How does the genre (comics) affect the pacing and development of this
story?
Think about how the comic is drawn--what choices do the authors make,
and how do these choices affect your experience of the story? How does
this take on zombies compare
with the filmic treatments we have explored during class
(Night and
Dawn)
? Think about both similarities and differences and
pose at least one question that you think could help draw connections
between
The Walking Dead and other, similar, works.
Obviously the authors are going to use a different writing style when writing a comic book than writing a novel because comic book has illustration. because of this I believe that the text has a lot more to do with the actual plot that describing the setting, because depicting the setting is the job of the illustrations. One main difference i noticed between the Night of the Living Dead and The Walking Dead was that In the Night of the Living Dead they really emphasized that the dead were returning to life and were attacking the living. In The Walking Dead the emphasis is on that the living were getting turned into zombies and that is how the disease grew. Since the authors of The Walking Dead write it this way I have one big question. If the disease was spread by being attacked and bitten by a zombie, why do 99% of the zombies have 2 arms, 2 legs, and just a handful of cuts? Shouldn't they all be missing arms and legs and have giant holes on their bodies from where they were attacked and fed on?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing. How come the monsters were not missing their limbs but were just walking around with a handful of cuts and looking like they werent even mauled by other zombies. which confuses me because from the comic transition to the show there were zombies walking around with arms missing legs missing and holes in their body as to where in the comic the zombies were very different.
DeleteI thought the authors did a good job with making the zombies look like zombies. The above picture, of the tank scene, is a pretty average picture of zombies in the comic. The level of gruesomeness, if you could call it that, is just right. Over time it has gotten progressively gruesome. This increase could be accredited to better special effects as well as society's proneness to violence.
DeleteI enjoyed the way that the Zombie's were portrayed in the Graphic Novel, and I feel that Tony Moore's zombies do George Romero's Zombies justice. I also enjoyed the level of consistency between the zombies of Kirkman/Moore and Romero's zombies -- They are slow moving, Dead, and are the embodiment of pure instinct and impulse.
DeleteHowever, I think the main difference between The Walking Dead and Night/Dawn is that The Walking Dead begins with the Zombie Apocalypse considered an event of the past, thus leaving the apocalypse in full effect. Whereas in Night/Dawn the story begins with the first cases of Zombies, which causes the Apocalypse to be an event of the present.
( PS -- A zombie apocalypse would never happen: http://www.cracked.com/article_18683_7-scientific-reasons-zombie-outbreak-would-fail-quickly.html
@Danny & Kyle: I think there are several instances in the first trade paperback where the zombies show signs of having been damaged before they returned. The zombie by the bicycle in the beginning has little but its brain left, and one of the zombies that attack the camp near the end is missing a limb. I think the question you're asking is if the zombies eat their prey, how is it that so many victims are intact and able to return? One explanation for this is simply that it helps continue the conceit of the story--peering too deeply for "cultural verisimilitude" in such stories threatens to expose their endemically fantastic nature. But Kirkman does note that he wants to "[show] the natural progression of events that [he] think[s] would occur in these situations," so he asks us to probe more deeply into such details. Romero suggests that only very little flesh is needed to sate an attacking zombie so that, in the absence of a mob, most bodies will be left generally intact.
Delete@Garret--an *excellent* point, and one that draws a distinction between apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic literature. I think we could identify *Night* as an example of the former, *Dawn* as an example that moves from the former to the latter, and *Day* and *Walking Dead* as titles firmly entrenched in the latter. How does the apocalyptic event reflecting a present or a foregone past change the types of messages that the works focus on?
I had the same question. What would stop the zombies from completely devouring someone to the point where they could not be reanimated? Yes, there would be some people that had help escaping after being bitten once, but most I would think would not be so lucky. It makes more sense for there to be more skeletons around than walkers.
Delete@kirkegaardsdog you are right that I should have worded it that way. But the scene that stood out to me was when Rick's horse got attacked it got torn apart. Noted there was around 12 zombies that could actually get to the horse but those zombies tore it open and were eating handfuls at a time. If that was a human there would only be bones left.
DeleteComics affect the pacing and development of this story because the reader gets a visual aspect of what is going on in the story. Authors that write novels write completely different than authors that write comics. Seeing the pictures helps the reader understand the situation these characters are going through. The comic is very visual and tries to make everything look as real as possible. Seeing the pictures in the comic made the situation going on in the story seem more real life. This story is similar to Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead because the zombies have all taken over a city or town and the people who are still alive are trying to escape. All of these stories or movies are also similar in the way that the zombies are going after the humans trying to eat them. Once you die you turn into a zombie. In every film and story we read about zombies they always stay in groups. My question is why do zombies have to stay in a big group? What is the significance of them staying together?
ReplyDeleteI believe that the author used the idea of zombies traveling in big groups similar to George Romero’s idea that people are all the same. Romero does this using a bunch of zombies that are in a group wearing clothes that represent different types of people. Human nature is similar no matter what social class we belong to. At the same time, people strive for conformity in society. We spend our entire lives trying to fit in, like zombies doing what we are told because it is acceptable in society.
