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The Walking Dead Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us

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Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead Vol.2 - Miles Behind Us puts together issues 7 through 12 into one collection. The first six issues introduce the reader to the main character of Rick Grimes and his discovery of a world turned upside-down and inside-out as the legions of undead walk and prowl the streets, fields and by-ways. The rest of that first volume reunites Rick with his wife and son and a ragtag bunch of other survivors just looking for a safe place to stay. I loved how Kirkman used the backdrop on a world of the undead to tell a story of survival and how extreme situations can have surprising and lasting effects on those left behind.

In Miles Behind Us, Robert Kirkman's story has a new artist in Charlie Adlard. Adlard's style has a similar look to that of previous artist Tony Moore, but has more of a rough line finished look. Where Moore's pages and panels had a smoother and more cinematic feel to them, Adlard's actually fits the mood and feel of the story Kirkman is writing. I love Moore's work and the gory detail he put in the first issues, but Adlard's just seems to resonate abit more with the subject matter of survival and doing what it takes to survive. There's certain scenes in Miles Behind Us where its hard to tell the difference between the survivors and the zombies. I like this technique in how it shows that the zombies and the survivors may alot more in common after all in relation to the title of the story.

Kirkman introduces in this volume quite abit of new characters to the group Rick is leading as they leave the campground at the outskirts of Atlanta. They've lost three of their numbers in the previous volume. Two of them to the predations of the undead who stumbled into their campground and another to the stress and jealousy that weighed on the mind of one of their own. Miles Behind Us brings in two groups of survivors. One is a father, his daughter and the girl's boyfriend. Tyrese is an interesting character right from the get go and hints of problems with the daughter and boyfriend are gradually doled out to help bring in new conflicts to the group dynamics. The other group is a farmer and his children and some neighbors from down the road. The introduction of Herschel and his family helps in showing how not everyone reacted the same way to the undead crisis. To say that Herschel's reaction and temporary solution to how to handle the undead crisis is a bad idea all-around is an understatement. Hershel's actions helps lead to the biggest sequence event in this volume and how far-reaching its ramifications are. While new characters are introduced some of the people in Rick's group fall by the wayside as their search for a safe place to stay in becomes more and more dangerous and people are lost and/or nearly lost along the way.

I agree with the assertion that The Walking Dead is really not all about the zombies and the gore (it helps that it has them in abundance), but that its about the effects of extreme events and situations on the personality, psyche and behavior of those trying to survive. From the Dale (the oldest) all the way down to Crl (one of the youngest), the survivors are affected right down to their bones with all that has happened to them. Sometimes the result makes each individual stronger and at times it just leads to conflicts and brings out the baser nature of man as an individual.

Miles Behind Us just continues to impress me in how well Kirkman has taken the zombie apocalypse theme and run with it. It's a testament to his writing and imagination that I consider The Walking Dead series as equal to anything Romero has done. I think from fans of zombie and apocalyptic stories that is high praise indeed.

Volume 2 of The Walking Dead collects together Issues 7 through 12 of the popular horror comic, which is arguably one of the very best ones out there. The group, reeling from Shane's breakdown and murder in the previous story arc (read Volume One: Days Gone Bye), accepts Rick as their leader. Knowing that staying on the outskirts of Atlanta is far too dangerous, they climb into Dale's RV and begin searching for someplace safe they can live. Along the way they meet new characters and plenty of zombies. This arc is action packed and a tad convoluted in the character department, but the reader may not want to get too attached to any one character. The Walking Dead remembers one of the most important rules of take-no-prisoners horror, that anyone can die at any moment. This comic has a wonderful sucker punch, author Robert Kirkman simply loves pulling the proverbial rug out from under the stereotypical feet of the reader. This is a great series, highest recommendation.

The first Walking Dead volume was a sensational debut that introduced us to a world overrun by a strange plague that turned the populace into zombies. A group of survivors in the rural Midwest headed to Atlanta thinking things would be better there only to find out that the city was festering grounds for the undead. The survivors set up a camp on the outside limits of the city, waiting their turn and figuring out that if they were close to a major city then at least once the National Guard came to rescue people they would be seen, being close to a major city and all.

