BDCHS Advanced Reading discussion

I am reviewing the graphic novel called “The Walking Dead: Compendium One” by Robert Kirkman. I give this novel a 5 out of 5 rating. This novel was an absolute thrill ride from cover to cover. I never realized how frightening and dark a graphic novel could be until I read this. No one and I mean no one is safe in this ongoing saga.
The novel starts off in a shoot-out between two cops and a runaway criminal. In just a matter of seconds the main character, Rick Grimes, gets shot and well…dies. (Or so we think.) Rick wakes up from a coma in an abandoned hospital, and as soon as he escapes he realizes that the world was overrun by monsters. He didn’t understand what happened to the people in his town in Georgia. He rides to his house on a bike he found on the street but ends up in an empty home that has been completely looted of its food and supplies. In the house Rick runs into two survivors, Morgan Jones and his 9 year old son Duane. Morgan explains everything that has been going on in the world while Rick was in a coma. The world has been overrun by zombies and people are infected if they get bit by one. Rick sets out on a dangerous quest to find his wife, Lori, and son, Carl, before they join the masses of the dead. Hearing that most survivors are making their way towards major cities, Rick journeys towards his nearest city of Atlanta, Georgia. Everything is going well until he gets into Atlanta and realizes that the situation is far worse than he could have anticipated. For as far as the eye can see everyone is dead, and they are all walking towards him. This is a tense moment in the plot, but it is certainly not the most tense. All of this takes place within the first ten pages.
To summarize this entire compendium in under 12,000 words is extremely difficult. There’s a whole abundance of events that occur in this very book. The book itself ways about 6 pounds and is over 1000 pages! It would be way simpler if I just write down the storyline in bullet points for every MAJOR event that happened. After Rick finally escapes the dead that engulfed Atlanta he reaches a small camp of survivors where he is reunited with his wife and son. We meet Shane Walsh, Rick’s police partner that was there when Rick got shot. We find out that Shane had sexual relations with Lori (Rick’s wife) while he was in a coma. Shane and Rick have a disagreement whether to stay or leave, and Rick feels the group needs more guns. Rick and Glenn (a 20 year old Korean kid that is in the group) make a trip into the city limits to get more guns, but not without trouble. Rick teaches the survivors how to shoot. Shane becomes increasingly angry at Rick. Later on, the camp suffers from casualties when it is attacked by zombies. As the group mourns for those that have died, Shane pulls a gun on Rick and blames him for ruining everything and causing the group to fall apart. He is about to shoot him when Carl (Rick’s son) shoots him in the neck. The group buries Shane and leaves the camp. They encounter a small group of survivors, Tyreese, Chris, and Julie. While on the road Lori reveals she’s pregnant, but everyone is skeptical about who the father is. The survivors settle into their newly found community. Their streak of luck is ruined when the group is attacked and some members are killed. Weeks after, Carl is seriously wounded and the survivors are taken into a family’s farm. They meet Hershel and Maggie Greene in this farm and they fix up Carl’s wound. After a series of horrible events, Rick’s group is forced out from the farm and stumble upon their new home, a prison. The survivors rid the newly found prison of walkers. Inside they find an interesting surprise, four surviving inmates, and they give Rick's group a tour. Meanwhile, Chris kills Julie in a suicide pact gone wrong. Tyreese kills Chris in revenge, and the survivors learn something important, you don’t have to be bitten to turn into a walker. If you die… whatever the cause...you turn into a zombie.
Rick kills the inmates for murdering one of the survivors after getting a chance during an attack of zombies. Outside The Prison, survivors discover a helicopter. Rick, Michonne and Glenn are tracking the helicopter, and find it crashed, with footprints on the ground. Rick, Michonne, and Glenn encounter Woodbury, Georgia, and meet a man that is known as “The Governor” and his men. The Governor informs them that they are feeding the walkers with strangers. Locating Woodbury turns out to be a horrifying mistake. Rick wakes up in the town's hospital and is shocked to see that his left arm was chopped off. After waking up, The Governor informs Rick that he let Glenn free and knows everything about the Prison. Tyreese tries to track the missing survivors. The Governor reveals that he lied about letting Glenn free. The Governor hires Michonne to fight with one of the cage fighters but she executes the fighter quickly. Martinez, one of the Governor’s henchmen, tells Rick they have to leave immediately. Survivors are gathered up and are leaving Woodbury behind. Not everyone makes it out alive, and Michonne goes to get her revenge on The Governor. Michonne mutilates The Governor, leaving him for dead. She reaches the others and acts as if nothing had ever happened. The survivors arrive at the Prison, but the sight isn't delightful. The Prison is quickly secured, but not without losses. Rick realizes that Martinez is gone and he tracks Martinez and kills him. Rick tells everyone to be ready for Woodbury's attack. Woodbury, Georgia finally reaches the Prison, ready to fight. Flashback shows, how The Governor survived Michonne's torture. After a few weeks, he starts the assault on the Prison survivors and captures Tyreese. The Governor brings Tyreese to The Prison and decapitates him in front of everyone, failing to get access to the Prison. The Governor commits his final attack to The Prison and destroys the fences. The assault claims a lot of casualties from both sides. After much blood and death, including Lori and her newborn daughter, Rick and Carl remain to be the only survivors.

The Walking Dead has many thought provoking themes. This graphic novel includes themes like: the balance of chaos and order, the inevitability of death, corruption of power, the evils of man, and the disturbing reality of the human mind/condition. In The Walking Dead, we are treated to wonderful philosophical composition as this case made below by primary protagonist Rick Grimes as he and his brethren come to grips with the loss of their humanity and the loss of the world by humanity to the undead:

“Do you think you’re ever going to watch television again? Go to the bank? Buy groceries? Drop your kids off at school?! Ever?! It will never happen! You can come to grips with that sad fact—or you can sit around wishing for it to happen! You can sit around trying to follow every retarded little rule we ever invented to make us feel like we weren’t animals—and you can die! We will change! We will evolve. We’ll make new rules—we’ll still be humane and kind and we’ll still care for each other. But when the time comes—we have to be prepared to do whatever it takes to keep us safe. Whatever it takes! You kill—you die. That was probably the most naïve things I’ve ever said. The fact is—in most cases, now, the way things are—you kill—you live … and that’s just it. That’s what this comes down to. You people don’t know what we are. We’re surrounded by the dead. We’ve among them—and when we finally give up we become them! We’re living on borrowed time here. Every minute of our life is a minute we steal from them! You see them out there. You know that when we die—we become them. You think we hide behind walls to protect us from the walking dead! Don’t you get it? "We are the walking dead!” – Rick Grimes, “The Walking Dead: Compendium One” So it goes.

On the other hand, there were moments where I had to double check to make sure I was reading a zombie apocalypse and not a soap opera because these people have more affairs, more marital problems, more social issues, and more drama then a Spanish telenovela. I absolutely loved this comic book compendium. Lack of food, water, shelter, warmth, security, stability, freedom from fear, friends, family, spouse, lover. When these needs are combined with the diabolical Governor we have a best-selling novel that is sure to keep any reader who enjoys a good thriller on the edge of his or her seat. I learned that the human instinct of survival is unquestionably terrifying, the lengths a person would go to survive is horrifying. I learned that the dead are not the only ones to fear in these times of crisis. People can snap under the pressure of fearing for their life, and this book is certainly not afraid to challenge the reader's morality. I don’t even know if I can say anything else to describe how amazing this book is. It is just overall…perfect.