DeleteComics allow for this story to develop at a rapid pace. By the time you look up you are halfway through the comic. This rapid pace is created by the short dialogue. A block of the comic could take up a quarter of the page but only have one sentence in it. This small bodies of text takes and makes a fast pace to a somewhat slow story. The monsters of the story are not the quickest monsters around. The amount of characters needed to be develop would make a novel 700 pages but the authors use short thoughts and blips of conversation to develop the characters quickly. If this was not in comic form I feel like it would be less known due to the slowness of the story. The genre of this book creates a quick pace that makes it enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI thought it made the read take a longer time by having to read what the people were saying and then look to see what the scene looked like. That is a good point, however, that the authors develop the characters quickly. it makes it easier to get into the story faster than having to read ten pages into a book in order to know one character.
DeleteThe comic makes the story move at a quicker pace because the reader can view the action instead of imagine it. For example, if this comic was a book then the scenes with the zombies attacking would be more drawn out. However, if this comic became a movie, the pace would be must faster in the movie. The author chooses to use black and white because it is less graphic. The black and white also add a documentary feel like in Night if the Living Dead. However, Dawn of the Dead is a better representation of how the zombies in the Walking Dead comic were portrayed. They were both unintelligent, ate human flesh, and appeared in large numbers. The setting was also similar because the people in The Walking Dead ran to the cities and the main characters in Dawn of the Dead went to a mall, which are both very public places. The setting of Walking Dead was similar to Night of the Living Dead as well because both involve rural areas. One large difference between the two movies and the comic is that the comic features a young boy with gun who kills an actual person. My question is what is the author trying to say about society when he uses Rick’ s son to kill the man instead of another possible character?
ReplyDeleteI agree - comics, with their ability to be very specific with their language and graphics, can move at a quick pace and the reader can still grasp the concept of the story. The public places in the stories, like the mall and cities, do give a familiar feel, giving the readers a way to relate to the stories.
DeleteIn using Carl as a murderer, the authors could be trying to portray how different society is compared to Night and Dawn. We would have never expected a child to play that role 30 years ago, but with how horrific society has become in this decade, anything is possible. I believe that is the idea that the authors were playing on.
When you are reading a comic it is a mix between watch a movie and reading a book. The comic takes longer to read than watching a movie or reading a book because you are trying to catch every detail drawn while reading what is being said in each scene. The authors choose to use curse words, which I believe add to the stress of the situation that the characters are under. The character also wakes up in a hospital and has no idea what is going on until he sees a zombie. This take is different from Night and Dawn because everyone knew what was going on and everyone knew that the zombies were a huge problem. The zombies in this comic were similar to the zombies in the two movies in the way they act, but the difference is that the zombies in that comic are more related to those in Dawn. The level of their gruesomeness is more closely resembling those shown in Dawn rather than those shown in Night. The question that I have is why would the zombie that was eating the dear stop to attack the two guys when it had what it wanted in the first place?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comic being a movie and novel combined however I'd have to disagree with the statement that the comic takes longer to shift through. For me personally the comic was by far more intriguing causing me to get lost in it and allowing me to finish it far more than a novel would. In some ways you could argue that they knew about the zombies in this novel because the government had warned them which heeded this quarantine. This society like other just chose to rely on the government for answers abandoning their own thoughts. To answer your question I feel as though the zombie would want to attack the men even with the deer being present because he wished for them to be more like him. The zombie wished to conform these men into the masses because many times people fear those who show power. The men had chosen to take total control over there situation whereas the zombies did not they were persuaded by what the authorities said than finding their own footing.
DeleteThe use of making this story into a comic allows the reader to steadily and vividly follow the storyline. Comics are enticing not once did I want to stop reading for the help speak far more volumes than the words themselves. Comics are able to take time to show precise details within the pictures causing our minds to stretch these visuals for comprehension. The pace of the story is set through the use of a comic because in comics you don't have a lot of time to work with whereas in novels you can write until your fingers get sore. A comic is to keep interest so things have to be sped along fairly quickly. The author allows profane language to be used this giving more emphasis to the situation at hand and depicting the hostility many of the characters posses. The detailed drawings give way to emotions to be felt when Amy is killed the tears shed cause the reader to feel melancholy. Even when Rick kills the zombies tears are shed helping show that although these are necessary measures he is still human and having a hard time ignoring his emotions. this take compares with Night and Dawn because they all present the zombies in the same manor as people we are and have once closely connected to. The zombies all breed familiarity to the characters because they once were like them and unlike in Dawn and Night the author notes this. In addition, the zombies in our other readings have been fought off at first glance whereas these ones have formed due to the people's trust being solely put into the government. In Night the good die off while in this comic the ones battling the biggest demons are the first to go. In what ways does society differ from that of the ones depicted in our previous readings. Are we all zombie like prisoners inside unable to rely on our own understandings but getting swept into doing what seems "cool" or popular. What is is that makes us different besides we are in human life form?
ReplyDeleteI agree when you talk about the characters still having emotions. As you said in your blog, the authors incorporate many emotions in their pictures for example, tears. We see this throughout the whole story all the way until the last scene when the little boy says, "It's not the same as killing dead ones daddy". The characters are starting to become monsters themselves and are realizing its not right.
