Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities The Walking Dead

Watched the pre-air first episode today.

Pretty damn good. Andrew Lincoln did a great job, and Lenny James was excellent as Morgan.

The special effects were very well done. They pulled no punches on this at all.

I may be a biased fan, but I really think this will be a hit!

Issue 78 read. Two word review...

Oh crap.


Cannot wait for next issueand the Series Premier this Sunday.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/walking-dead-weekly-101026.html

Starting over with weekly reprints. Hope it lasts long enough for me to catch my beginning of the monthlies. Wish they were a tad cheaper than the standard price, but I'll get them no matter what.

I wonder if they're going to reprint them in their entirety, i.e. the lettercols. If all feature the original covers + the lettercols and whatever other extra material appeared, that could definitely make them worth buying. I have the first 48 issues thru the trades (after that I started getting single issues), so I have none of the original covers, lettercols, etc.

I'm interested too in the covers and lettercols. I might do this.

JUST set down 78:

Wow... I loved that the little biker gang problem was handled without a single bit of harm befalling the community folks.

Of course, that smooth resolution is going to have a heavy heavy price shortly, I'm sure we've all figured out.

TWD: still # 1.

AMC tonight, bitches!!!!

Obviously, I enjoyed it quite a bit! However, this being the comics thread where we theoretically shouldn't spoil what we assume are upcoming developments, here are a few comments mostly stirred by the preview images:

1) When the length of the current run was announced at six episodes, I kinda thought that this run might end with Shane's death or perhaps with the thing at Wilshire Estates with an outside shot that it might end with our crew discovering the prison. Certainly, from all I'd heard, it seemed the series would be pretty faithful with some deviations.

Just from the snippets we saw, it looks like the group will be confronting other groups of people much sooner than in the comic. There were flashes of other characters upcoming that I couldn't immediately identify. As faithful as the pilot was, this was pretty surprising! I'd love to hear from the rest of you about your impressions of the preview and how the images do or don't fit in with the established events.

I'm okay with changes, by the way. I mean, why watch the thing if they're just going to see everything happen verbatim as it was written and drawn? My attitude towards these things is why I tend to enjoy more superhero films than some other comics fans tend to.

2) The only thing I'm not how sure I feel about is if characters' fates turn out a lot differently. Not so much the hows, but if, say, Glenn were to die in episode six and Rick and Shane shake hands and get past the Lori thing, I think that would bother me. (I also wonder if they'll take this kid playing Carl to all the dark places Carl's been to, but I digress.)

It might not bother me as much if characters like Andrea's sister Amy stick around longer or even if characters like Allen, Donna and their twins never appear. But if the characters are from the comic, I'll probably be looking for their significance (deaths and defining moments)to carry over to this version.

Obviously, we're going to have at least one TV-specific character (and probably more based on the previews). I'll withhold judgement but expect to be open-minded. I'm sure this will give the writers room for creativity, will allow for fans of the comics to have more room for surprise and, I suspect, provide opportunities to create amalgams of some of the events from the comics to combine with new stuff.

3) This series does a little something with zombies that the comic never has. Specifically, I'm thinking about the zombies showing aspects of their former personalities. Witness the little girl zombie picking up the teddy bear, Morgan's wife being drawn to the house where her family stayed before she died and the soldier zombie still staying in the tank. Other than showing several zombies still wearing their hats and what-not, this is entirely new to the adaptation as far as I remember. Kirkman always seemed to show that these were completely mindless ghouls. But Darabont hints that there something faintly left behind of what they were.

This is not unheard of in zombie movies and what-not but is new to the TWD universe. I see no evidence of it being more than superficial, but it's a difference. Makes me think of Jim in the early issues and how he chose to face his future as a zombie in hopes of reuniting with his family, somehow. I wonder how Kirkman feels about this choice?

Anyhow, that's my opening salvo. Feel free to add your own and comment on what I bring up. Again, I personally think this sort of talk is more appropriate to this thread so as not to spoil those experiencing the series independent of the comics.

I still need to rewatch the episode to see what I missed, but:

I feel the addition of TV-specific characters will free up the show to use THEM as cannonfodder and leave some more intriguing castmembers who died too soon in the comic to live this time.

This would NOT bother me.

Top of the list of folks I'd like to stick around longer (or even permanently) are Tyreese, Axel and Carol. This is of course assuming they are even introduced.

I *do* think certain plot points should stick, like Shane's death and the circumstances that brought it about, but it won't be a dealbreaker for me if they change that sort of stuff too unless the whole thing just goes tits-up creatively.

How would you feel if their presence(s) overshadow those other characters instead or if characters from the series die while they live on?

Most definitely with ya on Tyreese and Axel...but Carol? She was killed too soon?

