The Walking Dead Trades, Volumes 1-5

When I stumbled across this series on Amazon, my toes wiggled with happiness. Seriously. A zombie comic book? (okay, okay, graphic novel) Really! Really? I was intrigued, and I snatched up the first trades I could find at my local comic shop, Titan. When I got close to finishing Volume 3, I made my husband commit to an early comic shop visit so I could get the final two out in print. That’s how much I liked this series. I am chomping at the bit to get Volume 6, so hurry up Mr. Robert Kirkman and give me more.

The Walking Dead Volumes 1 through 5 cover a whole heck of a lot of ground. Volume 1, Days Gone Bye, introduces you to the new world, a world where, much like 28 Days Later, our hero Rick Grimes wakes up to find himself in a hospital, all alone. He wanders about and discovers the dead are walking, and his wife and son have disappeared. He heads to Atlanta to find his wife and son, and along the way discovers just how much he slept through, and not only are the zombies scary, but some people are too. Volume 2, Miles Behind Us, has Rick and his rag tag group of followers leaving their campground for safer digs. During their journey they hook up with some new characters, and come across a farmer who has a really bad way of dealing with the zombies. Volume 3, Safety Behind Bars, has the group of travelers moving into what looks like an abandoned prison complex, only to find out the few living people left are not guards but inmates. Can the travelers make their home here? What about the other groups of living people outside the complex? Volume 4, The Heart’s Desire, has the characters settling down into somewhat more of a normal life, with consequences. There’s drama when the inmates release a bunch of zombies into the complex, and a new girl shows up to the complex, bringing in some more tension to the otherwise settled couples. Volume 5, The Best Defense, has our hero Rick leaving the prison with some others to investigate signs of other survivors, and in doing so, gets scooped up by the sadistic Governor, who rules his group of folks with a scary determination. Volume 5, like the others, leaves off on a cliffhanger, and I am really anxious to find out what’s going to happen next.

I like how Robert Kirkman mixes horror with some real what if’s. The characters aren’t as well developed as they could be, but they are getting there. They face real concerns, like how can we eat, where will we stay, can I really sleep with the undead crawling around? You end up asking yourself, what would you do if zombies roamed the Earth? Cause you know, it could happen. You never know.

Rating: 5 Purrs, cause how can I not love a zombie comic with heart? And brains.