DeleteI think the “comics” genre makes the story appear to go faster. While reading the comic, I spent more time analyzing what the characters are saying, the language they are using, and thinking about why the author drew their faces in certain ways. This makes it easier for the pacing and development of the story to happen at a faster pace. The authors still do a great job of having the zombies appear horrific and scary to the reader, even without moving pictures. The detail the authors use, especially the violence they use in creating the zombies, bring an exciting appeal to the story. This take on zombies has an underlying drama to it, which also contributed to the excitement of the comic. The other zombie films, Night and Dawn, seemed only to deal with one conflict: killing the zombies. The Walking Dead has other underlying drama, such as the reunion of Rick and his wife and child. Drama is also seen when the old man warns Rick of Shane’s apparent eye for Lola. Though the stories differ in this way, both stories share the conflict of trying to escape these living-dead creatures. My question is, why has it taken history this long to begin incorporating other conflicts into the zombie story other than the simple “kill the zombies at all costs?”
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say comics make the story goes faster. It is easier for the story to develop because of its pace. I also agree with your question of why it took so long for history to incorporate other story lines in a zombie story. I would like to know that answer also.
DeleteI think you made an interesting point when you say that "The Walking Dead" has a sort of plot to it. While the main goal is to get rid of the zombies, the author also threw in some drama, like you said. I think it might have taken this long for other conflicts to be brought into zombie stories because until now people did not really thrive on conflict. When you look at the movies that are out today, its all about the drama. Even if it is a thriller, we still see relationship drama or friendship drama. I think this has to do with how our culture has changed. The viewers want the drama and the conflict, so in order to make their work sell, the author has to incorporate drama and conflict into their story line. I also think that the conflict makes it more interesting. While killing off zombies is a good story line, we as viewers also find entertainment in what is going on inside the characters head. If the movie was based primarily on zombies only, it would lose the interest of the audience fast. We even see this change from 'Night' to 'Dawn'. In 'Night' the whole movie was basically zombies. In 'Dawn' we start to see conflict, like the bikers and how Fran is pregnant with Stephens baby.
DeleteI agree that the story being a comic made it go much faster. I did not feel as if i was reading forever like some of the other pieces we have read. I found myself paying attention to the characters more closely as well. It was also much easier to follow what was going on because there are illustrations. I also think the pictures with no words except sounds made the story a lot more exciting.
DeleteI think comics help the reader get a better idea of what is going on in the story. As a reader you get the sense of emotions the illustrations display on a certain character. In the Walking Dead, there is a better story line than Dawn or Night. In Dawn or Night there was one story line and that was escaping the zombies the best way you can. The comic helps you read and follow along. It entertains you with pictures and the story. What is being represented as society or a conflict in the Walking Dead?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the graphic novel really does give us an authentic experience through the action-packed pictures and dialogue between characters. It gives that same sensational feeling like when we are watching Romero's films. I sort of think what is being represented as society or a conflict in The Walking Dead is a bit of a reverse because the heavy population of zombies is what is making up most of society and the suvivors are like the rebels which are a conflict.
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ReplyDeleteI think that by reading through this comic made it made it go faster and it was easier to understand. I was able to get to know the characters by their actions and thoughts and I got to see how time changed them. In the movies we watched it was hard to analyze everything since it just kept moving, but in the comic of 'The Walking Dead,' if I did not understand something I could go back and re-read it, which helped me to understand the plot better. The zombies in 'The Walking Dead' were still just as scary as the movies we watched, but they compared better to 'Night of the Living Dead' better since both were in black and white. Viewers have to use their imagination to fully understand what the zombies look like as compared to 'Dawn of the Dead' which was in color. Also, in 'The Walking Dead' the author did a good job at trying to make the smell of the zombies repulsive. In the films we watched, the smell of the zombies was not a main concern, but in 'The Walking Dead' it was. The smell of the zombies was so repulsive it made several people sick, but it also saved Rick and Glenn's life when they used the smell of the zombies to trick them into thinking that they were also zombies. As similarity between the films and the comics is the characters basic human instinct to save themselves from the zombies. They all share the same tactics. These tactics include gun shots or trauma to the head to kill off the zombies. My question is: How was Rick able to survive in the hospital without being eaten? The hospital was deserted because zombies had taken over, so wouldn't Rick had been an easy target since he wasn't conscious?
ReplyDeleteI agree with reading the comic made it go faster and easier to understand. I think the pictures give a visual aspect of what is going on in the story. I think the movies were easier to understand because it was a real life picture not just many comics with words on them. Comics are easier to read than a novel or short story, but I would much rather watch a movie then try to read and comprehend something. I also wondered how Rick survived in the hospital. The zombies took over the hospital and wanted to eat the humans. My only conclusion to that question would be that since he was in a coma he could have looked dead to the zombies.
DeleteThe movies are much easier to understand because they have longer periods of time to let suspense build and to allow more details. A plus side of reading a comic is that you can use your imagination to piece together how Rick survived the zombies (in the tv show, Shane boarded his room up in hopes that the zombies wouldn't be able to get in). A downside to reading comics is that when imagining the left-out details, you may end up with the wrong conclusion.
DeleteI had the same confusion. I feel like Rick could have easily been eaten up by the zombies. Maybe the author didn't think we would pay attention to that detail, but obviously I wasn't the only one. To also reply to Missa, I feel as if the zombies would be able to sense a pulse or maybe even smell blood, but then again we don't really know if zombies are that intelligent.
