The Comics: Same, Yet Different

[KarateKate]

On 4/2/2014 at 12:13 AM, Omar G. said:

I just finished Books 7, 8 and 9 of the comic, which took me past The Governor storyline but doesn't quite get me to Terminus.  Saw several scenes in the last two or three episodes right from the comic and am actually impressed with how well the TV show modifies/adapts stuff like the Lizzie storyline and Carol's arc (which cuts off much earlier in the comic).

Hoping to be caught up on the comic before the show comes back for S5.

 

On the comic book front, I WANT to read the comic books! But, my oh my, my budget does not support getting back into comic book collection. Issue #1 is available for free from Kindle, but it just leaves me wanting the rest -which aren't free (huh, it's like Amazon planned that, or something...)

[mandolin]

KarateKate, I read the compendiums. They might be cheaper. Also, check your library!

[gischeleman]

Stupid capitalism... ;P

I picked up the comics shortly after the show started, and wait for the periodic compilations to catch up. I am fascinated with what Kirkman (to the extent that he has shaped things in the series) et al have done vs the comics: New characters (Daryl in particular), "Do-overs" (extending Shane's arc to the farm, Carol as bad-ass), what has remained the same (Rick and Michonne, to some extent), and twists on comic stories (Lizzy the psycho, the TV version of the Ben and Billy story- and well done IMO)

I did feel there was a conscious pull to bring the series more in line with the comic's overall arc, though Terminus is a bit of a twist on what they did in the comics, it would appear. I guess we'll see if "Safe Haven" is represented (and all the huge story arcs implied therein), if they head north towards DC at some point. 

[KarateKate]

KarateKate, I read the compendiums. They might be cheaper. Also, check your library!

Two excellent suggestions. Compendiums weren't available on Kindle so I hadn't looked much past it, but didn't think about them being at the library since they're comics. Unless it was as a compendium, which I had checked on. 

Shows what I know.

Checking by author I find they do have them as volumes - just not as issues or compendiums as I had previously checked. 

Thanks for the heads up! Off to request, oh, 20 volumes or so.

[mandolin]

Anyone still keeping up with the comics? The time jump intrigues me, but I saw a synopsis for issue 129 today and I am not loving Rick's actions. I also hope that Magna recognizes Negan, maybe as someone who she had to deal with in the past and kills him versus releasing him as many people are speculating.

 

I've seen many people complain about Carl's new look, and it pains me to admit it, but I'm not loving it.

[Pete Martell]

An article about whether Carol is taking Andrea's comic role.

http://www.hollywood...becoming-741259

[JBody]

I began suspecting that when in the S3 premier Rick said Carol had become a good shot and Andrea was missing (presumed dead).

[feverfew]

An article about whether Carol is taking Andrea's comic role.

http://www.hollywood...becoming-741259

Pete, I think your link is broken - it keeps sending me to the top of this page. (I would love to read that comparison.)

[editorgrrl]

I think the link was meant to be "'Walking Dead': Is Carol Becoming the New Andrea?", a Hollywood Reporter interview with Scott M. Gimple & Robert Kirkman.

Edited October 18, 2014 by editorgrrl

[diebartdie]

I read the monthly issues so I am completely caught up. So the thing that is happening now,

I see this as a logical extension of Lizzie's point of view and

I can't help but wonder, how in the world is Rick going to overcome this? All his previous interactions with bad guys have been people he could understnad because, as brutal as they might've been (especially that fucker Negan), they were still human beings with human reactions and emotions.

This thing, these are people manifesting Lizzie's idea that zombies are people too and they seem only to want to make EVERYONE a zombie, no greater goal than that. There's no way to reason with them, or appease them and even fighting them will be extremely difficult.

Very exciting arc beginning, Im am very intrigued. Spoiler tag for yall that are reading compediums and collections and are not caught up yet.

[Pete Martell]

Thanks. Not sure what happened.

[mandolin]

I have felt in the past that Michonne has some of Comic Andrea's characteristics as well, such as her relationship with Rick. I don't see him with Carol in that way.

 

diebartdie, do you mean

the people wearing the skin suits

? I didn't think they had Lizzie's frame of mind at all, just that they were protecting themselves.

 

[diebartdie]

That is who I am refering to, yes and I'm basing it on what they say and what they are doing.

[mandolin]

Interesting! I need to read the last issue again.

[feverfew]

I think the link was meant to be "'Walking Dead': Is Carol Becoming the New Andrea?", a Hollywood Reporter interview with Scott M. Gimple & Robert Kirkman.

Thank you! Unfortunately that link send me to a "Apologies; we can't find this page right now, but we'd love for you to stay." - maybe the universe reaaally don't want me to read that article *grins*. But I googled the title you provided (thanks!) and found it here.

