Walking Dead: Book Ten (2014). Collects issues 109–20. The survivors, the people from the Hilltop, and a third community, the Kingdom, form an alliance against the Saviors and a new war begins.

•The Walking Dead: Book Eleven (2015). Collects issues 121–32. After the war's end, the survivors attempt to rebuild and move on.

•The Walking Dead: Book Twelve (2015). Collects issues 133–44. Rick and the survivors must confront a new danger.

•The Walking Dead: Book Thirteen (2016). Collects issues 145–56. The three allied communities work to protect one another against the new threat.

Major Characters

•Rick Grimes, the protagonist, is a slender, sandy-haired former Kentucky policeman. A natural leader determined to protect his family and friends, he is dedicated to a moral and ethical code that he must violate at times in order to ensure survival. He struggles with the changes in himself and the horrible acts he sometimes commits for the good of the group.

•Carl Grimes is Rick’s son. He has short black hair and wears Rick’s old hat. He is forced to mature quickly in the world of the walking dead, developing a hard exterior, a surprising ability to kill when necessary, and a cynical outlook on life.

•Andrea is a young blond woman with freckles and a distinctive scar. She is a former law clerk and now an excellent sharpshooter. Originally traveling with Dale and her sister, Amy, she becomes close to Dale after her sister’s death; the two become lovers. Following Dale’s death, Andrea begins to wear his hat.

•Michonne is a former lawyer and fencing hobbyist who becomes a sword-wielding loner. She is raped and tortured by the Governor and mutilates him in revenge. She is Rick’s deputy in the walled community and wants to leave the violence behind.

•Glenn is a young man who wears a baseball cap. A former pizza delivery boy with a talent for sneaking in and out of zombie-infested cities for supplies, he is an invaluable member of the survivors’ group. He marries Maggie, the daughter of a farmer encountered on the way to the prison, and the two raise Carol’s daughter, Sophia, after Carol’s suicide.

•Maggie is a short-haired farmer’s daughter who witnesses her entire family being killed by zombies. She struggles with depression and attempts suicide but eventually decides to make the most of life with her new husband, Glenn, and their adopted daughter, Sophia.

•Morgan is a middle-aged man who lost his wife and son. He is the first living person Rick encounters after awakening. When they meet again one year later, Rick persuades him to leave his undead son, Duane, whom he has been feeding. He joins the group in the walled community and begins a tentative relationship with Michonne.

•Sergeant Abraham Ford is a tall, muscular man with a large mustache. He struggles with his violent side and joins Rick’s group as they enter the walled community, becoming part of the construction crew working to expand the protective walls.

•Douglas Monroe is a bald, elderly man with a white goatee. He is a former Ohio congressman and now the determined leader of the walled community. He is married to Regina but has taken advantage of the current situation by having affairs with a number of young women.

•Shane is Rick’s best friend and partner. He takes care of Lori and Carl before Rick awakens and is the group’s first leader. He wants a romantic relationship with Lori and fears Rick’s return. He tries to kill Rick but is killed by Carl.

•Lori Grimes is Rick’s wife. She has long black hair and a thin face. She gives birth to a daughter, Judith, who may or may not be Shane’s child. Both are killed during the Governor’s final assault on the prison.

•Dale is a slightly overweight older man with a scruffy gray beard and a distinctive fishing cap. His RV serves as the principal vehicle for Rick’s group early in their travels. He travels initially with sisters Amy and Andrea; following Amy’s death, he and Andrea grow closer despite the significant difference in their ages. He loses one leg to a zombie attack and another to cannibals before dying.

•Carol is a young, deeply troubled blond woman with a daughter, Sophia. She was abused by her late husband. She eventually commits suicide by allowing a captured zombie to bite her.

•The Governor is a psychotic despot who controls the community of Woodbury. He rules with an iron fist, keeps severed reanimated heads for his own amusement, and has a perverted relationship with his undead daughter. His cruelty comes to an end when he dies during an assault on the prison.

•Paul "Jesus" Monroe is a member of the Hilltop community who works directly with Rick and his group.

•Negan is the sociopathic leader of the violent and overpowering group known as the Saviors.

•Eugene is a member of Rick's group. He initially told the group that he was involved with the government and needed to get to Washington, DC, to work with them on a cure for the plague. Though this turned out not to be true, he has gradually proven himself an important part of the group.

Artistic Style

From the beginning of the series, the zombie apocalypse is portrayed in black and white with gray tones rather than in color, which creates a dark and oppressive atmosphere. The first six issues were illustrated by Moore, and his sharp-lined, often angular, elongated figures and almost cartoonish renditions of the characters give the series an underlying humorous tone that belies the story’s gritty realism. Moore’s art never shies away from the more horrifying aspects of the tale, and his style strikes a fitting balance between comical abstraction and terrifying reality.

