Tag Archive: Walking Dead


The Walking Dead Escape – Comic-Con 2012

Filed under: Con Culture, TV — Leave a comment
July 20, 2012

By Jason McClain (@JTorreyMcClain)

Let me start near the end.  I stood amid a sea of at least 200 people at 9 pm on Friday the 13th outside of a Petco Park gate.  Around me were a man dressed as the Eleventh Doctor, a man disguised as a zombie, a man wearing the uniform of someone in special ops, a trio of lovely ladies and many more people in smart running shoes.  The metal gates leading inside opened and we moved into a small area that normally serves as the queue area for a concession stand, and now had a chain-link fence serving as a cage holding back about 20 zombies.  A man struggled and wrestled with two more zombies on a leash.  A bullhorn squawked and a voice advised us to remain calm, as this was a safe zone. One of the zombies on its leash grabbed its handler and started to feed. His zombie sister joined him in his feast.  The chain-link cage opened and zombies poured into our safe zone.  The man on the bullhorn exhorted us all to run and run now.

I became pretty familiar with the words and actions in this first room.  (“We’re with FEMA, we know what we’re doing” was my favorite backhanded political swipe.)  On Friday afternoon, I stood just beyond that first section of “The Walking Dead Escape” in a room with body bags, a couple of closed-circuit TVs showing a continuous loop of zombie disaster scenes and a small, narrow pathway leading to the next part of the course.  A cloud of fog, assuming the breezes flowing through the park did not blow too swiftly in those couple of minutes, met the survivors as they frantically pushed their way inside.  I shambled along in the fog, they found my business casual zombie presence and avoided my reach as I swung around my one good arm and tried to catch people in my grasp.  They screamed and dodged and I became the center of an island of dread with streams of survivors running around both sides of me.  The zombies from the cage would wander in and join me for a little before returning to their posts.

(Full disclosure, as our training instructed us, I figured out that I had my right collarbone snapped when I became infected and could only move my left arm and my head stayed anchored to my shoulder.  I’m a method zombie.  Also, I didn’t try too hard to catch anyone, because if you were trying to avoid the zombie hoard, it would suck to get touched by the first “wild” one you saw.  However, in one of the first batches of people to come through the course, one guy got scared and actually jumped back into my chest, then jumped back the way he came and ran scared as I stifled a laugh while continuing my forward shuffle.  I think that was the only real contact I made.)

Eventually, the zombie horde got bored with just this sample of the carnage and followed the survivors further and further into the course.  We found other places to set ourselves up and give the people running another chance to avoid the undead.  We did anything to prolong the excitement of the chase and to avoid the wait between waves.  When the survivors escaped, we took pictures of each other and I even took the time to sit by a working electrical outlet (you wouldn’t expect that during the apocalypse) and charged my phone.

This reflection on the survivors getting to have all the fun got me to thinking, why shouldn’t I be a survivor?  Why shouldn’t I go back and try my hand at surviving the zombie apocalypse?  So, once I finished my shift, I emerged into the daylight, my makeup fading and my humanity returning.  I found the box office, used my right arm that now worked perfectly to pull out my wallet and I tried to figure out the spookiest time possible.  The last shift in the dark of night on Friday the 13th fit the bill.

Surviving became a blur.  Once I jogged through the first gauntlet, we all piled up behind the first set of obstacles – rope nets and a big slide – and were thinned out so the horde of survivors didn’t overwhelm the horde of zombies and to make the experience more fun. We ran around burned out cars.  We crawled under obstacles and through chain link tunnels. Zombies waited around corners.  Zombies wandered around mazes of construction barriers throughout every level of Petco.

I did perform one heroic deed and I have to thank the zombie for it.  A maze of barriers stood in front of me and about four other survivors.  I darted inside and the lone zombie guard turned toward me, allowing himself to be distracted by middle-aged-man flesh, leaving the path to freedom open for the others.  They ran through without any worry and I managed to escape his grasp.  Three of the survivors, the same trio of lovely young ladies from the beginning of the course, thanked me for my heroism as we continued our escape.  I felt my breast swell from more than just being out of shape and trying to catch my breath.

“The Walking Dead Escape” let me feel like a hero in that small moment.  That’s what made it fit in with Comic-Con so well.  If I may paraphrase the chorus of a David Bowie song, we could all be heroes, just for four days.