 

I read the monthly issues so I am completely caught up. So the thing that is happening now,

I see this as a logical extension of Lizzie's point of view and

I can't help but wonder, how in the world is Rick going to overcome this? All his previous interactions with bad guys have been people he could understnad because, as brutal as they might've been (especially that fucker Negan), they were still human beings with human reactions and emotions.

This thing, these are people manifesting Lizzie's idea that zombies are people too and they seem only to want to make EVERYONE a zombie, no greater goal than that. There's no way to reason with them, or appease them and even fighting them will be extremely difficult.

Very exciting arc beginning, Im am very intrigued. Spoiler tag for yall that are reading compediums and collections and are not caught up yet.

I haven't read the lastest isssue, but that sounds a bit like a passage in World War Z by Mel Brooks, which incidentally is the best zombie-post-apocalyptic story I've ever read. 

A sort of "If you can't beat them, join them" attitude?

Edited October 19, 2014 by feverfew

[raven]

So poor Bob is tainted meat; I'm guessing he was bitten under water and that's why he was alone and crying outside the church.  I stopped reading the comics a while back because they got repetitive (different levels of EVVIILL) and liked the show because it was varying from them.  I hope they close out this arc somewhat quickly, thought I look forward to the rest of the termites getting theirs (hopefully!)

[mmecorday]

At least Bob's meat looks more appetizing than poor old Dale's, which looked like cat food.

[Pete Martell]

Panel to screen comparison for tonight's episode.

 

http://www.thewalkingdead.com/episode-502-panel-to-screen-comparison/

[mandolin]

I like that the Comic Hunters got a backstory with the Terminus story. If Bob goes the same way as Dale, he'll live a while and get to reunite at least. And Rick will do horrible, terrible things to Gareth.

[Nutjob]

I like that the Comic Hunters got a backstory with the Terminus story. If Bob goes the same way as Dale, he'll live a while and get to reunite at least. And Rick will do horrible, terrible things to Gareth.

I do hope they let Brutal Rick get his total revenge on Gareth.

Also, I wonder if we're actually going to get Bob yelling, "TAINTED MEAT!!!" Part of me hopes so, but as a character it seems like it might be, well, a bit out of character. Dale had a much more sarcastic sense about him in the comics.

[raven]

I'm on board with Brutal Rick's revenge.  At least if this conforms to the comics it shouldn't take more than another episode (I hope)!  

 

I'm ready for the latest evil psycho to be gone.

[diebartdie]

For real, let's get to the greatest TWD villain ever, Negan. I'm almost 100% certain Gimple was giving and honest answer when he said that guy wasn't Negan but it was also a fake out. There were at least two people that went into the freight car that Mary, Gareth, Alex and screaming young girl were in and I think Negan is who picked screaming young girl as well as slapped Gareth. I think the other guy was the face tattoo guy Glenn and Rick rescued at Terminus. If you look and more importantly LISTEN to the victim picking bad guy, he was carrying a bat and he sounds exactly like Kevin Durand who I think I read here has been tapped to play Negan next season. Perfect mutherfucking choice too!

[raven]

Ugh, another megalomaniac.  I confess I stopped reading at the end of the Negan stuff because it was more of the same but WORSE!  Yay! /sarcasm.

 

I don't want the (TV) group bogged down in another town with another crazy leader.  I know I'm influenced because the Governor on TV went on way past the expiration date.

Edited October 20, 2014 by raven

[diebartdie]

I get that Raven I just thought Negan was an amazing character in the stories so hope to see that on tv IF they can do it right.

[raven]

Sorry diebartdie I know he's a fave, TV Governor scarred me.  I agree if it can be done right it would be great to see.  I'd love view a point of somewhat functional society and how the group reacts to that and how Rick reacts to an established leader.

[mandolin]

I grew tired of Negan. I hated him (as a bad guy, not the idea of him), and when I read issue 100, it actually upset me. I don't think I'm ready for THAT yet. I wish Negan was dead. I don't know how he won't come across too "comic-y."

As I read the issues, I felt there was somewhat of a lull between the hunters and full blown Negan, and I would like to see that on the show some.

[diebartdie]

mandolin, what Negan did was the most horrible thing Kirkman could have had a character do. I DID quit reading for several months I was just gutted by that! The thing is, Negan was the most nuanced bad guy Kirkman has made and I think by that point, he (Kirkman) was so deep into the tv show, working with really good writers and creative people, he had learned how to make such compelling characters. I think the comic has gotten better since the tv show so good for Kirkman! Oh and good for us readers too lol.

[mandolin]

And what's worse, other than showing he is a REALLY BAD GUY, I don't think it necessarily accomplished anything or moved the story forward. All that Maggie has done since then, she could've done had that not happened. In spite of being over Negan at this point, I do kind of wish we knew more about how he came to be. That always interests me. (Moreso than it interests Kirkman I guess).

