I've got a fondness for the zombie story, and even though I'm not what you'd call an expert (I haven't even seen all the Romero films) I've built up a certain level of expectations about them. Kirkman plays to those expectations in some regards, but there's something about The Walking Dead that grabbed me and makes me want to see what comes next. Perhaps it's because Kirkman and Moore nail the survivalist feelings of living in a zombie world so well, or that they aren't so focused on the gore and horror that they can't put in a well-developed set of characters and an intriguing mystery premise about how the dead began to walk. Whatever it is, the first issue of The Walking Dead has all the creepy moments of a good zombie flick, with plenty of mystery and a very likable protagonist to boot.
It's interesting that Kirkman's story plays off of some of the zombie cliches. Someone waking up in a hotel bed and finding themselves in a vastly changed world is a cliche that has played out in all kinds of stories, and the humans gathering weapons and supplies is a zombie standard as well. However, Kirkman's story doesn't feel stale as a result, instead it feels like one that is steeped in the traditions of zombie tales. He manages to put a spin on some of these cliches, though, with the unusually optimistic tone that Rick (our lead character) takes in his approach or with a surprisingly leisurely approach to supplying in a world full of undead. While there's definitely a sense of danger, it's not an overwhelming, hopeless sense, and that makes the book much more approachable, even as it makes the reader wait for the next shoe to drop and reveal how dangerous things really are.
Kirkman hints at that danger here, as Morgan, the man who has seen the zombies for a longer time, gives uneasy answers to Rick when he presents such optimistic thoughts as "they're protecting the larger cities." Indeed, Rick talks like someone who hasn't quite realized what he's gotten into, assuming that his wife and son must be safe, assuming that Morgan's neighbors will come back, assuming that life will return to normal. His assumptions that this is a passing thing and not a massive apocalypse are at the heart of the character and the book, as they speak to Rick's optimism as well as simultaneously giving the reader the feelings that things are much, much worse than we've seen thus far.
Moore and Kirkman have worked together before on various projects, including Battle Pope and Brit, but The Walking Dead may be their strongest collaboration yet. Moore does a great job on the first splash page that shows us the zombie-infested corridors of the hospital, and the desperate struggle between Rick and the first zombie he encounters is fast-paced and brutal. He also brings just the right sense of desperation and abandonment to the world of The Walking Dead, while keeping the lead characters real and human, so that we can emphathize with them despite the unreal situation they find themselves in.
Image launched a bunch of new books this week, several of them in black and white, and while I would have preferred The Walking Dead in color, the strength of Moore's work in black and white makes up for the lack of flash that color would have provided. The Walking Dead reminds me in some ways, at least so far, of critical sensation Y: The Last Man, as it's about a horror post-apocalypse scenario that has been done many times before, but it has a sense of humor and a sense of humanity that makes it seem fresh and definitely grabs the imagination.
