The Walking Dead. Vol. 1 Days Gone Bye Writer: Robert Kirkman Artist: Tony Moore Publisher: Image Comics Format: Black and White Price: $9.95 US

Reviewed by Jamie Coville

You've seen a Zombie movie right? This book is exactly like one. A small town cop ends up in a coma, wakes up to find the world is zombie-fied. He manages to survive, meet up with other survivors and continues to make his way through the world doing his best not to get eaten by dead things. Robert Kirkman tells us upfront in the intro that the book isn't about trying to scare us. He's more interested in the social commentary that some zombie flicks have and he tries to bring us that. He creates a group of survivors and lets the characters carry the story. As time goes along, they pick up new survivors and lose people. Tony Moore does a really good job here. He tells the first part of the story without many words. His story telling is great. He uses a simple panel layout, tells the story without getting boring or too flashy. His work sucks you right in and you start reading. Overall this book is really good. If you like Y: The Last Man, then you should really try this. It's that good. I'm curious as to how long Kirkman can keep this zombie story without getting boring. He says he's going to keep going at it and using the characters to make it interesting. I'm along for the ride. I normally don't harp on about how good indy books are, unless they are as good or better than what Marvel & DC publish. This book is so good, I went back to my comic shop and bought the 2nd volume the very next day. Read that review next. This book gets a 4.5 stars out of 5.

The Walking Dead Vol: 2 Miles Behind Us Writer: Robert Kirkman Aritst: Charlie Adlard Format: Black and White Price: $12.95

We start off with the main character Rick Grimes and the crew of survivors deal with the events from Vol. 1. Kirkman does a good job of both getting new folks up to speed, in terms of character drama, while adding what's been hinted at in the previous story. Nifty trick that, something many writers could use for monthly books. Kirkman moves the story along, this time using some plot driven storytelling along with the character driven reactions. Don't assume "plot driven" as bad. Kirkman does a great job making this natural transition that had to happen sooner or later. Characters both come and go within this book and it ends on cliffhanger of sorts. This book is done by Adlard, who is a great transition from Tony Moore. I remember Adlard being a great artist who did some work on the X-Files comics back in the 90s. Like Moore, Adlard keeps the storytelling simple to follow and it pulls you into the story. A main difference between Moore and Adlard is the latter uses more shadows, which is fine for a book like this. I'm digging this series. I haven't got the 3rd TPB yet, but I will be buying it soon. I must admit, I'm a bit worried about how long it will take for the zombie element of the book to get boring, but it hasn't happened yet. So I'm continuing on with it. Like Vol. 1, this book gets a 4.5 out of 5. Regards, Jamie Coville http://www.TheGraphicNovels.com News and discussion on a free, Delphi like forum.

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