by I just saw that Goodreads has been bought by Amazon. I don’t know what to think about that, I haven’t been super-active on the site recently but if it’s all now going to be fodder for Amazon’s store, I suppose I will think about it in a different light.
But I digress from the zombies. I just finished watching the Season 3 finale of The Walking Dead teevee series. I thought this last season was mostly really good. Probably the best season yet but regardless I think we can all agree that it was better than Season Two.
The comic book series it’s based on is up to issues 114. I read them in the trade collections which come out much later than the individual monthly pamphlets. I have read up to Volume 17: Something to Fear which is a whole lot of plot ahead of the teevee series.
The teevee series has made a lot of interesting choices that differ significantly from the comic books. It’s a different medium of course and a key difference is what the actors bring to the teevee series. Teevee is a lot more collaborative than comics by necessity. But I also think Robert Kirkman who is both the writer on the comics and an executive producer on the teevee series is to be commended for not being too precious with his work. Most of the changes from the comic to the teevee show are a big improvement in terms of the choices and evolution of the characters. Clearly some changes were made to provide new surprises and left turns to fans of the comic book but regardless of the motivation, they have been good for the characterization and the story.
I was also reading comics at the webcomic anthology site Thrillbent today — they did a funny parody of a recent episode of The Walking Dead and well, it gets sillier from there.
July 2014 Update: I just read volumes 18, 19 and 20. This Negan character is like an amped-up version of the Guv’nor I guess. I guess it’s in the DNA of the comic to constantly need to build up battle, boogeymen and betrayals but it’s all feeling a little repetitive at this point.
August 2014 Update: Reading volume 21.
August 2015 Update: Just read volumes 22 and 23 — kind of transitional moments as Carl grows up and the “whispering dead” are introduced.
September 2015 Update: Read Volume 24: Life and Death.
July 2018 Update: Been almost three years since I’ve picked up a Walking Dead collection. Volumes 25, 26, 27 and 28 continue the war with the Whisperers. Did not see the Negan plot twist coming.
I’m not sure why I did a combined bookmark for the comic book and for the teevee series. But Season 7 of the Waking Dead show is on Netflix and I just haven’t gotten around to watching all of it. I’m up to Episode 10 of Season 7 right now, but I haven’t watched any of it in multiple months. The teevee Negan is pretty ridiculously psychopathic, so unlike the adaptation of the Governor character, it has stuck close to the comic book.
