I've been a fan of the Walking Dead since the show came out back in 2010. Actually, I remember my first time watching it quite well. It first aired on October 31, 2010. I was exactly 4 years old, and my Halloween costume that year was Glinda the Good Witch of the South from the Wizard of Oz, a movie I could probably still recite every line from to this day. I was waiting to get ready for trick-or-treating, as dinner had not been served yet, and my brother, who was just about to graduate high-school, had it on the TV. My mother didn't know I was there, watching people get eaten by other deceased people and cities going up in flames on our big, old, box television. She was so mad at my brother for letting me watch it with him. I don't even think he knew I was there, we were both so drawn to the show in front of us.
I probably didn't watch it again until I was around 8 or 9, and I didn't watch it thoroughly in order until my mother subscribed to Netflix when I was around 10-11. I had my own TV in my room and an Xbox, so when I wasn't grinding on my Minecraft world or watching Markiplier FNAF compilations on YouTube, I was likely binge-watching TWD. I also found significant interest in horror and thriller and dystopia entertainment from a very young age, so that's likely why my 4 year old self watched flesh-eating human carcasses with a straight face and Dunkaroos.
Despite my fandom of TWD, I didn't discover it was based off of a comic book until I found a bunch for sale at a flee market a couple years ago. You bet your bottom dollar I waved the entirety of my $5 (found on the bottom of my father's dirty Ford) in that booth-worker's face for as many as I could get. (sadly, it was just one)
When I started as a student librarian, I found out that our library has so many volumes starting right at the very first one. Not all 193, of course, but enough to last an entire school year and counting, as I'm still only on the 8th Volume. Everytime I read one of these comics, I'm always surprised by how different the characters and storylines are. They're mostly all the same characters, so far some of the ones from the show have yet to be introduced in the comic, and some are still alive at points of the story that, in the show, they had been killed off by. There's also relationship differences. For example, Tyreese (who took Daryl's place in the comics as Rick's right-hand-man, as my lover Daddy Daryl still has not been seen in the volumes I've read) and Carol (Abused housewife turns to stone after losing her daughter and absolutely dominates the apocalypse) were in a relationship in the comic, until Michonne (Loner Badass Samauri) seduced him into letting her do sexual things to him. When Carol saw them in the act, she attempted to commit suicide and then confessed her love to Rick. (Rick Grimes- The Leader of the group, Carl's father and Laurie's husband)
...NONE OF THAT HAPPENED IN THE SHOW I WAS LIKE EXCUSE ME?????
Like the comics are just so much more detailed in like every aspect you could think of. The drama, the plot, the character dynamics, the suspense, the graphics, it's just all so much more potent reading the comics. Also in the show, Dale had been like a father figure to both Andrea and her sister Amy(Before she died lol.)
In the comic? THEY'RE LITERALLY IN LOVE. And Herschel? Old man Herschel Greene the veterinarian in the show? HE'S SO HOT IN THE COMICS AND NOT EVEN THAT OLD. Middle-aged at most. Maggie (Herschel's whole daughter) and Glenn (used to deliver pizzas and now blows zombie brains onto the ceiling) are still the same though, thank god. I don't know what I would do without Glaggie. And they still get married too!
Oh, one more thing. In the show, Carol always kept her hair short until the more recent seasons when you see, in my opinion, her character growth at it's prime. She said it was due to the fact that her husband, who died in the first season, used to drag her by her hair, so she cut it off so he never could and kept it that way as it became even more useful in the zombie apocalypse. However, in the comic series, I have not seen her with short hair once, which bummed me a little because it was so iconic in the tv series.
Along with the show and comics, there are also Walking Dead novels. I want to read those too, and I think our library has some but not a lot. I have to check again. I just wanna make sure I can read them in order.
But yeah I think that's really all I have to say about this Comic Series, surprisingly. I'll update this post if I think of anything else.
★★★★★
