Written by Jon Williams
On October 8, 2003,
The
Walking Dead issue #1 hit comic shops everywhere. Coming right on the heels
of the acclaimed movie
28 Days Later, it helped start a
snowball effect to begin the zombie craze that is still building to this day.
Now,
The Walking Dead is still going
strong as a comic series, with issue #184 coming out earlier this week, and creator
Robert Kirkman saying the end is still “far away off.” In conjunction with the
fifteenth anniversary of the first issue’s release, October 13 has been
designated as Walking Dead Day. To help your library celebrate with your
patrons, here’s a look at the pop culture phenomenon that
The Walking Dead has become.
The namesake television series
The Walking Dead premiered,
fittingly enough, on Halloween, October 31, 2010. Like the comic, it centered
on Rick Grimes (
Andrew
Lincoln), a small-town sheriff who awakes from a coma to find the hospital
he is in, as well as the world outside, overrun by zombies. His life becomes a
fight for survival as he struggles to figure out what’s going on and search for
other survivors, particularly his family. The show has been a sensation,
breaking viewership records for a cable series, and has gone on through its
various seasons to explore the threat posed by other human survivors,
personified by such memorable villains as the Governor (
David
Morrissey) and Negan (
Jeffrey
Dean Morgan), as well as the ever-present zombie menace. This Sunday,
October 7, the ninth season debuts, with this being notable as Andrew Lincoln’s
last, as the show will shift its focus to Daryl (
Norman
Reedus) and Maggie (
Lauren
Cohan) as they attempt to lead the survivors.
With the show’s success, it’s no surprise that it has
spawned a spinoff of its own. Unlike
The
Walking Dead, which began more or less with the zombie apocalypse already
underway,
Fear
the Walking Dead explores what it was like to experience the world descending
into chaos. Debuting in August of 2015, it follows Madison (
Kim
Dickens) and Travis (
Cliff
Curtis) as they try desperately to keep their family alive and together.
The fourth season, which just concluded on September 30, brought the two shows
together with the introduction of Morgan, a character originated by
Lennie
James in the first season of
The
Walking Dead and brought back in season 5.
Fear the Walking Dead has been picked up for its own fifth season,
as it and the original show seem poised to continue far into the future.
The Walking Dead
began its life in the comic format, but it has expanded into other areas of
publishing as well. In 2011, the novel
Rise
of the Governor brought the backstory of that intriguing villain to
life, and it was followed by
The
Road to Woodbury and
The
Fall of the Governor Parts 1 and 2
to round out the story arc. Series creator Robert Kirkman teamed up with writer
Jay Bonansinga to tell the Governor’s story, and then Bonansinga continued on
with four more novels:
Descent,
Invasion,
Search
and Destroy, and
Return
to Woodbury. Fans of the comic series and the show won’t want to miss
these stories that delve into the niches of beloved characters and settings.
With so much content available, and plenty more on the way,
fans of
The Walking Dead are
everywhere, and they’ll be looking for ways to celebrate on October 13. Make
sure you have plenty of zombie-related media on your shelves for them to check
out. And for those who just can’t wait, point them toward hoopla, where they
can find
Jay
Bonansinga’s audiobooks, as well as the entire
comic
series, available with no holds and no waiting.