Adlard, the illustrator beginning with issue 7, eschews Moore’s light touch and sharp lines in favor of a fluid, slightly less defined approach. Adlard’s work is darker, relying on heavy gray tones and softened figures to convey a world gone mad and life as a battle for survival. Adlard’s depiction of the zombies also reaches a level of gruesome iconography that is instantly recognizable; he often depicts them as little more than emaciated shapes with hollow, white circles in place of eyes. While scenes typically take place in generic, ravaged suburban communities or nondescript rural areas, occasional sequences set in recognizable locations such as Washington, DC, were created using photo references.

Themes

For all its horrific imagery and fanciful use of reanimated corpses, The Walking Dead is ultimately an examination of human nature at its most realistic, exploring the ways in which people react to their true potential and respond in the midst of extreme crisis. Although the zombies are a significant threat, the true monsters in The Walking Dead are human beings who resort to the most primal behavior in order to survive, at the cost of their morality, their ethics, and their very souls.

The conflict between rationality and animalism is also regularly addressed. Rick has an innate talent for leadership, but he struggles to balance thoughtful decision making with his tendency to react emotionally and violently. After the death of Rick’s wife and baby, his sanity becomes a major focus of the comic. The series further inquires into the nature of humanity, asking if a person who disregards civilized behavior in favor of brutal self-interest is still human. Kirkman makes this aspect of the story clear when Rick tells his fellow survivors that it is they, and not the reanimated corpses, who are truly the “walking dead.”

The absence of any explanation for the reanimation of the dead is a calculated choice by Kirkman that increases the sense of fear and hopelessness of the story. Characters debate the scientific and religious origins of the apocalypse, but they all must continue to exist in a world that offers no reasons and no respite.

Impact

The Walking Dead has had an enormous impact on both the horror genre specifically and the comic book industry in general. Demonstrating that it is possible to craft a long-running serialized comic book saga outside the stereotypical superhero genre, Kirkman and Image Comics shattered many preconceptions about the modern American comics industry and opened the door for numerous imitators. Kirkman became one of the most celebrated writers in the industry and a full partner in Image Comics with his imprint, Skybound. He also helped to revive the popularity of the comic book letters page, including in every issue an extensive section in which he engages with his readership.

The series’ success led to the debut of a television adaptation that broke cable ratings records and drew more attention to the metaphorical power of the horror genre. Zombie stories have been a part of popular culture since the early 1930s, but the genre experienced a significant increase in mainstream popularity early in the twenty-first century, as indicated by the success of The Walking Dead, Marvel Zombies (2006–10), and films such as Zombieland (2009). The crossover appeal of the series helped to energize the connection between comic books and other media, proving that the comics medium is a vital wellspring of storytelling that can appeal to a mass audience.

Television Series

The Walking Dead. Directed by Frank Darabont, et al. AMC Studios, 2010– . This series stars Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes. Its six-episode first season was hugely successful both with audiences and critics, and it was quickly renewed for a thirteen-episode second season. As of early 2017, due to consistently high ratings, the series was in its seventh season. The show pushes commercial television boundaries with its gruesome violence but remains true to the spirit of the source material, focusing on the relationships and challenges faced by the survivors. Kirkman wrote the fourth episode and served as an executive producer, although the series diverges, sometimes drastically, from the comic book story lines. Additionally, due to the show's popularity, a spin-off series, Fear the Walking Dead, began airing on AMC in 2015.

Further Reading

Ennis, Garth. Preacher (1995–2000).

Kirkman, Robert. Marvel Zombies (2006–10).

Vaughan, Brian K. Y: The Last Man (2002–8).

Bibliography

Kim, Ann. “Graphic Grown Up.” Library Journal, Aug. 2009, pp. 20–22.

Kirkman, Robert. "The Walking Dead Creator Spills the Brains: 'This World Makes Us Soft.'" Interview by Melissa Leon. The Daily Beast, 9 Oct. 2015, www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/09/the-walking-dead-creator-spills-the-brains-this-world-makes-us-soft.html. Accessed 4 Apr. 2017.

MacDonald, Heidi. “Image Comics Has New Kirkman Imprint.” Publishers Weekly, Aug. 2010, p. 9.

Snellings, April. “My Apocalypse.” Rue Morgue, vol. 104, 2010, pp. 20–21.

Wallenstein, Andrew. "How The Walking Dead Breaks Every Rule We Know about TV Hits." Variety, 10 Feb. 2014, variety.com/2014/tv/news/how-the-walking-dead-breaks-every-rule-we-know-about-tv-hits-1201089433/. Accessed 4 Apr. 2017.