The Walking Dead 1: Days Gone Bye [Anglais] [Broché]

The story is written in the tradition of the Romero films - none of the zombies do the 100 metres in under 15 seconds. Here the traditional rules apply: zombie's are slow and stupid, but have strength in numbers. They can only die (again) by a good blow to the head and once bitten by one the victim's transformation into a zombie is irrevocable.

It is nice to see a comic trying to take an idea about zombies seriously. Kirkman doesn't just want to write about gore and scare people - he's interested in developing the characters he creates and in the way these characters interact. What he is trying to achieve here is realism and sometimes he succeeds, but sometimes he doesn't. There is believability in the way that Rick makes sense of the world he finds himself in when the book starts - he doesn't simply jump to the conclusion "ah, I get it! Zombies have taken over the world!" but instead is bewildered and confused for a while. There is also good realism in the way Kirkman considers and explores the repercussions of such an event and is also sensitive to the consequences of actions. Very intriguing is the group politics of the survivors and the atmosphere is tense because the characters need each other for survival. Kirkman deals with important issues such as: Who has the most influence in the group? Who makes the decisions? Who fulfils which tasks? What is the best way of defending oneself? How does one survive? How do our moral boundaries shift in a crisis? And these questions are, of course, all the more serious because of the extreme situation the characters find themselves in.

However, in trying to be realistic Kirkman sets himself higher standards and when he doesn't meet them things don't seem right and appear overly simplistic. In the beginning, whilst it is nice how Rick doesn't jump to the conclusion that zombies have taken over the world, he does seem rather too slow in assessing the danger of the situation. There is no real sense of fear from Rick that one would expect from a character in his situation. Also, once he discovers that the town has evacuated to Atlanta he immediately assumes that his wife must be there, upon which he cartoonishly jumps up and (jangling his police headquarters keys) announces, "Want to go shopping?" This tone feels out of place in the book and its this recurrent cartoonishness that undermines its objective.

At times, also, the plot moves along too rapidly. Too often characters make decisions very hastily. This is natural - people make stupid decisions and sometimes they panic - but since the situation the characters find themselves in is a wholly new and foreign one, one would expect them to sometimes explore the situation more gingerly. The characters also reach conclusions in conversations too easily and part of this is because the characters often speak in monologues. This then makes them seem less human because the characters simply blurt out what they have to say and so we don't get a sense of a conversation progressing naturally.

Some matters are also resolved rather too simplistically and at times its too obvious what the writer is trying to say, which makes his writing seem a little immature. The story is also weighed down by clichés and too many clumsy homages - one of the first characters one meets is a resourceful black man called Morgan Jones and his son is named Duane, a reference to the actor Duane Jones who played Ben in Night of The Living Dead.

The art, which is in black and white, looks good and tells the story well. Moore pays good attention to realistic detail and the gore is depicted quite graphically. However, the characters facial expressions are a bit too extreme and cartoonish, which undoes some of the seriousness of the story.

Overall The Walking Dead is quite interesting, which is partly because it's fairly unique, as there aren't many other comics about zombies. Certain issues are dealt with a bit too simplistically and there are many clichés - however what makes it enjoyable is its interesting exploration of group dynamics and the repercussions of such a crisis.