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Spring TV season wrap-up–What we are (and aren’t) watching

Filed under: Fantasy Realms, Sci-Fi Café, TV — Leave a comment
May 10, 2012

By the borg.com Writing Staff

As the spring TV season winds down, we thought we’d take a moment to reflect back on this season’s viewing, looking at what ultimately made our “must watch” list, and what didn’t.  Look back to see our reviews, then check out our weekly lineup!

Let’s start with what didn’t make it for us:

  • The Firm.  Although we enjoyed the performances, and the overall series mystery seemed intriguing, the focus on courtroom melodrama bogged this one down.  The fatal moment, though, was an episode in which the Rules of Criminal Procedure were so wildly distorted as to kill any suspension of disbelief.  Note to courtroom drama writers: We’ve all watched twenty years of Law & Order.  You need to step up the writing if you want to succeed.
  • Terra Nova.  This series just lost us.  The pilot was serviceable and showed us the great potential the ideas behind this series had, but episodes quickly devolved into a weak combination of weekly world-destroying strawman threats (yawn) that just felt more and more incredibly contrived, and a confusing (and, IMO, un-needed) effort to create a dark, mysterious, earth-shattering plot with shadowy characters and alignments similar to the epic Lost.  The last two episodes we watched (in January) were literally painful to watch, mainly due to the largely wasted potential that a time-traveling colony in the Cretaceous era. WeI’ve heard that the last few episodes in this season showed promise, but we won’t be tuning in unless we hear some positive buzz on the show once it starts again in the fall.
  • The Killing.  This is the only show that Jason can remember where he actively rooted against it succeeding.  The first season treated viewers with such contempt for their intelligence, after a promising pilot and first couple of episodes, and that means any resolutions for the plot or characters are unimportant.

Hanging on by a Thread:

  • Once Upon a Time.  This one is still nabbed weekly by our DVR, but we missed a couple of episodes during the holidays and never bothered to get caught up again.  There was nothing really wrong with it; we were enjoying it–but other series (see below) bumped it from the tight nightly schedule.
  • Ringer.  See OUAT, above.  The ongoing soap opera gained momentum after the midseason, but ultimately fell victim to things that held our attention a little bit more.  Escalating outrageousness and cringe-inducing (in a good way!) plot twists raised the stakes for the series, so this one deserves a marathon to get caught up.
  • Falling Skies.  Our review of this summer series here at borg.com remains unchanged; we saw great potential, and though the series had its issues, it also had its positive aspects, and we’ll be tuning in this summer when episodes resume on TNT on June 17th at 9pm Eastern Time.  Hopefully the second season comes out with a bang and delivers on this series’ massive potential.  And you can catch a promising glimpse of the season opener here.
  • 30 Rock.  One of the favorites of past years, it isn’t at the top of viewing lists anymore, though if the episode focus is on Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy, it can still be magic.  Because it only streams on his computer, it is tough for Jason to watch now.

So, what are the big winners this season at borg.com?

Lost Girl.  We are loving this lighthearted adult urban fantasy!  Satisfying world building based in European fairy lore combines with strong performances by the supporting cast to make this a weekly guilty pleasure.  It’s like Buffy for grownups–what Angel was trying to be, only done right.

Awake.  Launched in the same Thursday night time slot as The Firm, (which also hosted another fine debut series, Prime Suspect), this paranormal crime drama only gets better.  Jason Isaacs makes a compelling lead, and the series writers have wisely increased the genre stakes for the series, giving it extra pull.  They’re teasing the paranormal plot out very slowly, but when the moments hit, they pack a wallop.  We’re looking forward to seeing the mystery build.

Grimm.  Elizabeth’s personal favorite this season!  After a compelling pilot, this series has taken a while to get going.  But, as with Awake, they’re finally starting to really build the ongoing genre plot, adding complications to the established “monster murder of the week” formula.  New characters and a stronger focus on the otherworldly underbelly have given Grimm a much-needed boost, and we were happy to see that it’s been picked up for another season!  Friday nights just haven’t been the same without Chuck.  One thing we’d like to see more of, please: strong women characters.

New Girl.  C.J.’s favorite comedy of the past ten years and favorite series of the year.  He still cannot believe each episode is only a half an hour, since the writers crammed so much into each show.  Zooey Deschanel’s Jess is as put-upon as any classic female comedy lead in the Mary Richards variety, and is as brilliantly funny, smart and zany.  The supporting cast only got better throughout the first season, but the funny stories didn’t really explode with humor until they finally linked-up Max Greenfield’s Schmidt with Hannah Simone’s Cece.