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ReplyDeleteIt definitely has that post-apocalyptic style like in Romero's two zombie films. The Walking Dead really captures that general genre of surviving a zombie apocalypse. But unlike how Romero's films start out, in The Walking Dead we immediately meet our main protagonist. Romero's films also introduce are main characters but at first we're not really sure who the main story focuses on. In contrast with Romero's films, in The Walking Dead we have our hero waking up from a coma and he doesn't quite fully understand what has been going on since he passed out when he got shot. The characters in Romero's films get instantly drawn into surviving. Both Romero's films and The Walking Dead share the same major aspects of zombie survival. They both involve a group of surivors sticking together and watching each other's backs. The characters seek resources and supplies such as food, cleaning supplies, and weapons (preferably guns). Instead of seeking shelter indoors, like in Romero's films, the survivors settle in camp outside the city of Atlanta. But they eventually knew that it would be too dangerous to stay in one place and wait for the rescue teams. So they decide to be on the move. Which is considerably a good but risky idea because they would want to keep a great distance from the zombies. Unlike how there were teams of soldiers and hunters in Romero's films, why is it that part of the govenrment that was supposed to protect Atlanta have failed to do so? They would have enough weapons, so how couldn't they deal with the problem?
ReplyDeletei like your question of how couldnt the military deal with the infection. they number much more than the small scattered populus if their units are called together and are very well armed. i feel as though they generally collect at certain areas and safe zones and that is where survivors tend to try and get to in all the films and novels
DeleteI feel that when reading a comic, the plot develops a lot faster. Unlike movies and tv shows, pictures make it harder to expand and add dramatic effect to the piece. In the comic, there were a lot more zombies in one place at a time. It is much easier to draw lots and lots of zombies rather than having to get enough actors and get them all made up to portray zombies. My question is how did the zombies not find the camp sooner? In the films we watched, it did not take long at all for the zombies to find where the only living human beings are. I was shocked that it took the zombies as long as it did, especially because Glenn travels back and forth each day to retrieve supplies.
ReplyDeleteI really like what you said in your first sentence. The plot is able to develop faster than a book. Just by being able to see the image of the setting in front of you instead of picturing it inside you head helps do the work of the creative process for you. I do want to say by adding so much effect and enhancing the details of one image can provide you with more feeling than a short film can about the same thing. I feel the picture requires more of your attention than a film or television show. I see where you were coming from, I just wanted to put a different perspective on how you looked at it.
DeleteThe comic was pretty good. I felt as said above that the plot does form alot faster and it was very interesting to see how different the comic was in certain points. The author really does a good job forming the story throughout the comic and just how all the actions scenes seemed to have those extra words added to them was interesting. The zombies through out the comic and connecting them with the night and dawn movies is that they actually were not as active if you would say by noticing that the people kept going back to the ATL and grabbing extra supplies and just how the people but their guts on them and the zombies didnt even notice them that was also interesting.
ReplyDeleteI like the point you made about the zombies being less active in The Walking Dead compared to those in Night and Dawn. I think it is interesting that the zombies in Romero's films were relentless in their voracious attacks on their prey. In The Walking Dead, there is a scene where Rick and Shane are hunting, and they come across a zombie feeding on a deer. If this was a Romero film, it is highly likely that the zombie would forget the deer and reach for the living humans. However in The Walking Dead this is not the case. The zombie simply looks up and sees the men then continues his meal of a deer. I am curious to know why the writers of the comic chose to do this. Would it have made for a better or more exciting story/scene had the zombie decided to attack Rick and Shane?
DeleteI feel that because this is a Graphic Novel, the authors do not have to rely heavily on standard literary devices, because their stories are depicted through actual images. This allows the author to focus solely on developing his plot and refining his story.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I think that it is important to note that this graphic novel does not belong to one particular artist, but rather acts as the culmination of different interpretations of Zombies and the apocalypse that soon follows their creation.
For example, Compendium One was written/created by Robert Kirkman so the dialogue relied heavily on his intent to create a solid story. Whereas the images of his story come from the minds of Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard, whose illustrations act as an interpretation of the Author's work.
This mixed-artist-element adds another layer of complexity to the story making for a more dynamic reading experience for the consumer.
This collaboration functions on a similar level with films too, does it not? Even "auteur" filmmakers like Romero require the assistance of other professionals to bring the visual aspect of their stories to life. Your identification of the ways that Moore and Kirkman worked together to bring story and setting together mirrors, it seems to me, Romero and Savini (the effects producer in *Dawn*)--or is the cooperative venture different from genre to genre?
DeleteI would agree that the co-operative nature of film-making and comic-book writing is the same, but the beauty of the walking dead is that Robert Kirkman CHOSE to hire two separate artists to pencil for his Graphic Novel, instead of himself. Robert Kirkman is a well respected artist within the comic book community (See Marvel Zombies and Haunt) so why not do it himself? The answer is simple, to add an additional layer of complexity to his work, allow different perspectives to come together to create one masterpiece (Like Shakespeare?)
DeleteFurthermore, you were right in asserting that Romero does rely on Savini for special effects, but from my understanding, that's because he HAS to. George had no training in special effects, so naturally he depended on someone else to do it for him.
The magnificence of the walking dead is that the collaboration aspect was purely by choice and design, whereas with Night and Dawn, Romero's vision (the script was written and edited by himself) depended on outside expertise.
