Who would you want with you during the zombie apocalypse? Rick vs Daryl - The Walking Dead

 Rick - He's the decision man, he'll get shit done and make choices. Unless he’s imagining that Laurie's watching him, then he's about as useful as a bag of bricks. Or if you put a disconnected phone in front of him, then he’ll start talking into it like a two-year-old trying to get through to Mummy at work. Or if his son's in peril, which the little brat often is. Or if he's riding a horse. Hmm. Despite his history, are we about to see a new Rick? One with compassion and a level head. One that's making the correct decisions for the sake of the group? Or one that has just crippled himself by taking on a coach full of useless people who couldn't collectively fight their way through tissue paper? One thing that could be said for Rick is that he sees the angles. He sees which play needs to be made and he knows how to shoot a gun.  

Daryl - There's a zombie - Bolt in the head - Boom. Want something done, Daryl sorts it out. He didn't even let his liability brother get in the way when the shit hit the fan. But is Daryl a leader? He’s a great team player, but when a decision needs to be made, can he make it? He stood by while Rick lost the plot and he wasn’t man enough to stand up to him. He could learn a thing or two from Hershel about saying what needs to be said.  

So who do you go for? The slightly unstable decision maker or the ever reliable soldier?

I would have to pick Daryl. Let’s be honest, Daryl’s a badass. 

The Walking Dead - Issue One Review

As much as I love Charlie Adlard, and I accept that he is The Walking Dead artist, I have to say, when re-reading this issue, that it’s a shame Tony Moore isn’t a faster artist. Issue one is beautiful - Especially as I’m reading the oversized omnibus version for this review.

Much like 28 days later, this starts with Rick waking up in hospital without the first clue as to what’s happening. The first page shows how he ended up in hospital - he gets shot − and page two is a beautiful full page spread of him waking up. 

Like 28 days later, he’s tired, confused, and weak. He tries to call a nurse but works out pretty quickly that something’s up. 

Robert Kirkman is such a good writer now that it’s interesting to read something he’s written from so long ago. The line ‘Did everyone just take a break at the same time?’ seems like such an unnecessary way to tell the reader that the hospital is deserted. We can already see that. I’m certain that he would edit that out now, George Lucas style, if he could. 

A complaint that is often levelled at TWD is that it’s slow paced. This issue is anything but. Within the first few pages, Rick has been shot, woken up in hospital, seen a zombie, and then walked into a canteen full of zombies. The splash page when he opens the door to the canteen is amazing. 

The next few pages see Rick escape the hospital, find a bike and a rotting corpse that’s still alive, have a breakdown and then ride away. 

He heads home. The detail on these pages is astounding. I wonder if this book would have been as popular if we’d had this level of art throughout but had to be content with 8-10 issues per year?

Rick finds nothing at his home and when he goes out in the garden, Morgan’s son, Duane, knocks him out with a shovel. Introducing other characters this early is a good way to get Rick and the reader up to speed. Rick decides to head to Atlanta to try and find his wife and kid because Morgan tells him that the government advised people to do that.

Before he leaves he gives Morgan a police car and some guns. He then returns to the corpse outside the hospital and kills her. He sheds a tear for her passing and then leaves town.

This is a great issue. The art is beautiful, the story moves at a good clip and it sets up the entire series with minimal exposition. The TV series stayed true to the plot of this issue. 

8 out of 10.    

What Could Bring About the Apocalypse? Part Two - Germ Warfare

While I think germ warfare is very similar to a virus, and is in fact, a virus, the method of delivery is much different. Rather than it accidentally escaping into society, the disease or virus is thrust upon it.

These kind of stories work well, especially when global tension is as high as it is now. With terror attacks featuring predominantly in the media, the possibility of a bomb being 'dirty' seems plausible.

During The Cold War, the paranoia about nuclear war was at an all time high. It could happen at any time. With the memory of the Second World War still fairly fresh in the eighties, the thoughts of more air raids was a very real worry. Raymond Briggs' When The Wind Blows shows how the older generation, who have memories of times of conflict, could possibly react to nuclear war. It's beautifully depressing and well worth reading / watching.

An attack like this could happen while we slept in our beds, or while out shopping with the family. It's this uncertainty that makes it truly terrifying. We could be eating fast food one minute and then melting onto formica tables the next. Cockroaches and every piece of food made by McDonalds would be the only things left in tact.

With The West's insistence on stamping their dominance on the world, and with attacks like September the eleventh and the most recent bombings in Boston, that fear has resurfaced. North Korea have proven that they can send a bomb over to The States, so why not put a little dose of smallpox in it?

We have little control over our government's actions, yet we may have to pay the ultimate price for them. We selectively stamp out regimes because of how they operate, while leaving others because dominating their country has no gain for us. Do we care how people are treated if their country doesn't have oil? Surely some parts of the world believe that our removal would be for the greater good? Would the fact that The States and Britain are islands be enough to keep the attack localised? Would it inspire those inclined to send a disease our way in the hope that the seas would contain them?

A fear of disease has gripped humans for centuries, especially in the past when medical science was much less advanced. But are we now more fearful of a malicious attack since the US of A demonstrated what a nuclear weapon could do when they dropped one on Hiroshima?

Germ warfare is a great premise for an apocalypse story. How could we avoid a disease dropped on our doorsteps? I suppose it's all down to how it spreads. If the disease is passed through bodily fluids, maybe staying the hell away could keep us safe?

What Could Bring About the Apocalypse? Part One - A Virus.

With so many post-apocalyptical / dystopian stories, I thought I'd look at different scenarios that could bring about the apocalypse. Today - A Virus:

So it's come out in some way, shape, or form. Monkeys are being tested on in a lab and the monkeys get out and bite someone - 28 Day's Later. A government facility fails to contain their latest virus - The Stand.

It's been used before and it will continue to be used. It makes sense, a virus can be caught and can travel great distances. How it travels depends on the virus. It can be transferred through bodily fluids, or in the case of The Stand, it can be airborne. There's a wonderful chapter early on in The Stand that tracks the virus as it travels across America. It's the first time that I've read something from the virus' perspective. The great thing about making it airborne is that survival only happens because of an immunity to it. It's a total lottery and the story is more about who's left than actually surviving the event. When it is transferred through bodily fluids, anyone can survive and you have the suspense that at any point, a zombie could be biting your face off. That fear never goes away.

When I'm being entertained by post-apocalyptical stories, I much prefer the latter. Zombies creep me out, so the thought of being hunted by them is petrifying. The opening twenty minutes from 28 Weeks Later is truly horrifying. The guy leaves his wife behind! My only real criticism is that when the main characters in these stories bludgeon the zombies to death, blood smothering their faces in the process, they seem okay. Yet when a drop of blood falls from a crow's beak and lands in someone's eye - Boom!

Viruses seem like a plausible reason for an apocalypse. A read through history books tells us that.