Psych.  Still occupying the top spot in our must-watch lineup, the second half of the Psych season really delivered.  From beginning (the great season re-opener guest starring Cary Elwes) to end (that CLIFFHANGER!), with very few missteps in between (not sure what to make of “Let’s Do-Wop It Again,” with Shawn in the hospital and minus Keenan Thompson), all around, the show’s still got it.

The Walking Dead.  The second season of this series just got better and better, with deeper storylines, clever surprises, and a real aura of uncertainty around favorite characters survivability.  And the season finale was one of the best of the year (Michone!!!).  It’s the one series I simply cannot wait to resume in the fall.

Community.  This is Jason’s only show he will watch in real time.  The characters keep developing and adding depth and when the writers create a personality quirk, it is in service of character and not the story of the week.  He would visit the Greendale campus (and did as a background extra) to see all the characters, but attending Greendale would be the worst decision of his or anyone’s life except for those that want to learn to make a diorama.

House, M.D.  After Dr. Greg House (Hugh Laurie) drove his car into Dr. Cuddy’s home we thought this series was pretty much done for.  We still had doubts that we’d need another season after House’s prison stint.  Then BAM!  This last season is on par with the best of its eight season run, especially because the writers have let Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) be Wilson, Chase (Jesse Spencer) be Chase, and Russian bride-in-name-only Dominika (Karolina Wydra) almost make it as House’s single perfect mate.  Although Charlene Yi and Odette Annable are fine as Drs. Park and Adams, the show still struggles with the one note Cameron/Thirteen replacement role.  We wish we had Amber Tamblyn back.  Although Omar Epps’s Dr. Foreman pretty much vanished, Peter Jacobson’s Dr. Taub continues to amuse to the bitter (?) end.

Fairly Legal.  Although we’ve fallen behind thanks to new diversions like Awake and Lost Girl, the sophomore season of this unusual, lighthearted legal drama continues to entertain. Star Sarah Shahi is cute and engaging (although we liked her better as a cynical cop in Life and as Gus’s adrenaline junkie girlfriend in a guest spot on Psych), even if her harried approach to life gets a little exhausting.  We’re hoping for a bigger role for Gerald McRaney this season.

In Plain Sight.  We’ve let the final season of this solid crime drama get backed up on our DVR, but from what we’ve seen so far, they’re going to round the series out nicely, with the same sharp dialogue and complex relationships that have given this series staying power despite a history of scheduling mishaps.  It’s nice to see Tangie Ambrose (Agent Parmalee) get a stronger role, Tia Carrere is always fun, and all things considered, I think everyone prefers baby Norah to Jinx and Brandi.

Parks and Recreation.  April Ludgate, Andy Dwyer and Ron Swanson continue to be three of the best characters on television.

A few other shows we’re thinking about, but haven’t mentioned here before:

  • Surburgatory. Jason has no clue what makes this interesting.  He laughs and that’s a big part.  The supporting cast (Alan Tudyk (Firefly), Ana Gasteyer and Chris Parnell (SNL) and Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) is just so, goofy and fun. Mostly, it is earnest father and daughter relationship of the two leads, Jeremy Sisto and Jane Levy.
  • Modern Family.  The second season of this award-winning series was side-splitting.  Better than the great comedic actors and fantastic use of the “mockumentary” format is the terrific writing of the scribes behind the show, particularly Jeffery Richman  & creator Steven Levitan. The stories of the three households making up the dysfunctional Modern Family intertwine effortlessly to create the funniest half-hour on network television.
  • CSI (Crime Scene Investigation).  After a dozen seasons in the bag and numerous cast changes, CSI could easily be slipping off of most people’s radar, especially with the mid-season exit of long-time favorite Marg Helgenberger.  And though it will never likely recover the viewership it enjoyed when William Peterson was on the cast, the new additions of Ted Danson and Elisabeth Shue has been a breath of creative fresh air.  After missteps with recently departed cast, especially the badly conceived Dr. Ray Langston character portrayed by the excellent Lawrence Fishburne, the series seems to be back on an even keel and cranking out the crafty, clever alternative plotlines to the rote procedurals currently on the air everywhere else. Amen.
  • Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23.  Only four episodes in, but having James Van Der Beek play a cartoon version of himself, keeps paying funny dividends.  If that lasts, this will be a keeper.
  • Mad Men.  Jason got rid of his cable and finding this show in a legal manner can be tough, but he knows it is worth it.
  • Archer.  Jason says, “Give me the voice of H. Jon Benjamin in crazy spy situations or give me death!”
  • Bob’s Burgers.  Jason says, “Give me the voice of H. Jon Benjamin in crazy burger joint situations or give me death!”
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The Walking Dead Season 2 is a Wrap

Filed under: Comics & Books, Fantasy Realms, TV — Leave a comment
March 20, 2012

By Art Schmidt

Season 2 of AMC’s series The Walking Dead aired its Season 2 finale on Sunday night, and as the final seconds of the show slipped away all too quickly, I heard a distinct shout of fanboy jubilation erupt across the world.