Comics aren't as graphic as a movie would be with special effects and blood, so the author chose pictures of wounds and such with tendons showing, and lots of blood coming out so the audience got a feel for how disgusting the actual image would have been. Also there were many puking scenes in the book, which was supposed to set the mood for how gruesome and grotesque the setting was. Althought I usually do not read comics, the images kept me interested simply because of the fact that the small details (such as tears and anger) were so well depicted I felt like a part of the story line. A drawback to reading the comic was the amount of details that were left out, like how did the zombies not kill Rick while he was in the coma. In the tv series the detail is shown, but in the comic, because of limited space and time, we (the audience) were left to imagine it. A difference between Dawn and Night, and the zombies in this comic are their intelligence level. Dawn and Night have zombies that remember things (like the secret entrance in the mall). The zombies in the comic don't have any recollection of their past life.
ReplyDeleteBecause this is a comic, the authors have to tell us how the zombies act and the characters emotions through dialog and pictures. Overall, the speed of the comic is much faster than a movie, but the authors help control the speed of the story through the size of the pictures and also the amount of dialog being spoken between the characters. In some parts of the comic, there are multiple pages in a row without dialog, making the scene seem much faster. In others scenes, the characters have multiple lines in one picture.
ReplyDeleteIn both the movies we've watched and the comic, there seems to be an argument about whether or not the characters should stay where they're at or leave. We also see a trend between the government, hospitals, and radios failing, leaving the characters to make their own decisions. In both the movies and the comic the characters decide to stay and someone ends up getting killed. Do you think it was right for them to stay in "The Walking Dead"?
I also noticed the pace of the story was a lot faster than that of the films we watched, and even of many books that I have read. I think that the pages of without dialogue have a certain purpose other than to control the speed. They create dramatic effect and allow the reader to soak up the setting.
DeleteI agree that the issue of displacement for the characters is controversial. To answer your question, I do not think there is a right or wrong choice of whether to stay or go. Ultimately, they are fighting for their life despite the area they are located. On the other hand, the man and his son did chooose a less populated suburban area over the city because he thought their chances of survival would be higher.
The comic cannot have the details and build up in scenes that films have, it just speeds through he story so everything is exaggerated to emphasize mood and the situation. All the images drawn are still very well done and depict grotesque details. Every human in all zombie films and books is trying to escape the current over run city they are in and always tries to stick together.One difference is the zombies aren't even remotely intelligent in the comic like they seem to be in the films. My question is why does every story with zombies only show the breakdown of society and social norms and never the ability of who is left to maintain somewhat normality and societal structure?
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree, there is no detail in the actual words I do still think there is detail. All the detail we need is provided by the pictures. We don't need extra flowery words to paint us a picture because the picture is already there. Of course there are some senses left out in transition to comics. We can't hear what is going on but we still have the onomatopoeias that give us some idea. A comic is never going to fully amount to a film for the simple reason that the technology and special effects we have in movies can't be put into pictures.
DeleteI agree that the comic speeds up the plot but we still have a "build up." If there was no build up, nobody would stay interested long enough to get through the comic.
Having "The Walking Dead" as a comic makes the story line form much faster. The pictures provide detail. In other novels the plot takes longer to come about because much time is spent describing details. Having the pictures right there eliminates having to try to picture the setting. With a visual (the comics) the reader can get a better idea of just how disgusting and grusome the zombies are. I feel that with comics I can better relate and understand the characters. I can see exactly what they see and this helps me feel more "into" the story. The details in the graphics do a great job of drawing one in and keeping one interested.
ReplyDeleteAs for the portrayal of the zombies, they are very much like those in Romero's films. They are slow and only "communicate" by killing and making noise. A slight difference is that Romero's zombies don't seem to be torn up. The blood on their bodies, if there is any, is from ripping apart humans, not from being ripped apart themselves. In the comics many of the zombies were merely left over bones with a little bloody flesh but they were still "alive." Why doesn't Romero have any half bodied zombies laying on the ground? Maybe his idea of a zombie heals once it is turned but it's possible he just doesn't show any immobile zombies in his film because they wouldn't be a part of the action.
Because the graphic novel contains so much detail and imagery in its pictures, it does not require words besides necessary conversations. In this aspect, it makes the read much faster. However, to really grasp the concepts and analyze the images takes actually much longer than expected. That's one difference between graphic novels and movies. In movies the zombies are just thrown at you, never knowing when they are going to pop up or go away. With the graphic novels, you can take your own time to "devour" the images and text. You don't get to see the zombies moving like you do in movies, so the novel allows the reader to imagine how the zombie stumbles along and how fast it can move. Are the zombies in the Walking Dead able to move as fast as Romero's zombies? To me, Romero's moved much faster than expected, making Romero's zombie-image much more frightening than my previous images.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that a novel gives you more detail, yet allows for your imagination to take over the scenes. With a comic book, the time spent on it is different for each person depending on how into the images they want to get. I also agree with you that in a film, you don't have much time to think about what could possibly happen next. Everything is just thrown at you and all you can do is quickly react and wait for the next zombie to pop up.
DeleteA comic can be as graphical as its author allows it to be. Unlike a book, which makes you imagine the setting or picture it is describing, a comic gives you the image of the scene as long with the story. The comic aids the mental image you make in your mind. The comic shows rotting bodies, piled on top of each other. This helps create the mood of the story. This view gives the reader a preview of the elements apparent in the story. This picture shows the reader what he will see. Depending on the level of graphics, the viewer would make his decision on if they'd like the comic. This picture in particular reminds me of the scene in "Dawn" of all the Zombies feeding in a basement of the building in the projects. The zombies portrayed in both stories are similar because they are all feeding on a dead human. The type of acting brings up the question " are zombies capable of having a human conscious, or awareness.?
