The Walking Dead: Volume 2 - Miles Behind Us Review

Volume 2 of The Walking Dead, introduces new characters, new places, and develops the character's further. It carries on directly from the shocking end of the first one and sees Rick and his band of survivors moving on from their camp to find another place to stay.

Robert Kirkman does a brilliant job of keeping the story fresh and the characters interesting. Not once in this book did I feel like this was a repeat of the first volume - mainly due to the challenges we see the characters face. We see the survivors facing moral issues, and (without giving anything away) the deaths of some people in the group change characters drastically.

The writing is a similiar style to the original although the use of swear words becomes more common - not in a distasteful way, in fact I think it makes the story far more believable. I have no doubt that we'd all drop some swear words once in a while if we were trying to survive a zombie apocalypse! Once again, silly lines return but this is something you see in this series from time to time.

I think that Volume 2 of The Walking Dead is on a par with Volume 1, the story is stronger than the original and the writing and art (which by the way is still black and white, like Volume 1), is still top notch. Although I still think that the slightly later volumes (4, maybe 3 onwards) is when this series really comes into its own. But saying that the early volumes are still an excellent read.

This book is definitely a must buy because it is an improvement on the original and an essential part of the story. I urge you to keep reading this series because it is one that keeps getting better and better.

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The Walking Dead: Volume 1 - Days Gone Bye Review

The Walking Dead has become an absolute phenomenon as of late, and so I thought that I'd dust off Volume 1 of the comics and give it a review for those who are interested. First of all, I should say whether you watched the first season of The Walking Dead TV show or not - if you want to get into the comics - you still need to start with Volume 1. Simply because there are quite a few changes that the TV Series made - some minor, some quite big - so don't go skipping to future volumes, as you'll miss a great opportunity to get to know these characters deeply.

One thing that the two versions share is how this all begins. Rick Grimes, a police officer working in the USA, gets shot while trying to arrest a generic law-breaker. The consequence of this is that he is sent into a coma for many weeks - and while he's in the coma, this whole zombie thing kicks off.

The events that follow that range from exciting escapes from a zombie horde, to camp-fire chats as Rick gets to know some of his fellow survivors. What I'm really saying is you won't get bored reading this book.

Robert Kirkman's writing I believe is pretty good, however it should be made clear that this comic is for mature readers only. While it begins fairly tame, it gets a lot darker and a lot more explicit as the book goes on. And speaking as someone who has read ten volumes, it only gets worse for there on out with many gruesome scenes in the following volumes.
But, we should really focus on this volume seeming as that's what we're reviewing, and I have to say that while it's an entertaining read, don't expect anything too mind-blowing just yet. After all, this volume is really just setting the scene, introducing the reader to this grim world and the characters in it. Kirkman writes up some interesting character back-stories to keep even the non-action scenes fun to read.

However, one of the main complaints I have with the book is the script. While good for the most part, there are many lines that feel forced and out of place which took me out of the read a little. Add to that the fact that some characters can end up sounding the same and you have a script that needs a little work. Thankfully, its nothing too major at this point, and so the book isn't too affected.

The art in the book is well drawn and interestingly left in black and white. This was most likely a creative move to portray a world so miserable, that it is devoid of colour. Despite the lack of colour it is still easy to differentiate between characters and times of the day due to the use of different shades, meaning this unorthodox art style pays off and doesn't get at all confusing.

To conclude, I think that Volume 1 of the Walking Dead is a good start to a great series, but believe me when I say better stories are yet to come. This doesn't stop it from remaining an entertaining read, but to new fans I advise you stay with it for at least another two volumes. If you're not sucked in by that point, then you've got some serious problems.

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