“Michonne!!!”

I know I said it aloud, and from the way my wife eyed me, I likely said it a bit too loudly.  Almost as loud as I shouted ‘Ding-dong, Shane is dead!’ last week.

(I’ll save the spoilers until the end)

To start, let’s go back one week before the finale.  The climax from last week’s episode was Shane’s double-death.  His half-baked plan to get rid of Rick unraveled and although he had the chance to off his former friend, Rick got the upper-hand and knifed him in the gut.  Then Shane re-animated (!) and Rick’s son Carl overcame his man crush on the bastard (seeing a shambling zombie coming to eat your intestines will do that to a kid) and Carl put Shane down for good, his first kill of any kind in the show.

Afterward, for every online post echoing my sentiments (Ding-dong, Shane is dead!), there was one decrying the drastic mistake the show’s producers had made in killing off what they claim was the show’s greatest source of struggle and drama.  That is the struggle for the soul of the group between Rick, the thoughtful moralist, and Shane, the ruthless survivalist.  I never liked Shane, even the few times he was able to justify his self-centered motivations.  Killing innocent people to stay alive is no way to live, regardless of the circumstances.  And his obsession with Lori and Carl was unhealthy for everyone.  Admittedly, it did make for some good drama, and perhaps the writers will need to work a bit harder to continue the great story-telling they’ve accomplished over two short seasons.

But that was never the deal-breaker between me and Shane.  Not really.  And although I’ve read the comics and was happy with his very early demise in them, it wasn’t really that, either.  He died in the comics, he lived in the TV series, no biggie.  I’m glad the two are different; otherwise I probably wouldn’t enjoy the show very much.  No, Shane bothered me for a different reason, and shortly before he was killed last week, I finally put my finger on it.

They couldn’t leave.  Herschel’s farm was a great place to find and explore, but they’ve been there waaay too long.  The group needed to move on, even if not in the way they did in the comics (and boy, was the finale different, huzzah!)  No, somehow the turmoil between Rick and Shane had to be resolved before they could leave the farm.  It just had to.  No way could they leave, when the split leadership wanted to go in different directions, take on different goals, and treat its members differently.  Shane’s survival was blocking the storyline from progressing forward.

Maybe that was just how it felt, but to me that’s how it was.  Shane was a story bottleneck, and he had to be ‘resolved’.  And bless his black little heart, he wasn’t going to turn over a new leaf (as much as he claimed to be able to do so), he was never, ever going to accept Rick as the leader, and he wasn’t going to budge from that farm, no sir.  In a way, his self-centered ‘survival of the fittest’ mantra was as short-sighted as Herschel’s ‘keep on keepin’ on’ belief.  Both thought they could command the farm and its environs to keep them safe from the outside world, and both were wrong.  Dead wrong.

So I’m glad that Shane is gone, aside even from my dislike of the character.  Now the group can leave the farm and move on to bigger and better things.

Side Note:  Shane actor John Bernthal is starring in The Walking Dead developer Frank Darabont’s new television series L.A. Noir, and I wish him all the best!  It’s his great acting that made Shane credible and gave the character such a deep impact.  In a lesser actor’s hands, Shane Walsh would have been a stereotypical loud-mouthed jerk and dragged the show down.  Good luck in L.A. John!  L.A. Noir is being developed for TNT based on the novel by John Buntin.

So with Shane dead and a herd of walkers shambling toward the farm, the penultimate episode left us hanging from the proverbial cliff, dangling by one hand and hoping that the season finale would come along like a knight in shining armor and rescue us from both our breathless expectations and our fear of disappointment.

And boy, did it.

The finale was everything a fan of any television series could ask for.  Well, it could have been two hours long, but that’s really just picking nits.

It was exciting and revelatory and hopeful and well-written and gruesome in all the right ways.  Producer Robert Kirkman had promised character deaths in the season finale, and while none were as surprising as the previous episodes’ offing of both Shane and Dale (Oh, Dale!  Oh, why Dale?!?), the episode certainly did not disappoint.

