I am hereby calling this past 30 days the Winter of my Discontent. First a bad chest cold, then the flu. Ugh.
But taking a day off work for the flu meant finally catching up on The Walking Dead via Netflix.
I’m not saying this comic is what actually happened. But I suspect there’s SOME grain of truth in it. Put simply: Mel and I were HUGE fans of TWD for YEARS before we saw, at Comic Con a few years back, that AMC was making a series of it. And we were overjoyed, but we also suspected that, well, the actual comic couldn’t possibly be shown on AMC. No way. The censors would shit bricks.
Guess what? If you really like TWD, the TV series, then once it’s done, go ahead nad grab TWD, the original graphic novel series. Don’t worry about the TV show spoiling it for you, because the TV show has not a god damned thing to do with the comics. Nothing. It starts out similar, which I still maintain is pure coincidence, and then everything goes all over the fucking place. The TV show is the PBS version of Kirkman’s story, as presented by Steve and Blue. The comics are…. darker.
“The problem with making movies* as an art is that it’s a business. The problem with making movies as a business is that it’s an art.”
* Or a TV show.
I think I owe you thanks in advance for saving me the time of reading the Graphic Novels AND watching the Series. I was less than impressed with the one episode I’ve seen after hearing all the hype and raving, and I’m also curious about the increased level of discontent I’m seeing about the series lately.
Last couple of episodes have (in my mind) made up for a lot of the beginning of the season. I’m actually really pleased that the show is so much different; it bugs me when a live action version follows a comic or whatever really closely but then has weird random things that are ‘wrong’. I’d much rather see a re-imagining. I have this problem with a lot of anime/manga.
Everyone is going to have a different opinion, but despite hating most of the cast (characters) for the first two seasons, I dig the apocalyptic survival aspect so I stuck with it. Season 3 made up for that, season four started slow but I think it has gotten better. it’s a weird way to endorse a show (“just bear with the first… two… seasons…”) but somehow it was bearable for me.
Probably because Darryl.
Dude, real talk? No spoilers, but the most recent episode was EASILY the best so far for me.
The endorsement form you highlighted in parentheses seems to be the prevalent one.
Oh go for the graphic novels. If anything, if they suck, you can use the pages as a trendy gift wrap.
As for the series – Darryl, the guy not even in the comic, now brings in the fans. They actually let him morph and adapt and mature. Of course out of the entire series I’ve seen 6 episodes. I think. Darryl actually spawned his own video game – which was not as good as it could have been because they rushed it. It either should have gone more FallOut 3 or more Organ Trail – it was that level of straddle, I hear.
Seriously. I just read the newest graphic novel collection, and the comics version STILL has me rapt.
Oh please. Daryl is nothing like Sawyer.
Probably referring to Daddy Issues…
TBH the 2nd season of the walking dead basically turned it into a shitty drama in my eyes. Never got past the first half of the 3rd series. Rick just turned into the one character i didn’t want him to be.
I’ve read a fair chunk of the graphic novels, up to and a little past the prison storyline. I’ve also watched all of the show and there was only one change I was really upset with. Slight spoilers, but they changed who kills Shane, which took one of the most brutal, incredible moments of the comic book and watered it down immensely. Other than that though I’ve enjoyed the show. Yes, they’ve changed characters and added others, but I think they’ve managed to capture the overall tone of the series. Have they been forced to roll back on the brutality a bit? Sure, but that’s just what happens when you convert a relatively unmoderated medium like graphic novels to a highly scrutinized one like television.
This is where I get my frilly pink thong in a knot on my butthole:
I’m a fan of the graphic novels BECAUSE they are raw, brutal, and bleak. I knew, going into the TV show, that [SPOILERS, STOP READING NOW] there was NO GODDAMN WAY they were going to do justice by the books. In the graphic novel, The Governor is a long-haired biker type, who chops Rick’s hand off the moment they meet, then ties up Michonne and rapes her inside out. He eventually gets killed by one of his own crew after he launches an assault on the Prison camp, and tricks one of his members into shooting Laurie in the back, blowing away her and the baby she’s carrying. Most of Rick’s group DIES in that altercation, and he and Carl barely escape with their lives.
But in the TV show, we gotta have Darryl, and Carl being all badass, and Rick being a pussy.
I’m still watching, but I maintain that this TV show DID NOT do right by the visceral nature of the graphic novels.
Shades of “Dexter”, books and series. Book 1 and Season 1 VERY loosely parallel each other. After that, not so much.
I have a hard time watching it. Too often I find myself yelling at the TV because of something stupid one of the characters did just to sell a scene
Well… Tolkein said, “Everything after Beowulf is derivative.” So the tv show is different than the comics. And? I guarantee you this… if someone came along and produced a perfect replica of the comic story, some choad would bitch that he already read that story. LOL If you made a perfect food that cost $1 a day, gave perfect nutrition, tasted awesome, made you maintain your perfect body fat percentage, and made you shit gold nuggets, SOMEONE would bitch that they’re allergic to gold. Or… you can’t please all of the people all of the time. 🙂
I actually like the show(*ducks*). But then I haven’t read the graphic novel. I intend on reading it AFTER the series ends. It’s kinda like when I watched The Shining before I read the book. I loved the movie, and loved the book, and one didn’t ruin the other for me. BUT… reading Hannibal, before watching the movie…. GAH!!! That ENDING!!!
