This one reminds me of the old comics I used to read as a kid. The just don’t draw them like this anymore.

view WIP – ZvC by Maxi at DeviantART

The Walking Dead
Episode 2, “Guts”

Voracious D’s Review:

For the series premiere of The Walking Dead, I may have come off as a bit of a curmuddgeon. With the gloom and doom predictions and the likening of watching the premiere to a tilted game of Russian Roulette, it may have been lost that I actually liked the first episode. It strayed off the path, sure, but it was, at heart, the television translation of the comic. Except that giant elephant in the room that was the episodes ending. I didn’t mention it, but I know I wasn’t the only one who was thinking, “Where’d that tank come from?”

That tank, my friends, came from the dark and frightening place called “creative license.” This is the same place that gives Spider-Man organic webshooters, the Batsuit nipples, turns Bullseye into a bald and inept tosser straight from a pub in lower Belfast and does whatever it is that Uwe Boll does to video game movies. If anything should have been deciphered from the premiere review, it was the underlying voice pleading “Don’t fuck with this. Don’t mess around with this. Please?”

Episode 2, “Guts” fucks with us. From the moment the riot suit clad calvary come to clear the way for Glenn and Rick, hopes of continuity flowed away. Whatever dream may have existed of a direct to TV adaptation of The Walking Dead evaporated at this moment. This is not The Walking Dead you’ve read, this is a vastly reconsidered version. And you know what?

I think it works.

Once I swallowed the hard pill that all the volumes of Kirkman’s masterworks were going to be guidelines at best, it became clearer to me that maybe regurgitation would not be the fondest form of flattery. As Rick stares down the barrel of Andrea’s gun, a thrilling idea creeped into my mind: I don’t know what’s going to happen. In introducing new survivors, putting familiar faces in unfamiliar spaces and overall reworking the plotline of the first issues, AMC’s The Walking Dead has now put fans of the series and fans of the show in the same boat. We have no idea where this boat may be going, but we should all be equally committed to staying on board.

“Guts” also introduces us to a character who had a vocal cameo at the end of last episode: Glenn. I say “introduces us” because this Glenn is different. This Glenn calls Rick a “dumbass” from the outset and manages not only to have two cents, but have people listen to his two cents. I like this Glenn. Stephen Yeun has breathed fresh life into this character and his performance in this episode has made his Glenn one of my personal favorite characters (which, in The Walking Dead world is a dangerous thing to declare). While Andrew Lincoln once again solidifies his ability to not just play but be Rick Grimes, Yeun has made Glenn his own and I’m far from complaining.

As is the case in ensemble dramas, it may take some time for me to feel as strongly about the other characters. When Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori) and Laurie Holden (Andrea) get more screen time, I’m sure the hints of their own respective acting chops will be brought to light.

This was a very interesting episode that I may need more time to digest. A new dynamic was introduced and just when I came to grips with it, the scenes for the next episode began to roll. There were some memorable sequences in this episode and as I shake off the shellshock, I’m convinced that I’ll be back next Sunday.

P.S. If you didn’t like the end of this episode, I’m pretty sure you also don’t like America, puppies or the concept of “awesome.”

The Walking Dead
Episode: “Days Gone By”
Channel: AMC

Voracious D’s Review:
It’s here. Finally. After months of casting speculation, teaser trailers, promo photos and even an AMC supported fan trailer, the day has finally come. Robert Kirkman’s ongoing series of horror and survival, The Walking Dead, makes its television debut. We haven’t made much to do about this day because we here at HZA are comic fans. Comic fans view days like today with equal parts trepidation and tremendous anticipation. Our stomachs are hurricanes of gastric acid as the butterflies of hope dodge the knives of impending disappointment. We have long memories and know that for every The Dark Knight, there’s a Batman & Robin. Every time a beloved franchise makes the transition from card stock to celluloid is like a round of Russian Roulette: we hope the gun’s full of nothing but the joy of another day, but we’re clenching our teeth with the hidden expectation of a bullet to the brain. Today, we load the barrel once more, muttering what’s become the traditional hymn of days like today: “Please don’t let them fuck this one up.” So let’s pull the trigger, shall we, and see what, if anything, comes out.

And…we live another day. Next Sunday, the gun will come out again as thoughts that this is just honeymooning, that nothing gold can stay, but for now, we should all bask in the glow of a damn fine episode. Not just a great episode of a zombie series, but good television in general, much like the source material stands as a paramount of both the zombie genre and the comic medium.

Changes have been made. We were told this very early on. Interviews mentioned things that alterations would be made, but “in the spirit of The Walking Dead.” A phrase like this has often translated to shitting over the source material, not working anywhere near its spirit. This is usually jive and doublespeak that more or less states that “Yes, we’re going to dance with your date” and, more audaciously, “You’ll be better for it.” The Walking Dead is an example that sometimes, just sometimes, producers, directors and actors aren’t lying to you.
The largest change has to be the characterization of Morgan. It’s a well known fact that Kirkman himself wanted to do more with Morgan and Duane, bit characters from the first issue of the comic, and that the television series would be the likely vehicle for their overhaul. Specific plot points are deviated from in making this change. Rick doesn’t have his first tangle with the zombies in the hospital, he doesn’t have a simple misunderstanding with Morgan and Duane, then hand hold them through his departure toward Atlanta. Morgan has been made more suspicious, more dynamic and, honestly, more of a character, overall. The story has been changed significantly, a cardinal sin typically, but it is very hard to argue with the result. Drama has been added, the story more textured. Damnit, they were right, this was a change made “in the spirit of The Walking Dead” and it works.

Other than this, there are minor departures from the first issues on which this first episode is based. Scenes take place that never existed in the comics, which, again, is a huge no-no. Again, though, the logic of the scenes make sense. A comic doesn’t necessarily make a one-to-one exchange with television. There is time and space that’s crossed between one panel to the next that a television show just can’t work with. These additional scenes simply fill in those gaps. I think it’s pretty neat to see how Rick managed to find a horse to ride into Atlanta with and I don’t mind seeing the RV campsite before Rick does, because we all know it’s going to be there, anyway. Only the die hard purist, who would be pleased with nothing short of an hour long slide show of comic panels, could be upset with what the creative team behind The Walking Dead TV show has done so far.

Visually, the show only impresses more. As Rick rides into Atlanta, a graveyard of deadlocked and abandoned cars on his left and the city looming before him, a little voice should be squealing inside you, declaring that this is the show you were looking for. Of course, this isn’t the only time nor the first. From the outset, you get zombies. Boy do you get zombies. I wouldn’t use the word “terrifying,” to describe them, but these are absolutely grotesque monsters. Dismembered, decayed and moaning, it would be hard to argue that these didn’t shamble their way straight out of the comics. Just as no gun is good without its bullet, no zombie can be considered properly done without an equally well done death and The Walking Dead does one good headshot. Then another. And another. The show is fairly violent and yet isn’t superfluously so. It may be stylized and it may be brutal, but the violence isn’t aggrandized and has a nice balance to it.

Overall, The Walking Dead has made an impressive beginning. The hype, thus far, has been justified and the set-up for next week’s episode gives no signs of a dramatic drop off. I know, for sure, I’ll be back next Sunday.
Oh and by the way, good luck to those of you entering to stagger onto a future episode.