The Walking Dead, Book One (Book 1) [Hardcover]

Robert Kirkman (Author), Tony Moore (Illustrator), Charlie Adlard (Illustrator), Cliff Rathburn (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2006 | Series: The Walking Dead (Book 1)

This hardcover features the first 12 issues of the hit series along with the covers for the issues in one oversized hardcover volume. Perfect for long time fans, new readers and anyone needing a slightly heavy object with which to fend off the walking dead.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Image Comics; 1 edition (July 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582406197
• ISBN-13: 978-1582406190
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 0.8 x 11.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (196 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,862 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Graphic Novels > Horror
  • #17 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Image Comics

More About the Author

Robert Kirkman is a New York Times bestselling author known for being the cultural zeitgeist of the comic book industry. He maintains one prerogative in every undertaking: quality. It is Kirkman's belief that good people who produce good writing and good ideas make comics people love. Kirkman was recently made partner at Image Comics, and continues to revive the industry with refreshing new characters. AMC is adapting his bestselling series, The Walking Dead, into a TV series (set to debut in October 2010), and his books are among the most popular on the iPhone and iPad's "Comics" app.

On the web:
skyboundent.com
kirkmania.com
twitter.com/RobertKirkman

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#58 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction

#58 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

144 of 154 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Zombie comic EVER December 31, 2006

By Blake Petit VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

"The Walking Dead" is (as the name somewhat implies) one of those zombie comics that have become so popular as of late. I've read a few of them, and I must say, this one is the best. The opening is actually startlingly similar to the film "28 Days Later" as our hero, a small-town cop, wakes up from a coma to find that the world has been overrun by zombies and everything he knew and loved is missing or outright destroyed. That similar starting point aside, after that the story takes on a really unique flavor for a zombie story. It's not so much about the zombies themselves, but about our hero, the ragtag group of survivors he joins, and how they try to rebuild after the cataclysm.

Yeah, I know that a lot of zombie movies, at least the really good ones, are "commentaries on society" instead of straight horror flicks. That's very true. But every zombie movie has to have an ending. With "The Walking Dead" being an ongoing comic, and therefore open-ended, we get to see facets of life in a "zombie world" that we rarely see in a zombie movie. The comic is almost never about the immediate threat of a zombie attack (in fact, it becomes clear that many living humans are far more dangerous in this new world than zombies are). It's about how people get by after their entire world has been stripped away from them. That means it really runs the gamut of human emotion -- from terror to grief to anger. It's very dark, often painful, frequently moving, and even occasionally funny. It's like real life.

Really, this story would work almost as well in any global catastrophe scenario, from nuclear war to apocalyptic meteor strike. It's about how people survive, not what they're surviving.

52 of 63 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars There's No Place Like Home...Anymore December 19, 2006

By Sky TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Most of the folks here already know that The Walking Dead Book 1 is a compilation of Robert Kirkman's first 12 (Volumes 1 & 2) Walking Dead comic books that, beginning in 2004, picked up on a story that is well know to any zombie movie fan. The main story. The one started in earnest by George Romero in 1968 with Night of the Living Dead and later remade in 1990 (the version that I prefer) by Tom Savini (with Romero oversight).

The Walking Dead begins the story of Police Officer Rick Grimes as he wakes up from a coma--after being shot months ago in a normal world--in a world overrun by The Walking Dead. The beginning of the story starts kind of the way Paul S. Anderson's film adaptation of the popular game Resident Evil (2002) ended...with the lead character waking up from a coma (in Resident Evil after her adventure trying to stop a virus from escaping into the population that creates zombies; and you guessed it...she failed to stop it).

I'm not a regular comic book reader. But I was drawn to this volume compilation because of the convenience of being able to get a full story without the month to month waiting for each issue. And I am now hooked.

I was surprised to see that Tony Moore's art that supported Kirkman's Walking Dead story was all black and white throughout instead of color, but as I said earlier, I don't read a lot of comic books, so perhaps that's standard op.

Book 1 was like reading a screenplay with story boards of a version of Night of the Living Dead that begins simultaneously, but in a different part of the country. Yes, it's kind of a rip-off of a story (stories) already told, but the key is that it's done very very well. The zombies are true to the original Romero creation: slow and stupid as opposed to the 28 Days Later (2002) or 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead fast and thinking zombies.

Book 1 took me under 2 hours to get all the way through, so indeed, it's just like spending the time to watch a film in front of your big screen.

Volumes 3 & 4 are already available individually and the Book 2 compilation of Volumes 3 & 4 is scheduled for January 2007 (my preorder is in!). Volume 5 is also out already and Volume 6 is scheduled for February 2007; I have no info on the release of Book 3 (Volumes 5 & 6 compilation), but I'd guess mid-2007ish.

So anyone in need of a very well done zombie fix that you don't put into your DVD player should absolutely get down with The Walking Dead sickness. Add it to your cart.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars ALL DEAD HERE! December 13, 2006

By Laura Terese Henri VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

In the back of this graphic novel is a letter written by the author and artist. In it he explains his love for zombie movies, but his hate for two words associated with every movie...THE END. He wanted to know what happened afterward, what happened after the helicopter flew away, what did the survivors go through, did they die, did they live where did they go? I have to admit I have this same reaction every time I finish watching a zombie film, I wanted more. For that reason The Walking Dead was created, with an open ended storyline, never ending always flowing.

First of all the book itself is gorgeous black and white with a splash of red, its heavy and you just want to rub your hands all over it because its so smooth. From the opening page, you understand that the artists and the author are true fans of the genre, and that they are talented enough to be able to introduce many characters but still giving personalities and background without confusing the reader or losing them. Drawing zombies, and giving them "life" is a hard thing to do, and they accomplish that feat even in black and white. You cannot see the tinge of rotting green, or the iridescence of the flies on their faces, or the blood when they tear into their victims but you don't need to because in black and white they are even more frightening. I could actually swear that I smelled them coming off the page, lips shrunken back, teeth long and hungry and the primordial need to eat flesh.

The storyline is simple and familiar, but it's so well scripted that it's a whole different spin on the zombie universe all together. Rick wakes up from coma, to find the whole town is deserted but for the walking dead, confused and concerned he goes to find his family but they are gone. A survivor explains to him what he knows, and Rick decided to go to Atlanta because that's where his wife and child would have headed to be with her family. So he gathers some guns, gets into a car and off he goes. I won't go into the rest, because as a graphic novel you have to see it to believe it. I read this in one sitting, slowly absorbing every single detail from to the branches on the trees down to gore flying through the air. Volume 1 does leave you with a "will be continued", but you aren't left feeling gypped at all. I already have Volume 2 on order!