I'm a huge fan of The Walking Dead. I have been for a very long time. I started reading the graphic novels back in 2008. Jose Artiaga, a friend that lived in my scholarship hall with me, decided that our bathrooms needed reading material and stacked all of the books in a stall one day.
The best way for me to tell you how much I loved the graphic novel is with a confession. I hate reading. The act of reading has always been boring. I was never stimulated by the words. I spark-noted every single book in my high school and college career (If you're reading this, apologies to Ms. Cigler and Dr. Klayder).
But I was hooked on The Walking Dead. I binge read the entire prison story line in one night. I loved everything about it. Constantly pressured Jose to buy the newest compendiums. Scavenged the internet for any information on more material.
Obviously, I was excited when I learned that there were rumors of The Walking Dead being turned into a movie. I was even more excited when I learned that Frank Darabont would be directing that movie. I was apathetic when I learned that AMC had bought exclusive rights to the movie, and turned it into a 6 episode season. But nonetheless, it premiered on October 31 2010, and became one of the biggest cable TV shows ever.
And hey, Season 1 was pretty good. Not great, but for the budget, it was a good start.
For 2 years I was in love with this story line so few people knew about. And overnight,, the whole world just... knew about it. It lost it's significance. But hey, whatever. I got what I wanted!
But then Season 2 was announced. And AMC refused to give Frank Darabont a bigger budget (even though the show single-handedly saved the network). Then AMC fired Frank Darabont after he complained, and replaced him with Glen Mazzara, a terrible director. Then the show became terrible.
It reminds me of the second episode of Black Mirror, 15 Million Credits. This young, talented woman tries to sing to the world, and instead is forced to slab on make-up and is objectified by the world for profit. To me, and to many other graphic novel readers, it pains us to see what happened to The Walking Dead. This amazing story was picked from obscurity, and it's talents are completely wasted, only to be used to promote a network for money, and sell Hyundai Tucsons.
And with popularity comes the double-edged sword. Suddenly everyone had an opinion on The Walking Dead. Some loved it for the wrong reasons. Some called it over-rated for the right reasons. But it pained me to see something I cherished so much become this.
Thankfully, there are alternatives. TellTale Games made an interactive video game set in The Walking Dead universe that is absolutely superb. Both seasons of the game are incredible, and I recommend anyone to check them out. Nothing that the TV show does wrong (and everything that the graphic novel does right) is in this game.
For more information, I highly recommend the YMS review of The Walking Dead. YMS (short for Your Movie Sucks) is a movie and television reviewer, and I personally think he does an excellent, albeit vulgar, job reviewing things. He has a 4-part video review of season 1 and 2 of The Walking Dead, and talks about how overrated the show is. Despite being a fan of the show, I agree with nearly all of his points. I also appreciate that he takes the time to discuss the issues with the show beyond the content, criticizing AMC for their shady, under-the-table dealings that got Frank Darabont fired. He even accuses AMC of actions that could lead to a possible lawsuit, and suspiciously after this review was uploaded, Frank Darabont's lawyer announced that he was suing AMC for damages. Go Frank.
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