ReplyDeleteYou pose an interesting question. If zombies do have some sort of human conscious, than what does that say about people in our society? Are people so selfish and demoralized that they would stoop as low as eating other people? It does happen very occasionally, but what would it show about how the dynamic of our society has changed if it started being a common occurrence? And if the transformation into a zombie tears away all human awareness, than where does this former consciousness go? Are people literally just shut off like a light switch or do they slow melt away until they are completely gone, with nothing left but a rotting body and a savage need for destruction?
DeleteReading a zombie story in the form of a comic makes the action feel more fast-paced. When you sweep your eyes from frame to frame, it is similar to watching a show or movie thanks to the detailed illustrations. The graphics portray very exaggerated emotions coming from the characters. This definitely helps the reader to almost feel what the characters are feeling. The illustrator's choice to make the zombies look decayed and fragile with missing body parts really makes them feel like "the walking dead". When comparing this depiction with George Romero's zombies, there seems to be a more comical viewpoint coming from Romero. In Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, the zombies just look dull and gray. You see nuns, businessmen, and even a Buddhist. I feel that Romero has a more comedy/horror take on a zombie apocalypse whereas the writers of The Walking Dead have a more drama/thriller appeal. The quick dialogue in the comic adds to the effect of the drama. The use of short, simple words and phrases, such as "shit" or "Christ" are obvious examples that the scene being shown in that frame is supposed to be dramatic or intense. This forces the reader to move their eyes to the next illustration in order to find out what unfortunate predicament the characters must endure. One question that was raised while reading is why the zombies in the hospital did not choose to devour Rick. If he was still alive, couldn't they smell him? When he goes into the city with Glenn, Rick's theory is that they should swipe guts and intestines all over themselves in order to conceal their differing scents. What is the significance of this?
ReplyDeleteActually, the Buddhist was actually a Hare Krishna! They were a far more familiar sight in the 70s and 80s than they are today.
DeleteThe comic strip The Walking Dead is my favorite read thus far. At first, I didn’t know how I felt about it. I haven’t ever really read any type of comic, so it took a little while to get use to the style. I kept trying to read all the way from left to right, but in actuality you had to go down the entire page on the left side and then move to the right. Aside from the odd set up, I really enjoyed it. What detail was left out in the short dialog was made up for by the facial expressions and background. It is basically a mix between a short novel and a movie. I felt like even though not a lot of information was given, I still had a firm grasp on what was going on. The story moved quickly, but still managed to get all of the points across and add a good amount of character development. Even with a camp containing multiple families, the author still managed to give a background and depth to each of the characters, which is especially impressive given the amount of space and dialog that was used.
ReplyDeleteThe Walking Dead’s take on zombies is very similar to those in Night and Dawn. In all three the zombies are depicted as slow, of some-what low intelligence, cannibalistic, contagious through bites, and they have a tendency to travel in packs. A new development that The Walking Dead added to the mix is the reason for how zombies can tell the difference between other zombies and humans. It has always been a question because it is a common fact (as stated earlier) that zombies aren’t very smart. In the comic, it explains that zombies can distinguish humans from themselves based on smell. Considering that zombies are dead corpses walking around covered in human remains, this makes a lot of sense, and makes me wonder why this hasn’t been thought of or explained before. Another difference is the emotional aspect displayed in The Walking Dead. Neither Night nor Dawn goes into much detail about the past or the other family members of the protagonists. I feel that providing a back-story allows the reader to get more emotionally invested into the story and makes it seem more real. My question is, what happens to the families of the survivors, why didn’t they survive too?
I noticed that in the comics, the pacing of the story moved much faster than that of Dawn and Night. It was easy to follow, but it was also a noticeable change from the typical pace and layout of a movie plot. It is because each character spoke no more than a paragraph that this forced the main points and made the story move faster. The setting was made very clear by the author. I could tell Rick woke up in a hospital because of the detailed drawings. When Rick stumbled out of his room he entered a closed-off door that read "cafeteria".
ReplyDeleteUnlike in a film where the characters are living beings and can act out their roles as a whole, the characters of a comic are only still images. In The Walking Dead comic, the emotions of the characters become evident to us through exaggerated graphics. When Rick saw the rotting zombie woman his facial expression was drawn to give the impression of shock, bewilderment, and sadness. The zombies of this work are a lot more frightening than the zombies of Dawn and Night. The authors do a great job of drawing the zombies as rotting, vicious, and hideous monsters, which leave a greater impression than zombies that look like humans with the exception of a limp and a lost gaze.
I agree with the understated appearance of the zombies in Night and Dawn. The zombies in the Walking Dead are so much scarier and they have a sense terrifying of reality. I can't help but think that if there was an zombie Apocalypse, the zombies in Walking Dead are a perfect example of what they would really look like. I'm sure Romero knew his zombies didn't really look dead and weren't scary at all. Or was he just trying to be funny?
DeleteSince this is a comic, there is a lack in the length of the words. The story is mainly actual pictures, dialogue and onomatopoeia. It is easier to follow and understand. The drawback is that the reader does not get to use their imagination to view the story in their own way. However, I think it is interesting that the author is not also the illustrator so there is two different visions portrayed. Even though the comic is in black and white, I think it adds to the creepy element of zombies. The zombies are very detailed, as opposed to the zombies in Night and Dawn, but drawing something gives more freedom rather than making a movie in the 70s. The zombies are both used in the masses, but that is just like any other zombie story. What I'm confused on was why was Rick left in the hospital in the firs place? I thought maybe that they left him there because they were in an extreme state of emergency, but then why wasn't he bitten then? How did he survive in the hospital all that time?
