The Walking Dead: The Comic vs The Television Show

We compare and contrast the series with the comic books and discuss their differences.

If you're like me, you've enjoyed The Walking Dead television series and are waiting on baited breath for news on season three coming in October of 2012 on AMC. I've been a hardcore The Walking Dead fan since the beginning and have followed the series through individual issues since it started in 2003, and I've followed it every month since then.

There are fans still catching up through the trades, but I've been there through every turn, and I've also come to adore the television series. Premiering in 2010, The Walking Dead is one of the most popular television shows of the new millennium and is the highest rated series on cable television. It's smashed all viewing records on AMC, and continues to make money hand over fist with its video game series, and novels. The series has been met with its fair share of debate. Some purists dismiss it for straying from the comics. Some fans love it because strays from the comics. And some people watch it just to bash it mercilessly. Those people I have no use for. Now nineteen episodes in, The Walking Dead shows no sign of fading away any time soon, so I thought I'd compare and contrast the series with the comic books and discuss their differences. I remain a hardcore fan of both properties, but this is just to see where one property is superior and the other inferior. Feel free to discuss your own positions below.

The Premise

Edge: The Comic

Ultimately what helps the comic prevail over the show is that there's less clarification for folks who aren't familiar with zombie lore. The first season as well as the second season as a whole spend time explaining zombie physics to the audience. The season finale of season one is entitled TS-19 an episode that is meant to spell out the zombie laws to the audience. And some of season two is also spent explaining what zombies are and what they do. Kirkman never spends too much time on that and instead focuses more on character, exposition, and survival. Click "next" below to read part 2...
Contributor
Contributor

Felix Vasquez Jr. has written for over fifteen years, and is an author and movie critic who has written for various online outlets and can be seen on Rotten Tomatoes. He resides in New York, where he writes for his own online movie review website Cinema Crazed and works on his novels. He has a passion for classic rock, horror movies, and pop culture.