The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye — A Masterful Zombie Graphic Novel

“It’s not the same as killing the dead ones, Daddy.”

Rick Grimes, police officer, awakens from a month long coma only to find the world as he knew it dead — overrun by ravenous zombies. He searches for his wife and son who have gone to the nearby city of Atlanta seeking the safety of military protection.

TITLE:

THE WALKING DEAD: DAYS GONE BYE

WRITER:

by Robert Kirkman

ARTISTS:

by Tony Moore (penciler, inker and gray tones)
Cliff Rathburn (additional gray tones)

SERIES:

The Walking Dead — Vol. 1
Reprints The Walking Dead comics #1-6

PUBLISHER:

Image Comics

GENRE:

Graphic Novel (collection), Horror Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Suspense

DESCRIPTORS:

Horror, Zombies, End of the World, Survival, Psychological Studies, Life and Death, Disaster

CHARACTERS:

Rick Grimes, A Kentucky police officer who wakes up from a coma to find the world overrun with zombies.
Lori Grimes, Rick’s wife who loves him but doesn’t always agree with his ideas.
Carl Grimes, Rick’s son.
Shane, A police officer and Rick’s partner.
Morgan, An African-American father who has taken up residence in a house next to Rick’s
Duane, Morgan’s son.
Glenn, A young Asian-American teenager and camp scavenger.
Dale, A older man who recently lost his wife. He owns an RV which is the camp’s primary shelter.
Amy, Andrea’s sister, rescued by Dale.
Andrea, Amy’s sister, rescued by Dale.
Carol, A young mother who is somewhat troubled in these troubling times.
Sophia, Carol’s daughter.
Alan, A middle-aged man, Donna’s husband and father of Ben and Billy.
Donna, A middle-aged, somewhat conservative woman, Alan’s wife and mother of Ben and Billy.
Ben, Alan and Donna’s son.
Billy, Alan and Donna’s son.
Jim, A mechanic who lost his entire family to the zombies.

SUMMARY:

After being shot in the line of duty some weeks before, police officer Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma and finds the world as he knew it overrun with life-eating, disease spreading zombies.

Desperate to find his wife, Lori, and sever-year-old son Carl, Rick makes his way out of a zombie infested hospital and discovers his house abandoned. From a squatter who moved in next door, he finds out what little there is to know about the first days of the rise of the zombies. Together they raid the police station for guns, ammo and cars and Rick sets out to Atlanta where Lori has family, hoping to catch up with her there.

What he ultimately discovers is that Atlanta is overrun by zombies and only a quick save by a teenager named Glenn saves his life. Glenn takes him back to his camp where Rick finds Lori, his son, his partner, Officer Shane along with several other survivors.

Almost immediately he starts helping out the community including launching a terrifically risky foray into Atlanta for guns. What he doesn’t realize is that Lori and Shane have secrets that could explode in his face.

APPEAL:

Although some scenes naturally flow quickly, many are of a moderate to slow pacing because Kirkman’s interest, and ours, isn’t so much the numerous ways to dispatch zombies, but what becomes of people without civilization and under constant danger. The comic is heavy in dialog, but knows when to stop and let the illustrations tell the story.

This is definitely a character driven book. Kirkman spends the most time with Rick as we watch him grow and mature into a role he never wanted. But the people around him are not slighted. The ensemble is large and changing as people join, die or leave but they each present their story and some change before our eyes.

This is a drama masquerading as melodrama. Kirkman has genuine interest and love for the people introduced in the pages. But it is a story that uses a zombie trope to reveal certain truths about the human condition. It is serial in that it is an on-going storyline centered around Rick.

Throughout the book you see people surviving the best way they know how. You may pick-up a survival tip or two, but the unpredictability of the human psyche and the mindlessness of the zombie defeats most tactics. Despite the possible nihilism inherent in the zombie sub-genre, the general tone of the book is upbeat. Most characters believe that soon the government will reassert itself and rescue the survivors as they cleanse the southern states.

NOTES:

This is a black and white comic with greytones.

The Walking Dead Book One reprints The Walking Dead comics #1-12 in a 304 page hardcover edition.

The Walking Dead Compendium One reprints The Walking Dead comics #1-48 in a 1088 page trade paperback extravaganza.

Readalikes:

If you like The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye you might also enjoy the brooding Damn Nation or The Abandoned by Ross Campbell where anyone 21 years or older dies and comes back as a zombie. If you like superheros and color in your comics, try Ultimate Fantastic Four Volume 5: Crossover and Volume 6: Frightful — which were surprisingly effective for a super hero comic. Less tense and filled with more black humor is Marvel Zombies also by Robert Kirkman.

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Tagged as: Horror Graphic Novel Summary, Zombies