Showcase of the Dead

In 2003 writer Robert Kirkman created a black and white monthly comic called The Walking Dead, a post zombie apocalyptic story of a group of people lead by Rick Grimes, a police office that wakes up from a coma. Sounds pretty standard if you think about it, but this isn’t your average zombie story. What makes this story different from other zombie comics is the human element. Behind the zombies is a true dramatic story of survival and relationships.

With that said, AMC announced that Frank Darabont (The Shawshanck Redemption and The Green Mile) will serve as writer, director and executive producer for The Walking Dead T.V. series which first season will be comprised of six episodes..

And while I’m stoked about this my question is why hasn’t this been done before? There’s been numerous T.V. series about vampires, werewolves, demons and damn near everything in between.

So, why not zombies?

If there was anything that should have had a series by now it should have been zombies. Zombie stories have the ability to tell not only a tale of horror but a tale drama, suspense, intrigue and emotional turmoil, like Lost except for being good.

The one thing that does confuse me, is why AMC? If you read the comic then you would know that The Walking Dead isn’t for a broad audience. It has gore, cussing and nudity, everything that says that it should be on HBO or Showtime. Will they cut back on the gore? They could, but come on, it’s zombies. They will be able to use “shit” but anything “fuck” word related is gone, and forget nudity.

While these things could be forgiven, my biggest concern is how will they change the story? Or more precisely, will they change the story? It’s just simply way too early to know. All we can do now is cross your fingers and pray. And, if it is good, then pray for a bunch of knock off series.