I'm thrilled we'll see new characters and the story will be stretched out over time so we'll get things that happened 'off-panel'.

I personally hope that the continuity remains the same though and eventually the comic book canon all happens as it did (for example, Glenn better not die in Season One or something). That would actually probably bother me, no matter how much I try to say it wouldn't (just being honest).

But I'm all for talented actors taking on new characters, like we saw in the previews. The guy from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (he's been in hundreds of movies) is badass and can be scary as hell so he's welcome. The guy from Boondock Saints too!

As for the zombies maintaining some of their former personalities, I think it adds a little bit extra to the show and I like it. I wouldn't mind if this began being shown in the comics.

I personally wouldn't want Kirkman to transfer that over to the comic. The comic was first and should be its own thing.

I know that there is definately one brand new character for tv, according to all the hubbub on line. I think it's a smart move to bring new blood in to make things different. Never know what will happen with them.

I wouldn't really want to see long term characters die quickly here...but if they did die sooner than in the comic (as Glenn, Dale, etc.) I don't think that it'll bother me all that much. Just as seeing Shane stick around a bot longer than in the comic won't bother me. It will up the drama of that arc for me...always watching for the moment to hit, but not having any idea when it will.

Not sure how much of an issue this will really be in the sreies anyway. Hear me out. Little things like the girl with the bear may be sprinkled in, but the zombies like Morgans wife will be few and far between. Or at least, how are we going to know. She was set up as a plot device for Morgan and Duane. An effective one that I do not think is going to be repeated very often as it would make that seem cheaper overall with its impact to those characters involved.

It would also involve our roaming band coming across people that are stationary and have loved ones that died there...not going to be happening all the time...in my opinion.

^Don't get me wrong, Dev. I didn't hate it at all, just pointing out the difference that struck me from the source material. I would be opposed to them taking it further than the little mannerisms we saw, however. And I think introducing similar stuff this late in the comic would feel artificial. But I'm fine with what we've been shown so far in the TV series itself as a bit of nuance.

I'm sure Kirkman would be the first to say that TWD is about the people, not the zombies.

Part 1: Hmmmm. Good question. Here's hoping the new TWD-TV-specific folks are interesting if that is the case!


Part 2: I won't say Carol was killed too soon, but I would like to see how her presence affects Lori and Rick after her rather interesting offer. Plus I think it would be intersting to see her (someone) slide into utter batshit madness. She was on that slide for sure in the comic and it seemed that halfway through, that was it, it was over for her. I'd like to see the slide last a little longer I think. I'd like to see her ACTUALLY "befriend" one of the zombies at the gate, talk to it every day.

Hm...yeah, when you put it that way, her character could've been taken a bit further. I think her proposal may have been taken more seriously had it been given to some other man and woman who had met during the apocalypse and had kids with them from previous relationships. In that situation it could've been taken reasonably with society collapsing. But a big "nuh-uh" with a pre-existing married couple!

So far, btw, I don't think Carol has even been cast...but I could be wrong?

The helicopter being seen over Atlanta was different...and interesting. In discussing this with my wife (she reads TWD, too), she thinks the scenes with a lot of unfamiliar people we saw in the previews will be a pocket of survivors in Atlanta that Glenn and Rick will encounter before meeting up with the others at the camp. These survivors may be the source of the conflict hinted at in those scenes. Definitely a big change, but a logical and exciting one, potentially. In hindsight the helicopter sets that up. So the wife may have made a very astute call!

Okay, so according to IMBD (thanks, Dev!), we should definitely see...<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Carol, Sophia and Jim</span></span> among the comic book's familiar characters in these six episodes.

My DCBS order is coming in today-- and among other things I'm receiving the sixth hardcover volume, containing issues 61-72. w00t!

I read # 79!


It was a good set-up for the big arc starting in # 80.

I can't help but wonder who will still be standing when the dust settles.

I honestly don't know how anyone can STAND to trade-wait this series!

Agreed! NO WAY could I do it.

I've just made the transition seamlessly from the Walking Dead Trade PAPERBACK #13 to issue 79.

I was thinking I could wait 5 or 6 months as they seem to be putting out the trades on time and regularly. but, there's something nice about the comic book, no advertisements, and interior cover graphic things ... it's like an old 'zine'

i was afraid it wouldn't be as satisfying, cause how can one issue compare with the amount of story in a trade .... and the walking dead is sometimes paced kinda slow.

but 79 was just right. think ill try the comics now that im caught up.

the trades are good for travel though.

Also a plus about the monthlies: LETTERS PAGE!

God. Great books and a great television show. #79 was a great calm before the storm issue, showing how off balance these people are for what's about to hit them.