In this second volume, the surviving group, resigned that the national guard might be a pipe dream and that no one is coming to save them, decide to leave the campsite near Atlanta and instead hit the road cross-country in their RV in hopes of finding normal civilization or at least a safe place to shelter and start a new life. About 20 miles outside of Atlanta, they stumble upon an abandoned gated community called the Wiltshire Estates. Thinking they have found safety, they clean up the houses and occupy them. But of course, Wiltshire Estates turns out to not be as abandoned as they thought and the place is crawling with Zombies. How will they survive this turn?

The first thing I noticed when opening this second volume is that while creator Robert Kirkman is always still behind the wheels as the writer, the illustrator has changed this second time around, with Tony Moore replaced by the tandem of Charlie Adlard & cliff Rathburn. While the new tandem have consciously drawn in a similar style than their predecessor for continuity, subtle differences can be noticed. Todd’s strength was painting unsettling images and sweeping full-page apocalyptic landscapes. His pictures were epic, atmospheric and chilling. Adlard&Rathburn for the most part make away with this and draw the comic book in the more linear, square-box style of your typical comic book. While I miss Moore’s work and gory images, I do believe the new illustrators have done a commandable job filling in for him.

The absence of Tony Moore-type gore might not be the illustrators’ faults here, for it looks as though writer/creator Robert Kirkman intentionally was trying to focus more on story and character development this time around. Many new characters are introduced. Lori and Rick and their son Carl’s bond is as strong as ever in the face of adversity. And the rest of the survivors are all trying to be as strong as possible given the circumstances. Interestingly enough the physical pairing and mating of the survivors is becoming a prevalent theme in this novel and Kirkman is not afraid to be demonstrative about it. It amuses me how Kirkman is willing to throw in some nudity or obscene cusswords at the most inadvertent moments. When young Glenn finally meets a woman and the way they are so straightforward about what they’re after had me laughing my heart out as I have trouble picturing any kind of woman being so straightforward with a stranger about sexuality as she was.

The relative absence of gore and zombie action in this second volume did little to deter my interest. Really, a volume like this was necessary in order to get us further acquainted with the numerous characters and get us to feel for them and in doing this Kirkman definitely succeeded. I thoroughly enjoyed Volume 2 of this series and am eagerly awaiting the third volume. This is shaping up to be a truly epic series and I have no doubt that Kirkman will return to the gory stuff in volume 3 “safety behind bars” which will involve the survivors holing up in a fenced prison. Can’t wait!

If you enjoyed the first volume of "The Walking Dead", there's no reason to not pick up this second collection. New artist Charlie Adlard's style is more scratchy and jagged than Tony Moore's smoother realistic take on things in volume one, but jagged and scratchy somehow nicely complements the story's frequent edgy jolts. This is the last handful of stories before the characters begin a long stay in an abandoned prison, so enjoy the variety of locales while you can. "The Walking Dead" isn't perfect: the bickering (between characters who have paired off into couples and between many characters in general) can get tiresome, and often there are too many dense speeches even when characters aren't bickering. But for all its faults (and they're relatively minor ones), "The Walking Dead" is nevertheless a bracing, dramatic piece of ongoing horror fiction that's a welcome antidote to usual comics fare.

After reading Volume 1, I knew that Robert Kirkman had his work cut out for him if he was to match the excitement, characterization, and fantastic story in Volume 2. The short answer: He does. Volume 2 takes the characters we've just started getting to know in volume 1 and puts them into new situations, develops them further, and all the while gives us more than enough zombie fighting. It's a great series and Volume 2 is certainly worth picking up.

I'm not a comic guy. I owned exactly zero comics before purchasing volumes 1 and 2 of the Walking Dead. But I had to pick up The Walking Dead because I'm a huge fan of the zombie genre in film & fiction. And I have to say, I was very impressed. The setting is relatively traditional, a Romero-style zombie apocalypse. This gives it a good, comfortable familiarity to a zombie zealot like myself. The difference here, though, is on character development rather than excessive action and gore. Sometimes the conversations run long and I caught myself wondering when the next zombie would show up, but these conversations and interactions between characters are what makes this distinctive among zombie tales. Looking forward to the third volume, since I'm not inclined to buy it issue by issue.