Ok, I’m done with the non-spoiler portion of this article; here come the GOODS!!!

I’m glad in particular about the exit of Herschel’s son-in-law (?) Jimmy, who never said two words in two episodes and was always in the background waiting to be told what to do in any given situation.  The character was a can of walker spam all season long.

And I’m glad T-Dog survived as well.  It’s bothered me all season that he hasn’t had more to do or say, and hopefully he’ll have more of an active role in the group in Season 3.  His scene with Lori in the truck, while short, was great and shows the ongoing turmoil with the daily choices all of the characters in this upside-down world are forced to make again and again.  Long live the T!

Same for Daryl, though of course there was no real chance of him being killed off.  For one thing, I’m convinced that Daryl could kill ten walkers with his bare hands, using only one finger for each.  I hope that with the exits of Shane and Dale, both of these characters have more up-front time in episodes to come.

And speaking of episodes to come, how about the fade-out shot of the area surrounding the group, with the large ‘facility’ in the background?  Fans of the comics will know what it is, but I won’t spoil it for non-readers here.  Suffice to say, that’s where the group is headed, and there is all sorts of interesting stuff awaiting them when they get there.

And then there’s Michonne.  She’s the bad-ass character every fan of the comic series has been waiting for, the figure in the hooded robe.  Michonne finally slipped in like a ghost and announced herself with a near-silent swish of her samurai blade, saving Andrea in the process.

But of all the big ‘reveals’ (as they are called) in this episode, the departure from the farm, the appearance of Michonne, the glimpse of the large ‘facility’ where Season 3 will take them, I think the most important and interesting piece from the finale is Rick’s speech at the end, in the little encampment “Beside the Dying Fire” (the title of the episode).

Full of regret at being betrayed by and then having to kill his best friend Shane, wracked by the frustration of losing people to walkers even in the relative safety of Herschel’s farm, frightened of the desperate situation the group suddenly finds itself in, and bitter about the apparent rebuke of his own wife, Rick blows up.  He never asked to be the leader of the group, a point he’s made more than once in the past, but people keep looking to him for leadership.  But when things go poorly, he gets the disappointed looks and feels the whispered judgments of everyone around him, his wife and son included.

As next season unfolds, it is likely that Rick’s speech will prove not only to be a critical turning point for the show, with his declaration that “if you choose to stay, this isn’t a democracy anymore!”  It will also be the highlight of the first two seasons, a definitive climax for the first chapter in this awesome, complicated, engrossing story.  Rick tried to keep the peace, tried to give everyone a voice, and tried to mend every broken fence he came across.  And from almost everyone, the only thing he’s gotten in return is grief for the less-than-perfect outcomes and second-guesses at most of his decisions.  Rick Grimes tried to live in the past, as did everyone else.  Much as Herschel tried to mold the environment of the farm into an echo of the former world, so too did Rick try to mold the group into a democracy despite the fall of any discernible civilization around them.

Finally, fed up with trying to do things the old world way, Rick is adapting to the new world around him at last.  In a way, some of Shane’s constant rambling about the necessities of this walker world have rubbed off on him, though not in the way Shane had always hoped.  Rick still values the lives of the group members, and he still wants to keep them all safe, unlike Shane.  However, similar to Shane, Rick no longer values the group’s individual opinions on the best way to get that done.

“Maybe you people can do better without me,” Rick snarls while gesturing with a loaded pistol.  “Go ahead.  There’s the door.  Send me a postcard.”

LOVE IT!!!

I think the most support for Rick’s new attitude came from the most unlikely but perhaps most appropriate member of the group.  When Carol asks Daryl “Does this sound right to you?” Daryl’s mumbled response sums everything up entirely.

“Rick’s always done right by me.”

The rest of the group should sit up and pay attention.  Daryl, the most level-headed and best suited of everyone to survive in this new walker world, Shane and Rick included, is right on the money.

And so was the Season 2 finale.  Bravo!

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The Walking Dead are in full sprint

Filed under: Fantasy Realms, TV — Leave a comment
November 8, 2011

By Art Schmidt

(with spoilers)

“This program contains violent content which may be too intense for some viewers.  Viewer discretion is advised.”  I look forward to those words every Sunday evening.  Violent content?  Very.  Too intense?  Sure, for some viewers.  Discretion is advised?  Yes, very well advised.

