The Walking Dead: The Comic vs The Television Show

Days Gone Bye

Edge: The Show

While "Days Gone Bye" is a quintessential storyline in the canon of "The Walking Dead," even Robert Kirkman himself admits that Frank Darabont vastly improved upon the storyline and added some fine touches to the story. When Rick awakens in the hospital it's much more dread soaked, we gain a better insight in to Rick and Shane's friendship in the prologue, Morgan Jones and his son Duane are given much more screen time including their very own gut-wrenching sub-plot as Darabont draws parallels to Rick and Duane through the pilot. There's better clarity to Rick's journey, Rick's entrance in to the city is more harrowing, and Glenn's introduction is better. In the comic Glenn saves Rick and helps him scale the roof tops to make it to the forest where the camp is. In the first season, Glenn has more to do and there's more of a fight to make it out alive. The pilot is arguably the best episode of the series to date.

Rick Grimes

Edge: The Comic

Rick Grimes in the television show is a complex and complicated man. He is constantly evolving from one phase to another and in season three we'll see him change in to someone new and vastly radical to the man we saw in season one. In season one he valued human life, in season two he realized even humans are deadly, and in season three we'll see something new. But the Rick Grimes in the show is softer and less hard edged than the Rick Grimes in the comic in spite of Andrew Lincoln's mesmerizing performance. Grimes in the comic is more adaptable and much more interesting to read. He's much more confrontational and less passive when approaching new challenges, and his entire strategy for survival is much more engrossing.