Triumph of The Walking Dead

An excellent book for fans of The Walking Dead.

This would be a great gift for a horror/zombie buff. It whips around and critically analyzes some of the common themes introduced in the series by attaching them to other stories, even biblical and vintage films. I got lost due to just being a 'day player' of walking dead fandom, but it's clear the author knows his stuff and more importantly, LOVES his stuff.

The walking Dead shouldn't work at all not as a comic & certainly not as a TV show.
But it does. It is a magnificent success In every field it excels beyond any expectation.
The Walking Dead proves two things beyond doubt.
1) Brilliant story telling will always prevail 2) People really dig zombies

very interesting, as a massive walking dead fan myself this was a good read.

'Triumph of the Walking Dead' Edited by James Lowder is a series of essays that came out of few years ago. It's still a bit relevant because although it was printed after the first season of the show, events that were taking place in the comic have been in more recent episodes.

The essays are great and a lot of fun to read. Arnold T. Blumberg talks about the history of zombies in comics, and how they were once banned, but crept their way back in. Kay Steiger talks about race and gender politics in the show and how they persist even in a world gone crazy. Ned Vizzini has an essay called 'Rick and Rand: The Objectivist Hero in The Walking Dead' that speaks on Rick and his changing philosophy and how it relates to Ayn Rand. Even though the CDC and Edwin Jenner was never featured in the comics, this gets mentioned quite a few times. My favorite episode is by David Hopkins and it makes a case that Carl might be the true protagonist of the series and his role as the 1.5-Generation Immigrant in this strange new land.

In all cases the essays are intelligent well written. Most of the essayists are familiar with the comics series and all are familiar with the TV version. For fans of the show and comic, there is a lot of thought provoking material here.

I received a review copy of this ebook from BenBella Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

Really interestng

"The Walking Dead" is a surprising television hit. It is water-cooler discussion fodder, and, like so many pop culture hits of this era (it seems), it is based on a comic book series by Robert Kirkman. And what happens to 'hits'? People analyze them and write about them. This book is a collection of essays about "The Walking Dead" - both the comic series and the television series.

I've never read the comics/graphic novels, and I've only watched through the first three seasons of the television series, but the essays here often had me thinking about the series (and the concept) in a much deeper way. Which, when you stop to think about it, is kind of crazy since we're talking about a tv show featuring zombies.

But as these essays point out, there's an awful lot of metaphor and symbolism going on within these stories.

I enjoy non-fiction, and I really enjoy essays on specific topics, and in line with this, I enjoyed these commentaries on this very pop-culture theme. And while some of these did have me thinking twice about the series, and even had me wanting to finish watching the entire run, and all the essays are very intelligently written, nothing caught me so deeply that I feel the desire to share it with everyone I know.

My favorite essay is probably the first one, "The Pathos of The Walking Dead" by Kyle William Bishop, which examines the genre and its history.

I also very much like Jonathan Maberry's "Take Me to Your Leader" which looks at the genre of apocalyptic literature and where The Walking Dead fits into that genre, and the role of 'leader' through such an apocalypse. "Despite the fact that the Walking Dead comic book is one of the bleakest, most downbeat and nihilistic stories ever told, even in a genre known for those qualities, Kirkman manages to sew a thread of hope through the tale" writes Maberry.

Fans of the series (whether comic or television) who also enjoy more than just the action/adventure of the hour-long tale should really enjoy this. Those who study pop culture will find this indispensable.

The book features the following:

Foreward - "The Walking Dead, with Entourage" - Joe R. Lansdale Introduction - "In Media Apocalypsis" - James Lowder
"The Pathos of The Walking Dead" - Kyle William Bishop
"Take Me to Your Leader" - Jonathan Maberry
"Four-Color Zombies" - Arnold T. Blumberg
"A Novelist and a Zombie Walk Into a Bar" - Jay Bonansinga
"Meaninglessness" - Craig Fischer
"Zombie People" - Brendan Riley
"No Clean Slate" - Kay Steiger
"Happy (En)Trails" - Vince A. Liaguno
"Rick and Rand" - Ned Vizzini
"Postmodern Merlin" - Kenneth Hite
"Feel Better?" - Steven Schlozman
"The Walking Dead and Dance of Death" - Lisa Morton
"A Zombie Among Men" - Scott Kenemore
"The Hero Wears the Hat" - David Hopkins
"For Love is Strong as Death" - Kim Paffenroth Acknowledgments

What does it say about our culture when stories about the dead rising up and wreaking havoc, bringing about an apocalypse, are some of the most popular stories of the day? A book such as this helps us answer that very question.

Looking for a good book? Triumph of The Walking Dead: Robert Kirkman's Zombie Epic on Page and Screen, edited by James Lowder, is a collection of essays looking at an unusual hit television (and comic book ) series which fans of the series will absolutely want to devour.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.