Like many readers, I've been an on again/off again comicbook fan for many years... In the last couple of years (since the year 2000) I've returned to the fold, this time taking advantage of the many top-quality graphic novels out there, and Robert Kirkman's "Walking Dead" was one of the titles most frequently recommended to me since I started this reading spree. It lives up to the hype.

I just finished reading books 1-4, which collect the first twenty-four issues of the comic, and man, I can't wait for book #5 to come out. The series tells the story of a guy named Rick, a small-town cop and self-described Barney Fife who wakes up from a hospital stay to find the world changed around him -- it's zombie time, but zombie time with twist. The twist is that, unlike all the movies and TV shows we've all seen, "The Walking Dead" has a much longer, open-ended story arc -- Kirkman and co. don't have to wrap things up in a tidy, two-hour package, so there is space for the story to unfold at its own pace, with character development that's more prolonged and in-depth than the usual zombie flick allows. By the end of Book 4, the crisis has lasted about a year and Rick and his band of survivors are about twelve strong, having lost about an equal number of family and friends over the course of the story. It's a taut, grim, reflective plot line that keeps your interest and compels you to read. I, for one, hope this isn't just another one of those neat B&W comix that kind of fizzle out, but rather that Kirkman really gets the chance to do what he says he wants to do, and follow Rick's saga as far as he can. Anyway, I'm hooked. As long as he keeps writing this series, I'll be first in line to buy it. [copyright joesixpack @ slipcue.com ]

I've watched and read an unreal amount of zombie movies, comic books and stories and Robert Kirkman has one-upped them all! An amazing tale of survival and chaos.

The Walking Dead is a very mature story that takes a look at topics ignored by many of the other examples of the Zombie Survival Fiction genre. It shows how emotion leads to action in ways that can shock modern readers' sense of stability. It provides an interesting commentary on how thin the veneer of civilization is despite all attempts by the characters to cling to it. It lets the reader experience the loss of structure and provokes thoughts of "what would I do" beyond the typical "raid the gun store, grocery store and head for a cabin in the woods" mentality we've seen before.

The entire series thus far (1-7) has been top notch and a real example of how graphic novels can tackle stories that would take a 600 page novel to cover in detail.

Can you imagine living in a world overrun with Flesh Eaters? With the Living Dead among us, ambling out from those innocent looking farmhouses, barns, county courthouses?

Always having to live on the edge? Always in fear? What would that turn you into, assuming you could survive?

"The Walking Dead Vol 2: Miles Behind Us" is the next collection of comics in Robert Kirkman's ambitious saga of a world gone mad, gone dead, gone insane---and struggling to come back to life.

The story arc that ended in the final, wickedly nasty frame of Volume 1---Shane's lust, madness, betrayal and death---is capped off in the first few pages of Volume 2, with Lori Grimes paying respects---and hatred---to a man who got her out of Kentucky, got her and her son to the outskirts of undead Atlanta intact, and then---to her lights---betrayed her. And came close to killing her husband, trooper Rick Grimes.

Monsters, indeed. And not all of them eat flesh.

The old gang---the survivors anyway, including de facto leader Rick Grimes, his wife Lori, his son Carl, and the rest of the troop---have moved on, first to the Wiltshire Estates, 20 miles south of the dead Atlanta, a luxury subdivision buried by snow, haunted by a few zombies---but defensible.

Or so they think.

Kirkman's story, and his characters, are just as compelling: we add to the simmer and spice of the pot by throwing in former NFL quarterback Tyreese and his "family", and Kirkman lunges into Poe territory by introducing gentleman farmer Herschel and his clan. Farmer Herschel represents respite, sanctuary, nobility, and hope---for a time---but that story arc begs the question, "what's in the Barn". That question gets answered, far too soon.

"Walking Dead Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us" is good---but it's not as tasty as its predecessor. You'll *see* that from the first page: Tony Moore's amazing artwork graces just the cover, with Charlie Adlard taking over the bulk of the artwork and Cliff Rathburn filling in the grey tones. The art, consequently, suffers: it is far less detailed, less suggestive, more amorphous, and far less ominous than the first volume, and that hurts the story as a whole. Please, Kirkman: bring Tony Moore back!

In the end, though, if you want zombies and the Walking Dead who have to fight them and live on in a world where sanity has gone AWOL---then "Walking Dead" is still a satisfying little morsel of gruesome delight.

Dig in.

JSG