ReplyDeleteI agree, the simple phrases and pictures makes it alot easier for the reader to understand what is going on. With the pictures and less words,the reader can make up some things on their own while still visualizing the same thing.
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DeleteIn comics the number of scenes on the page controls the pacing. In instances when something exciting or interesting is happening there is more scenes depicted on the page. This makes the reader pick up his or her pace when reading. In instances where background information is being told there are fewer pictures per page. The speech bubbles of the characters contain longer sentences. This variation in the number of slides and the length of the text affect the pacing by impeding the reader to continue to the next page and accelerating reading in action packed scenes. The animations give the work a feel similar to that of a newspaper comic. The graphics do not delve into the effects like a TV show would, however, they bring a humorous aspect to the comic. The Walking Dead comic, compared to Night and Dawn of the Dead are similar in that the zombies are more amusing than horrific. Just as technological limitations prevented Night and Dawn of the Dead to present zombies the way they are today, limitations are seen in comics because the images are not pragmatic with reality. We have discussed that the realism of the zombies is used in Night/Dawn to provide cultural verisimilitude, which are pieces that aim to be “true to life”. The Walking Dead comic differs from Night/Dawn here because the illustrations are not true to life. Do the authors want the piece to be realistic or do they want to create similarity to other horror comics?
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with your comment that comics are limited in showing gory images that truly affect the reader, I think that the zombie portrayal in the Walking Dead comic, although the images are somewhat limited, are quite violent compared to the zombie portrayal in Night and Dawn of the Dead. Night and Dawn of the Dead have a a comical air to them, where The Walking Dead comic has a more serious tone. The zombies in the comic are meant to truly terrify the reader with their disheveled, mangled appearance. Despite the limitations with still images in comics, I feel the zombie portrayal is much more scarier than those portrayed in Night and Dawn of the Living Dead.
DeleteSeeing is believing. The pictures are more detailed and tell the story themself. The story moved alot faster in the comic book as well, and there was alot less dialoge and explanation like there was in the movies. I believe tbe reason for this is because a picture says 1,000 words, and when we see these pictures it allows us to visualize in our mind what is going on, and by seeing the emotion on the faces of the zombies and victims makes things for emotional. The features of the dead were very exaggerated, but this makes more sense because it makes the reader imagine them more as flesh eaters. However, the one difference that surprised me in that the zombies looked more "clean" than I Expected. They had minor spots here and there but by no means look dead, they look more shocking.
ReplyDeleteFebruary 15, 2013 at 12:41 PM
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Seeing is believing. The pictures are more detailed and tell the story themself. The story moved alot faster in the comic book as well, and there was alot less dialoge and explanation like there was in the movies. I believe tbe reason for this is because a picture says 1,000 words, and when we see these pictures it allows us to visualize in our mind what is going on, and by seeing the emotion on the faces of the zombies and victims makes things for emotional. The features of the dead were very exaggerated, but this makes more sense because it makes the reader imagine them more as flesh eaters. However, the one difference that surprised me in that the zombies looked more "clean" than I Expected. They had minor spots here and there but by no means look dead, they look more shocking.
I agree, the zombies in the movie appear much more deathly than in the comic book. I believe that this is because the movies were more for entertainment and to scare people the zombies had to look extremely scary or it would not keep the people watching enthralled. While reading a comic is fun, it is not as entertaining as seeing a movie. Also, much more money is paid to watch a movie than to read a comic so a person expects to be entertained
DeleteThe comic genre of “Walking Dead” affects the pacing and development of the story allowing the story to move much quicker than a television show. Events in the comic seem to occur back to back. The reader has a greater responsibility to “connect the dots” of the story than if they were watching a television show. The drawing of the comic allows the reader to pick up on character emotion. The still images let the reader absorb the emotions and actions of the story at their own pace. The drawings show intense emotions, making it easier for the reader to relate to the characters. The zombies are a very similar to those in Night and Dawn of the Dead, however, the zombies in the comic are much less knowledgeable. The zombies in Night and Dawn appear to be cleverer in their tactics to get to humans, using bricks and rocks to break windows and doors. The zombies in The Walking Dead have no sense of craftiness in their attempts to eat humans, rather, they walk around in a daze until the scent of human interferes their stupor. My question concerning the Walking Dead comic, particularly the part where Rick’s son kills Shane, is at what point do people need to start questioning other people and their motives when one finds themselves in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Do people, besides maybe family, matter anymore? Are they important? Or is the goal of survival the only thing on everyone’s mind?
ReplyDeleteIn the post apocalyptic world portrayed in The Walking Dead all of society has "broken down". The family units are close in the group and they aim to protect themselves from both the living and the dead. This shows a new society within the group instead of focusing on how the previous society fell. The society is now contained in the small group where a "only the strong survive" attitude drives their motives. They are willing to kill to protect their families and loved ones, therefore, survival is the number one priority.
