Walking Dead Cover

What to do? I’ve been reading this comic (The Walking Dead). It’s bloody good. The premise is a great one for anyone who likes zombie movies for the ‘right’ reasons (in my pompous opinion). That is; for the character drama created by this extreme situation rather than the blood and guts (though certainly they’re in no short supply). The idea, as the writer introduces it, is that he is normally frustrated at the end of a good zombie movie. That we have these snapshots of people trying to survive, both physically and morally, and then it’s over… What happens next?

Here, in the Walking Dead, we’re going to see it. We’re going to see what years of living in a brutal world does to a person. What a good kind man becomes when viciously smashing skulls becomes part of day-to-day life.

The characters are fascinating and all too human. I’ve come to really care about what happens to them; particulary the central hero and his family.

But, it wasn’t until I read the most recent collected editions that I realised how much.

He’s come through a lot, he really really has. So when he finally makes contact with another group of survivors I was genuinely delighted. A lucky break, I thought! Horrah! Lodgings and comfort and all manner of good things! This is unusual; in that, had I thought about, a comic about some guy living happily ever after probably isn’t going to be that compelling. But I care for him and his group so I felt genuine relief.

Which was nothing compared to the genuine horror I felt when the situation turned on them. When, in one terrifying sentence, it became very clear what was actually going on. When limbs were lost and brutality of a Pol Pot level was visited on these characters I was affected. I found it difficult to turn to the next page to find what new torture was going to be laid onto these fictional creatures.

It’s been a long time since I was so affected by a comic and, I guess, it’s a hallmark of good writing.

But what I found *really* disturbing was my reaction when the tables were turned on the villian. When one of my heroes escaped and decided that escape was not sufficient; that vengeance need to be meted out; I found myself eagerly turning each page. I really wanted this guy to suffer. The torture scene is surprisingly prolonged and, while not overly visual on the page, certainly leaves little room for the imagination. The reader is almost eager for the scene to last longer; for dozens of pages to be filled with the bad guy being brutalised in all manner of ways. And that makes you (me) sit back for a moment and consider my role as a reader here. Also to spend weeks pondering questions of revenge and justice. Especially in this fictional extreme environment where there is no rule of law.

It’s great writing to produce such a reaction; I think the last time I found myself really questioning my motivation as a reader/viewer was watching Man Bites Dog in the cinema over a decade ago. It’s good stuff and I’d be very interested to know what anyone else thought about it.