Horror Marathon Day 31: The Walking Dead comics

Okay, this is it.  For 31 days I watched a butt-load of horror-themed media.  I even saw more than I talked about, believe it or not, but today on All-hallow’s eve I am going to talk about my FAVORITE horror-themed work.

The Walking Dead comic book.

This is my last Halloween post, I’ll still have the podcast up and talk about my comedy and projects, but for horror it ends with Walking Dead.  You know all about the Walking Dead.  Kirkman et. al. have done their darnedest to make the world know about it.  I am NOT going to talk about the TV show, the toys, the merch, the video games, board games, collectable cards, and all the other crap that they are pushing on us.  You can get plenty of info about all of that, and you probably already know about it.  What concerns me is that some of you may not know about the comics, and that is my mission today.

I saved the best for last.  While The Shining is my favorite horror film, The Walking Dead is truly the most compelling horror property out there.  There are times when you actually get in on something at the beginning before it reaches the zenith of pop culture.  For me TWD was that, I got the comic at the beginning and I honestly couldn’t get enough.  Since 2005 I’ve been reading it and I’ve lent out my comics to about 5-6 people and each time someone else reads them, they become obessed.  It’s that good people.  Those of you that only know the tv show, seriously, if you think that it’s ‘good’ you don’t even know.  The book is THAT much better.

What makes Walking Dead so darn good?  Why would this be the one comic book to read, none-the-less own?  I can’t put my finger on one thing or a list, but I’ll say this, the zombies don’t make the story.  Hell, the story could be set on Mars with aliens, or a band of roaming Caribbean pirates, what makes it is the characters.  The horror comes from the characters.  The drama, anxiety and anguish comes from these imaginary people that Kirkman breathes to life.  After reading 4 issues, you are hooked.  After reading 20 issues you are invested, and this is a world where crap goes down.  People die and in horrible ways.  There are no heroes or villains in the Walking Dead, it’s just people trying to survive.

If you have been reading this blog since the marathon day 1, I implore you do yourself a favor and read the Walking Dead graphic novels, you can't go wrong.