I’ve only read a couple of issues but I accidentally read some spoilers so ended up reading the summaries. I like the show too, I was just aware enough of the differences that I don’t consider them really the same thing 😛
Same thing with the Longmire TV Show. Avoid it if you’ve read the novels, but if you see the TV first, Boy Howdy go read the books and be prepared to be Gobsmacked.
Dunno man, Kirkman’s been heavily involved in the creation of the show since s1. You catch his AMA yesterday?
Ah, so The Walking Dead show is similar to the Wizard of Earthsea show, or the Percy Jackson movie. Or the I, Robot movie. Or the Eragon movie. I could go on… (The first two aren’t worth the time. The last two aren’t bad, they just…aren’t the books.)
I wanted to be a fan… I really did. Season One was pretty good… I had an extra layer of spooky because I was living in Atlanta at the time and I recognized a fair bit of the exterior shots. But the first half of the second season was a deal breaker for me. They tried to do slow suspenseful character development and frankly, they dropped the ball.
Not to mention the scatter shot nature of the production. Split seasons, no rhyme or reason to when the next half is coming out. It’s a very British way of producing TV… but I’m sorry, Walking Dead isn’t quite good enough to justify the teasing production schedule and the hype around it.
Especially when there is a better “zombie” show out there. It’s an Audio Drama called We’re Alive. Like oldy-time radio you ask? Yep, it sure is. Full sound stage, foley, original music and incredible actors and actresses. Its released free as a podcast. Also in its fourth season, there are (so far) 43 one hour chapters to listen to if media binging is your thing. The final episode is this summer, so you better hurry.
I suppose it should be noted that We’re Alive predates the Walking Dead TV show by about a year and a half… but was pitched to the networks at about the same time. The creator wanted this show to get made and chose audio as a format to get it done.
Why Walking Dead was chosen over We’re Alive… I’ll never understand.
(Just Google it, providing a link might be seen even more as spam. I’m just a fan and I wanted to share.)
You think that’s bad, you should watch Wanted (the shitty Shia Ladouche movie) then read the GN. You won’t recognize it since the GN is waayyy darker and so much better written. So much so in fact they’re thinking of redoing the movie.
Well to be Frank (hur hur hur) he only was involved in the first season. They canned him after that and apparently still haven’t paid him a dime last I heard on the Intarwebz.
I watched Frank’s “Mob City” and … omg. That was awesome. I love this quote about the show:
Rotten Tomatoes gave the series 65% based on 46 reviews; the website’s consensus states, “Frank Darabont’s love letter to classic noir, Mob City, is like a gorgeous gangster moll; its facade feels a bit too familiar, but everything’s in the right place and it’s stunning to look at”.
Despite it airing in Dec – I still have it on DVR. Do not read any synopsis. I love how this kept me guessing.
He did an AMA on reddit just this week, he still writes the show.
Wha-? What the heck with all this “Frank Darabont Sues AMC Over ‘Walking Dead’ Profits” articles from Dec?
Sheesh. Thanks, Dack. (^_^)
TWD…. so stupid I wouldn’t even watch it if I was deployed….
See, the thing about good fiction is that it has to be plausible. Bad science, bad acting, bad gun handling, incompetent characters, survival ‘skills’ that would have had them all dead in two weeks… there’s just no reason to watch this.
John Ringo’s new ZA series is far more entertaining, BECAUSE HE DOESN’T ASSUME I’M A F#@$ING UNEDUCATED SUB-MORON.
Yeah, but being John Ringo, he assumes all women are hookers and fair maidens in distress.
Yeah, but being John Ringo, he assumes all women are hookers and fair maidens in distress.
Comment ¬ Um…… his deadliest character next to the Kildar is a bad ass woman assassin…..who “happens” to be a former hooker, now secret agent. His other female characters are competent military people. AND he has his harem……. So the characters run the gamut from hooker that are fair maidens in distress to fair maidens that will cut your throat for looking at them wrong.
The best part of that series was the amusingly sarcastic review I read on the internet.
Oh John Ringo no!
I don’t think that “review” was sarcastic. It was by another author.
“The Walking Dead” TV series isn’t as dissimilar from the comics as the “World War Z” movie is dissimilar from the book.
glad you’re finally feeling better.
I remember a Phil Foglio thing about selling your work to Hollywood. I wish I could remember where; it might even have been print. I wish I could remember when. I might then be able to remember enough to find it. Instructions included: do NOT enter California; have them toss the money across the border; boil the money for at least an hour; do NOT watch the production; ignore EVERYBODY who comments on the production (including “Variety,” critics, publishing colleagues, and friends …. except for those fans who like the production better. KILL them.