 

Good point about the comic improving. If only he'd had those writers as he was developing ComicMichonne and before he lopped off Rick's hand (and Carl, well, I guess even the writers couldn't stop that).

[RedheadZombie]

Without too many details, can anyone tell me if the comics SL left Georgia at any point?

[mandolin]

I'm not sure what SL means.

 

Yes, they do leave GA.

Edited October 30, 2014 by mandolin

[Pete Martell]

Storyline.

[mandolin]

Duh, thanks.

[RedheadZombie]

I'm not sure what SL means.

 

Yes, they do leave GA.

 

Thank you.  Do the comics ever address the cause of the ZA?

[mandolin]

No. Kirkman has said he doesn't care about that at all.

Edited November 1, 2014 by mandolin

[RedheadZombie]

No. Kirkman has said he doesn't care about that at all.

 

I wonder if Kirkman does have a theory, but doesn't plan to share it. 

 

I'm not a comic reader, but I've picked up bits and pieces from others.  I'm wondering what the comic fans feel about the baiting the show likes to do with them.   By that I mean the little snippets they deliberately show that may be meaningless to me, but a comic reader recognizes.  Some times I think it can be very successful.  For instance, the intro of Michonne in the season 2 finale.  The comic fans went nuts, and the introduction was completely kick ass, even for non-readers.  Where I find it less successful was the tease of the prison in the finale of that season.  To find in the first episode of season three that they had been roaming like nomads for many months, but still hadn't stumbled upon the prison, seemed a little silly.  I also think the need to introduce the three stooges in the exact pose of an iconic cover was a fail.  Abraham looked like bozo, Rosita looked like a bimbo, and Eugene .....  The tease of the season four trailer of an image that many believed to follow the comic death of Glenn - I'm not sure on that one yet.  It did stir up a lot of talk, but did people feel tricked?

[Pete Martell]

I got the feeling most people felt the Glenn scene was more of a cool homage than a betrayal.

 

There are many parts I'm terrified of the show going near, especially most of Michonne's story. I still remember the fans who insisted not raping Michonne was a terrible choice and would mean fans couldn't sympathize with the character, because she would only be humanized through rape. I'm so glad the show didn't have this mindset. And the Tyreese/Michonne relationship sounds like such a mess, I'm not sorry if we miss this.

 

I think the emotional moments probably work better than the comic fanboy material in adaptation. I thought the Carl and Rick material in "After" was pretty damn close to superb. I was actually surprised to learn how close that was to the comic scenes. The scenes with Rick tearing out the guy's throat also worked so, so well onscreen - far better than I could have imagined.

 

In comparison, the "tainted meat" scenes, while I can see why they were included, felt much more like shock value stuff and not quite true to the situation and characters. I thought the scenes were well-acted and overall worked, but I think it's more suited to a comic world. Looking at the panels of the Hunters massacre, I think the same - they seem to mostly imply the slaughter. Onscreen, what we saw was terrible, but we've seen so much gore that it took a few watches before I had the reaction I was probably supposed to have. 

 

That's why I'm wary of the whole, "We have to have Negan, best villain ever!!!" Does that translate to TV? The Governor never did. And if it had taken chopping off hands, raping, etc. to make him translate to TV, then it wasn't worth it.

[eprime]

I am utterly grateful they didn't recreate the comic version of Michonne's time with the Governor.  I hated reading it. On the screen it would have been unbearable, and it's lazy writing, that idea that the way to make a woman interesting/relatable is to rape her.  It's lazy writing for any character, but it's exactly what happens all the time.  Oh, this man's wife and kids died horribly, Protagonist is so deep and angsty and compelling now!  Degrade this woman, oh she's suffered, now I find her to be a sympathetic character. It's so gross.

 

 

[mandolin]

As far as how things translate from page to screen, I think I am giving the Abe crew a bit more leeway because I have feelings for them from the comics. On the other hand, I think TVEugene is worse than ComicEugene so far. ComicEugene actually had some use.

 

eprime, I'm glad the show didn't recreate what the Gov did to Michonne or what she did to him. Shudder.

 

For me, the Slabtown ep indicates the tv writers might need to stick closer to source material.

[Pete Martell]

For me it mostly depends on the source material. If anything the Slabtown stuff reminds me of comic book type stuff that doesn't quite take off. There's a lot of comic material they haven't done yet which I don't think I want to see onscreen, especially Carl getting shot in the eye, Negan, Glenn's shock value death, etc.

