Walking Dead Volume 4: The Heart's Desire

... and hopelessness. Kirkman and crew have done a great job of showing us the difficult parts of humanity we might not otherwise want or need to understand. I believe zombie story lovers don't relish in the gore, but in the struggle. Overwhealming odds, the world out to get you, you don't understand a thing, zombies endlessly crawling overthemselves to get at you. It's more like real life. The Walking Dead is a masterpiece of humanity.

Like many readers, I've been an on again/off again comicbook fan for many years... In the last couple of years (since the year 2000) I've returned to the fold, this time taking advantage of the many top-quality graphic novels out there, and Robert Kirkman's "Walking Dead" was one of the titles most frequently recommended to me since I started this reading spree. It lives up to the hype. I just finished reading books 1-4, which collect the first twenty-four issues of the comic, and man, I can't wait for book #5 to come out. The series tells the story of a guy named Rick, a small-town cop and self-described Barney Fife who wakes up from a hospital stay to find the world changed around him -- it's zombie time, but zombie time with twist. The twist is that, unlike all the movies and TV shows we've all seen, "The Walking Dead" has a much longer, open-ended story arc -- Kirkman and co. don't have to wrap things up in a tidy, two-hour package, so there is space for the story to unfold at its own pace, with character development that's more prolonged and in-depth than the usual zombie flick allows. By the end of Book 4, the crisis has lasted about a year and Rick and his band of survivors are about twelve strong, having lost about an equal number of family and friends over the course of the story. It's a taut, grim, reflective plot line that keeps your interest and compels you to read. I, for one, hope this isn't just another one of those neat B & W comix that kind of fizzle out, but rather that Kirkman really gets the chance to do what he says he wants to do, and follow Rick's saga as far as he can. Anyway, I'm hooked. As long as he keeps writing this series, I'll be first in line to buy it. [copyright joesixpack @ slipcue.com ]

This installment of the Walking Dead series blew me away. In Volume 4, Kirkman stays true to his material and continues the saga of the survivors. The beauty of this tale is that no one is safe. You can't count on people to live or die because of the role they play in the overall storyline. You also can't rely on them to remain the same old character, as the continuing trauma begins to push some of them over the edge. In Volume 4, new dangers arise, in addition to the already plentiful zombie problem, and tempers flare. This installment isn't any more soap operatic than Volumes 1-3; relationships, emotions, and ulterior motives have been weaving and diving throughout this tale from the very beginning. What we have in #4 is a logical progression of the drama that was begun in previous issues. In addition, and more importantly, we start to get into some deeper themes, such as the nature of justice and survival, questions of leadership, and whether civilization can be rebuilt. Summary: the quality of The Walking Dead maintains its usual high standard. We'll see how muchlonger Kirkman can keep this up.

I have to say that most of the Black and white comics out there turn me away.. the writing or the way it speaks to the people might be really good, but the artistry is what pulls you in at first.. umm almost sounds like attraction to a girl. ;) Anyway, Everything about this story line is spectacular: Character driven plot mixed with Hard core action sequences. I can't think of words to describe how much I wish that this type of writing and direction was carried by the Film industry with regards to Zombie films and I've seen some pretty cheesy zombie films as well. If you read one good Comic about the living dead/ zombies. Get "the Walking Dead" YOU will not be upset and they are packaged in Graphic Novels now.

I've watched and read an unreal amount of zombie movies, comic books and stories and Robert Kirkman has one-upped them all! An amazing tale of survival and chaos.