Awful art, laughably poor dialogue, interchangeable characters, repetitive plot, adolescent vicarious sexual fantasy: how did they ever make a good tv show out of this? ( )

This is tough. I both like this and find it kind of revolting. The story is there, but the story sinks into a depression, and not in a good way. You know this story: zombies take over the world, and only the strong survive. The strong… and those willing to justify the means with the end. Yet there is no hope for these people. There is only unending horror, death, and the soul-wrenching knowledge that either they will die painfully, or everyone they know will die before their eyes.

I’m not sure that’s something I want to read.

As a comic, the art is never distracting, but it’s not often amazing. My preference is toward the simplistic and the stylized, like Bone, or Tintin, or Usagi Yojimbo. Robert Kirkman is splatteringly realistic, which works for the world he’s created, but I don’t think that’s a world I want to drop into. The only pleasures are the brutal deaths accompanied by whooping cheers as Kirkman finds yet another way to brutally dismember someone. Somehow he doesn't recognize what he's doing even when there's a critique of brutal deaths for sport inside his comic.

I don't want to be a part of that. ( )

I really don't like zombie-themed entertainment. I run in the other direction. But there was so much buzz about the Walking Dead TV show, I thought I'd just give it a try. It didn't take long for me to get hooked, and when I got this collection of the first 48 issues,almost 1100 pages, I was thrilled to read more about characters I've come to love (and fear for).

It's so good. All the things that sucked me into the show are present-the drama, the characterization, the horror and the anguish.

Sometimes with black and white comics, I feel like I can't see well enough what's going on, but the artwork here is perfect in both the close-ups and in the huge dramatic spreads. I don't know if I could handle some of the more gruesome scenes in color anyway.

I'm glad I tried this one out, as it's become one of my favorite series. Can't wait to read Compendium 2! ( )

What a great read! This is a huge book and well worth the time to read. I'm really looking forward to Compendium Two. ( )

Emotionally juvenile, dramatically inert, and arbitrarily plotted. I found that more true for the first half, though. The second half settles into a single location and plotline which was useful for developing more significant tension, and the Apocalypse Makes People Crazy theme was conveyed better with a central villain in the Governor. I can only assume Negan is more of the same. The show translates the book well, for better or worse. (For starters the fast pace is lost by stretching each chapter to season-long arcs.) If I wanted a melodrama about grief/trauma after an apocalyptic event I’d watch The Leftovers. If I wanted a melodrama that spins its wheels I’d watch Lost. Basically, this series is like a Damon Lindelof show if it had much worse characters and was generally dumber. If I wanted a good zombie book I’d look elsewhere. And you should too! ( )