[mandolin]

I definitely could do without seeing Carl's eye, but I think Kirkman would go the same route as he did with Rick's hand...just skip it. I wonder if the show will get rid of Glenn (I am guessing that'd be season 7 or so for Negan's intro), or if someone else will fill in for him. Abraham maybe. I think Negan is a foregone conclusion, though hopefully somewhat different.

Since Noah mentioned Virginia, and with the crew headed to DC, can Aaron be far behind?

[Maverick]

 Noah mentioned he was from Richmond and they had walls there.  Is this going to serve as the TV version of Alexandria?  I know they're not geographically close so I'm not sure why they'd change it unless they think rural Georgia can stand in for Richmond better than a DC suburb.  OTOH, I'm not sure they'll ever leave Georgia permanently.  They could have just as easily done the original KY setting where they filmed but opted to relocate the entire story.

 

 Did Noah say why he and his father were so far away from home, especially since according to him they had relatively safety there?

[editorgrrl]

Did Noah say why he and his father were so far away from home, especially since according to him they had relatively safety there?

Noah and his dad were looking for Noah's uncle (whom I'm hoping is Morgan). They left Noah's mom behind, and he said he wants to return home to her.

[ParadoxLost]

 Noah mentioned he was from Richmond and they had walls there.  Is this going to serve as the TV version of Alexandria?  I know they're not geographically close so I'm not sure why they'd change it unless they think rural Georgia can stand in for Richmond better than a DC suburb.  OTOH, I'm not sure they'll ever leave Georgia permanently.  They could have just as easily done the original KY setting where they filmed but opted to relocate the entire story.

 

 Did Noah say why he and his father were so far away from home, especially since according to him they had relatively safety there?

 

I doubt they'll stop filming in GA because GA is pretty big into giving incentives to getting movies and TV to film.  That doesn't mean they won't have GA double as somewhere else.  I do think if they get close to DC in the show then they will do some location shoots to incorporate zombified DC the way they sometime briefly film in Atlanta.

[mandolin]

I don't know if you consider filming/location information a spoiler, but here is some of that.

I visited the "Woodbury" area a couple times, and they've recently built a ton of stuff there and have permission to film through 2019 I think...? Some crazy number. I definitely think if they do Alexandria it will be there. I think they are in GA for the long haul. I don't do true tv spoilers, but I am okay with shooting info since I live in GA. Check out walkingdeadlocations.com and their twitter for stuff like this.

Edited November 5, 2014 by mandolin

[Morrigan2575]

Can someone explain to me why Abe's family ran away in the flashbacks? I'm assuming it's covered in the comics

[Nashville]

Can someone explain to me why Abe's family ran away in the flashbacks? I'm assuming it's covered in the comics

 

I assumed they were frightened by the image of implied violence in Big Red's blood-covered visage.

 

Further complicating the situation was the fact that Ellen (Abe's wife) was apparently a really unimaginative idiot, if she couldn't comprehend things could be worse than staying with Abraham.

[clady]

In the comics the people they were with in the grocry store raped his wife and daughter so he killed them. I don't think he did it alone in the comic though. But it caused his family to leave and they ended up dead.

[melanie]

I liked the way that Abraham's backstory was revealed in the comics better than in the TV show.  I thought the "confession" to Rick was a really honest moment that bonded them in the comics.  It did not work as well for me in flashbacks.  The real key to why Abraham was so brutal and violent toward these men in the comics is because he knew them quite well before the apocalypse.  It was the first time that he had to face how quickly and how much people change in these situations -- the same lesson that Rick learned with Shane.  

[mandolin]

For me, the comics portion of this was so much better than the show. 

http://www.thewalkingdead.com/episode-505-panel-to-screen-comparison/

 

When ComicAbe had the conversation with Rick, it had a lot of impact, right after Rick had done what he did. I like that ShowRick was with Daryl, but I can see how the non-comic character of Daryl is taking things away here. (as much as I like him)

 

ETA: I wonder if Abe will lose his hand. Kirkman has said he wishes he hadn't done it to Rick in the comics, but I wonder if Abe will heal from his past and lose the reminder that is his hand. 

 

One more edit as I was looking through the comics and saw something I'd forgotten about completely. Maggie trying to hang herself. People mentioned in the ep thread that she's acting kind of off. I sure hope the show doesn't go there. Or with her being pregnant (yet).

 

And there's that herd! 

Edited November 10, 2014 by mandolin

[seltzer3]

Its interesting how even though the episode mirrored a lot of what was in the comics, the tiniest details make a huge difference.

 

In the comics, Abraham and Rosita had sex in an RV, and Eugene was peaking through a window which made Eugene really creepy.  On television it was in the middle of the library in an open space.  Eugene was still creepy, but it made Abraham and Rosita look worse, like they were exhibitionists.

 

I also agree with those about Abraham not telling Rick.  Although that could be later in the series.