DeleteThe comic version of the Walking Dead gives a much different feel than the movie version. With a movie, the author is able to combine many pictures into a video to help the plot move along. This is a slow process because everything is happening in real time. As opposed to comics, each picture is unique and focuses on a certain point and the words help explain what the author is trying to say. The plot moves along much more quickly because each picture is seen quickly anf the reader moves on to the next one.
ReplyDeleteI would have to disagree with your statement that movies move faster than comics. You say that the reason movies move slowly is because it is a moving picture that happens in real time. I think it is quite the opposite in this case actually. I think that the fact that everything is happening in real time is what makes it a faster paced medium for a narrative. Comics have pictures and words to help tell the story, but there are gaps in between each frame. These gaps call for you to come up with the story in your head which takes time. That is why I disagree with your statement that movies move slower than comics.
DeleteComics have a power over presentation that neither films/television nor novels have. By drawing the story one frame at a time, comics can say a thousand words with a picture as well as direct the story with dialog. Films are in constant motion and some things that the director may have wanted to be seen are missed. Novels paint amazing pictures with words but that leaves the visual imagery to the interpretation of each reader. With comic book authors, they decide what is the most important scenes to the story and the best way to visually communicate the feel and mood of the scene. When Rick peers over the top of a squad car as he is crouches down next to it holding his gun asking for cover, the emotion is captured and be assessed mentally as long as necessary by the reader. With the story proceeding frame by frame, how can the author still capture the scariness of zombies in print? The graphic novel doesn’t have the luxury of the moaning and groaning of zombies with them moving in their creepy stagger. This is done with the actual succession of the images. The way the artists of the graphic novel show rick on his horse with a gun in the background of the image as the zombies are slowly surrounding him makes the reader feel that uncomfortable fear that he feels.
ReplyDeleteReading a comic is definitely very different from reading a book or watching a movie. When you read a book it is all words and the entire story, characters, and settings are left up to your imagination. Reading a book is often slow-paced but really gives you a lot of detail and insight to the story. Watching a movie is the most fast-paced way to experience a story. Everything unfolds very quickly, and since the visuals are all given to you, there is very little room for imagination. What you see is what you get. A comic is somewhere in the middle-ground between reading a book and watching a movie. It is faster than a book because there are oftentimes more pictures than words that help guide you through the story, but there are still gaps in the visuals and words that the reader must fill with there imagination. This makes for an interesting narrative experience where part of the story is presented to you, and you fill in the gaps.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the zombies go in The Walking Dead comic, they are fairly similar to those in Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, with a few subtile differences. The zombies in the comic are very brain dead. They really have no idea what is going on and just throw themselves are the survivors in a way. In Night and Dawn, the zombies at least had some method to their madness. The question I pose is a follows: What do you think the reasoning is behind making the zombies in The Walking Dead comic the way they are? Do they represent a different characteristic of humanity, or something else entirely?
When reading a novel, you get the privilege of knowing every detail of thoughts, scenery, and characters. In movies and comic books you lose a lot of that detail, but you still get the general ideas. I think that when drawing a comic the author has to pick the emotion he/ she wants to portray and make it into a very detailed picture. The pictures are the most important part of the comic book and are only assisted by the short phrases in each box. The time it takes to tell the story in a movie compared to a comic book is subjective. Yes, a movie does have a set time, but a person can take however long they want staring at the comic pictures. In the films Night and Dawn, the zombies are the basic flesh-eating, slow-moving, undead creatures. There isn't much too them except for their constant need to feed on humans. In Walking Dead, the zombies seem to be more preoccupied with other things. For example, when the little zombie girl came into the scene she ignored the man, picked up the teddy bear, and walked away from him. Only when yelled at did she respond and try to attack him. Also, when another zombie was feeding on a deer and noticed humans, it just kept on with its business ignoring any distractions. I find this interesting and my question is why would the writer of Walking Dead decide to incorporate feelings and the ability to overpower zombie instincts?
ReplyDeleteIn the graphic comic boo "The Walking Dead", it is all in black and white, and the pictures tell a visually compelling story. The reader will interpretate the series in the comic book better because of the small, but excellent details it has in the captions as well as the graphic pictures. The show on television is at times hard to follow because so much is goin on and the editors and writers have to fit all into a short 60 minute time frame. Whereas in the comic book, the detailed pictures tell story in a shorter more understandable way because your really getting all of the information from the detailed pictures. Also, the design of the comic book, meaning the black and white theme, makes the reader pay more attention to the in depth meaning of the pictures. On television, half the time the viewer is distracted by the blood and graphic violence in the series and pays less attention to the actual story line. The differences this series has from Night and Dawn is obviously how different the zombies are. The zombies in Night and Dawn do not have the ripped open wounds from bites, and the decomposed look is very understated. In "The Walking Dead" the zombies are more gruesome and deadly looking.
ReplyDeleteWhy would the appearance do the appearance of the zombies change from the understated pale look, with not many wounds are implication of an infectious bite -- to a decomposed corpse looking appearance with very detailed facial features? The mere sight of the zombies in the Walking Dead is terrifying.
After watching the walking dead, it kind of ruined the comic. The comic was good, don’t get me wrong, but it never plays out the way you want it or thought it was going to be play out to be. The comic doesn’t do it any justice. In Night, the zombies could run and doesn’t have hardly any cuts or anything. It’s kind of hard to tell the difference between the zombies and the living. In Dawn the zombies are way more cut up and look just nasty. Also in Dawn when the zombies would eat something or someone it really just grossed me out it was also a lot more graphic.
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