Deputy Rick Grimes thrills viewers weekly in his gore-ridden, narrow escapes from the relentless zombie mobs in The Walking Dead, which gained national attention as AMC’s latest critically acclaimed drama. To be exact, this post-apocalyptic horror TV series shattered the network’s previous premiere ratings highs and earning a second season renewal after its very first episode. Set during a zombie apocalypse, The Walking Dead traces the violent and often short lives of a small cast of human survivors searching of a new home and safe haven from the growing zombie population.
The new essay anthology Triumph of The Walking Dead explores the success of Kirkman’s The Walking Dead with television audiences as well as the show’s beginnings as a comic phenomenon. Veteran editor and award-winning author in the horror genre and comics field, James Lowder collects some of the biggest names in the zombie genre, along with other top horror and comics writers, to discuss the series on both page and screen.
Contents include:
- What makes The Walking Dead so effective as a zombie narrative
- The television show’s surprising optimism
- Rick Grimes as Objectivist hero
- The Walking Dead’s journey from comic to television series
Triumph of The Walking Dead explores the hit AMC television show and comics phenomenon, featuring contributions from an all-star line-up of creators and commentators well-known to zombiephiles.
Contributors to Triumph of The Walking Dead: Jay Bonansinga, Jonathan Maberry, Kim Paffenroth, Lisa Morton, Kyle William Bishop, Craig Fischer, Kenneth Hite, Kay Steiger, Ned Vizzini, Scott Kenemore, Brendan Riley, Arnold T. Blumberg, Vince A. Liaguno, David Hopkins, and Steven Schlozman.
[Editor’s Note: we’ll have a review of Triumph of The Walking Dead in the near future.]
I haven’t read this book, but it sounds great. I think it’s important that everyone know Frank Darabont was the reason the comic book got turned into a hit television series. He spent five trying to find a studio willing to put up the money for the series and seeing that it was done right. He thought he’d found it in AMC. They happily forked over the money and allowed him to make a zombie television series the way it should. In fact, he had nothing but praise for AMC during the first season.
Not so the second season.
Once the executives at AMC saw they had a hit, they quickly decided to cut costs on The Walking Dead by letting Frank Darabont go with no warning and he’d already completed the first couple of shows for the second season. They also demanded more episodes for a lot less money, along with more interior shots because they were cheaper to do on a sound stage. Even worse, the executives thought there be less zombies in the show to cut down on the overhead (actually, they felt the zombies should be heard and not seen).
So far, I haven’t seen any of this discussed anywhere, and I think it’s something all writers and directors should be aware of, if they’re not already. Not all, but certainly a lot of Hollywood executives simply don’t know what they doing and you have to watch your back at all times because they will stick it to you, if it means more money in their pockets.
I think Season One of The Walking Dead was one of the greatest television events of history, and the credit for that clearly belongs on Frank Darabont’s shoulders. He was co-writer of the episodes, do-director, producer, co-editor, selected the person to do the music, selected the fantastic actors to perform in the series, and helped make the show a success in a hundred other ways.
Enough said.
It’s only now viewers are starting to see that the quality of The Walking Dead has dropped considerably. The actors are still giving it their all, but the production values are low and it shows when compared to Season One.