It was that way in the comics, too! Though the conversation in the boat was added in for drama. I'm glad they added that; it worked so much better!

That's one thing that really impressed me about the series: they take the source material and improve it. It's rare to find a show as good as the books/comics it came from, even rarer to find one better than!

In a world filled with zombies, they failed to post sentries at night. How stupid can you get?

I'm back to reading the comics now. I just finished issue #5, which proposes the wisdom of giving a gun to a seven-year-old.

EDIT: And just in case the comic's author didn't drive the above message home hard enough... I've just finished issue #6, and there we go again! Wheeee!

-- Nephele

That's a great word: "anvilicious." I also noticed that comic series author Robert Kirkman is perhaps anviliciously anti-feminist, as well. We have that scene in one of the early issues in which the womenfolk have gone to the creek to do laundry, and Donna starts complaining about how only the menfolk do all the hunting. Lori gives Donna a lecture on how, in these trying times, distribution of duties falls to those who can best do the jobs needed to be done. Giving additional weight to this view, Lori says that she could NEVER trust Rick to do the laundry correctly. (Har harrr)

Then, later on, as the womenfolk are coming home, Donna gets attacked by a zombie. Happily, one of the menfolk comes by just in time to shoot the zombie and save Donna's life. Let that be a lesson to you, Donna!

I suppose making Andrea the best sharp-shooter of the bunch is the author's nod to the fact that some women can handle a gun. On the other hand, I've read through issue #9 now and I've yet to see the menfolk take Andrea out hunting with them. (But the seven-year-old boy can go hunting.)

-- Nephele

Holy shit, I never noticed that in the comics! XD I mean, I know Donna got chomped, but I never took notice of the timing! Hot damn, I really need to pay more attention!



Actually - here's the benefit of being a southerner who knows something of his the South's history - I think that's more or less the frontier mindset creeping into the comics. See, back in the day, everyone in the family knew how to defend themselves (at least, they should've). The eldest son (whether he was seven or seventeen) could handle a rifle because he would go hunting with his dad. The wife could handle a gun sometimes because her husband might go on long business trips - cattle drives, for example, or maybe he's out in the furthest part of the wheat fields and can't rush back to the house right away - and somebody needed to defend the homestead if a robber, a cattle rustler, a hostile Native (or, sadly, any Native) or a homestead thief came calling. You see this in the Bible as well: sure, women and men had traditional gender roles, but often the women could defend themselves, and when there wasn't a man to lead God's army in times of war, He'd call a woman (the prophetess Deborah, for example) to lead Israel. Several times in Jewish history/literature, the men were too weak, so a woman had to step up and get shit done. It's an old mindset, and it was echoed in the culture of the American Southwest. When you're the only homestead around for miles and miles and the train tracks that united the disparate parts of the nation hadn't been laid down yet, you had to be tough as nails because you were the only law out there, and your gun was the entire executive branch. In times like that, women had to be just as tough as men. That frontier, "go it alone", hardcore mindset is all over the comics and tends to show up in the character's actions. They are from Atlanta, so this could be just a cultural "southern" thing. The fact that poor Donna had to pay the ultimate price to enforce that mindset is really pathetic, though.


EDIT: Hot damn, I suck at formatting today!

Would it be controverial if I were to say it sounds "anviliciously" Survivalist? If that's out of line, I apologise, but... Sure looks like it from a distance.

No, not controversial or out of line at all. Actually, you hit it on the nail.

Exactly. If the world ended tomorrow, everyone would do what they're best at in order to survive.

Of course, this means half the survivors would wind up dead because they lack any useful survival skills.

Just finished reading through issue #14 of the comic book series, and was surprised to discover that EVERYONE who dies turns into a zombie -- not just the ones who get bitten and killed by zombies. I'm wondering whether this upcoming, final episode of the teevee series will explain why that is?

-- Nephele

Given what was shown in the previews, they're giving more answers in the series than they did in the comics. The zombie "virus" was already compared to viral meningitis, which was never mentioned in the comics, as there were no mental health professionals around.

There were actually twenty issues of the comic series at that site you gave us the link to, AB. I've just finished reading through issue #20 now. I can certainly see a lot of potential for a second season for the teevee series!

My latest impressions of the comic series:

I have to say that I was very much in favor of Rick's decision to execute Thomas. It had less to do with "capital punishment" than it had to do with self-preservation. Same deal as for Dexter -- he was a threat to everybody. They were both more dangerous than the zombies.

Michonne kicks ass harder than Andrea.

The beginning of issue #20 rules for black humor. That's got to be the best zombie sight gag ever.

-- Nephele

Has it shown the General (forgot his name) yet?

If you want any of the issues past twenty, I've got 'em all up to 70-something on my computer. I could probably post 'em on a file hosting site somewhere.

No, haven't seen that one, yet.



There have been over 70 so far? Yikes! And here I thought I was practically caught up! I'd love to read them, but I don't want you to get into any trouble by hosting them somewhere.

I'm hooked on the comic series.

EDIT: Thanks for your kind offer, AB, but I just found the compendium volumes at Amazon. I'll order them for my library, and then I can get to read them! Wheee! (Everyone else, I suggest you go to your public libraries and ask your librarian to order the compendium volumes for you as well, or at least see if your library can borrow them from another library via interlibrary loan.)

-- Nephele