Season 2 of AMC’s adaptation of the long-running independent comic book series started on October 16th, in time to present us with the first three episodes prior to Halloween, and what a fine All Hallow’s Eve treat it has been!  AMC’s initial season of six episodes whetted viewer’s appetites (and broke cable network records in the coveted 18-49 male demographic) with a small group of people struggling to survive amidst a world devastated by a Zombie Apocalypse of unknown origin.  Most of them are strangers, thrown together by circumstance and luck (good or bad).  And the word ‘zombie’ is never used; George Romero never existed in the world of The Walking Dead, the undead are called ‘Walkers’ by the few living people who remain.

The group’s reluctant leader is Rick Grimes, a small town sheriff played by Andrew Lincoln (Strike Back television series, Moonshot, Love Actually) who was shot by a burglar in the pre-walker world and woke up weeks later in an empty hospital surrounded by both the dead and the undead.  He fights his way through walkers, sickness, and near starvation to find his family still alive and on the road to Atlanta to try to find answers at the Centers for Disease Control there.

Rick’s family consists of his wife Lori Grimes, played by Sarah Wayne Callies (Prison Break, The Celestine Prophecy, Tarzan television series) and their son Carl.  Rick’s deputy Shane Walsh (Ron Bernthal–The Pacific, World Trade Center) is another member of the group, who possibly left Rick for dead in the hospital, had an affair with his wife Lori, and resents his friend Rick for returning and taking his family back.  In the comics, Shane is killed off very early on while attempting to move Rick back out of the way.  In the television series, however, Shane doesn’t try such a bold move and instead survives with the group until at least the current episode.  Which makes for some extremely compelling television, walkers or no.

Among the other members of their group are Andrea, a woman who loses her sister to a walker’s bite in the first season, which results in the return of the victim to a state of undeath as a walker; Dale, a middle-aged man in a Winnebago who treats Andrea like a daughter at times, and at other times like a dear friend, neither of which Andrea is receptive to.  Then there’s Daryl, the redneck racist with a crossbow whose brother Rick left handcuffed to a pipe atop a building in downtown Atlanta; Daryl doesn’t hold a grudge, though, and actually turns out to be one of the most able, dependable people around.  Especially when it comes time to perform an autopsy on a walker who they suspect of eating someone’s daughter.

Yeah, folks, this show is serious.

Writer, director and developer Frank Darabount (Shawshank Redemption, The Mist (2007), The Green Mile) joked that the show was about killing zombies, and boy was he right.  From Daryl’s crossbow and its dwindling supply of arrows to a cache of large bladed tools that Carl finds in a dead farmer’s truck to the various rifles, pistols, and rocks the group has at hand (yep, rocks), this show doesn’t hold back.  The walkers of The Walking Dead aren’t slow, shambling zombies from the black-and-white days of the original Dawn of the Dead, nor are they the super-fast raging nightmares from 28 Days Later.  They fall somewhere in between, fast enough to catch you if you trip, but not fast enough to over-run you in a sprint.  And boy, do they look real.  And really, really creepy.

The Walking Dead, which won the 2011 Saturn Award for ‘Best Television Presentation’ from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films and the 2010 AFI Awards trophy for ‘TV Program of the Year’, doesn’t skimp on special effects when it comes to the walkers.  Great detail is put into each and every undead monster who crosses the screen, and there are plenty of them.  The walkers apparently move in herds, or large groups, and migrate from place to place when the food supply (both people and animals) dwindles.  The walkers will apparently eat each other, as well, though they only crave living (i.e. moving) flesh, and do not eat the truly, really dead.

The series is just getting better and better, and the writers have thus far shown a flair for the dramatic and unexpected, for pushing the envelope on the genre, and for using the walkers as metaphors and drilling down into the lives of the living people on the screen.  Even in a group so small, against so much adversity, and in such dire circumstances, there is in-fighting, jealously, betrayal, and, sometimes, even a little bit of justice.

The comic on which the series is based (but by no means follows), began in 2003 and is written by Robert Kirkman who is also on the writing staff for the television series.  Currently moving its way toward Issue #90, the series is published by Image Comics.  Issues 1-48 have been compiled together in a massive volume The Walking Dead: Compendium One which weighs in at almost eleven-hundred pages of raw Zombie Apocalypse mayhem.  Excuse me, Walker Apocalypse. 🙂

AMC just renewed The Walking Dead for a third season, which will hopefully expand it beyond the current expected second season run of only twelve episodes.

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