I am a bit late to the party regarding The Walking Dead, as I am with many cool things.  I began watching the season 1 of the AMC series in December ’11 and was quickly consumed with it.   By the end of the year I had devoured all six shows.  I remember watching the big zombie attack on the camp while wrapping my kids’ Xmas gifts.  Isn’t that festive?  I eagerly await season 2 on Netflix!

The superb quality of the show prompted me to hunt down the graphic novels.  I just finished the first one and to my delight it was every bit as good as the show.  The show parallels the graphic novel fairly closely but adds a few extra characters.  The show is also quite a bit more grotesque and disgusting partly due to the fact that its in full bloody color and the books are black and white.

Certainly zombie apocalypse fiction is nothing new.  The interesting thing writer Robert Kirkman does with the Walking Dead is create a very character driven story (the human characters not the zombies ) that is done in an epic format.  His plan is to stick with these characters and their plight for the long haul; I couldn’t be happier.   The way this story unfolds, you can’t wait to get more be it on TV or in a graphic novel.

Rick Looking Mighty Stressed

Pick a Side

One thing that occurred to me regarding Kirkman’s post zombie apocalypse world is which side I would rather be on.  Human or zombie?  Being a regular old-fashioned  human would be much more stressful than being a zombie.  You’re literally (meaning figuratively) living in a nightmare.  Who wants that?  You can hardly ever relax.  You’re always on the lookout for zombies.  Everyone is wound up tighter than a crossbow string.  Naturally people start acting a bit weird or worse yet, downright psycho.  You’re always in need of food or wishing you could have a hot shower.  There’s no TV, movies, concerts, internets, or texting.

And perhaps worse yet, your pool of possible friends is significantly smaller.  That includes intimate friends as well of course, as if we weren’t stressed enough already.  The odds of meeting that special someone about as good as finding a warm Big Mac.  Even if you do find your soul-mate among the teeming soulless, they probably aren’t going to be in the mood very often.

Shiftless Zombies

Comparatively, being a zombie is an absolute dream.  You have no responsibility, no To Do list, nothing whatever to worry about.  You can literally (really literally) just lie around all day and do nothing; like a corpse!  The only time you might feel motivated to get off your decaying ass is when you happen to smell some tasty flesh.  But really, you don’t have to worry about food; after all you are already dead.  Truly it’s a stress free life/death.

And friends?  Who need ‘em, you’re one of the walking dead.  Chances are you’re not much of a conversationalist.  You’re perfectly happy stumbling around in a loosely connected horde and just as happy quietly relaxing on your own.  Yes being a zombie is really the dream-like existence most of us would love.  Is sitting around catatonically watching Hawaii Five-O and only lifting your lazy ponderous bulk stuff your gourd with cheese puffs really that much different?  It’s a zombie life for me!

What about you?