With the release of The Walking Dead Compendium: Volume One whatever excuses you had for not getting on board with Robert Kirkman's harrowing tale of survival in a world over run by the living dead have effectively been eliminated. This book will be the reason you will want to stay home and read this weekend.

The Walking Dead is primarily focused on Rick Grimes, a police officer from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Its hard not to compare the beginning of the series to the film 28 days later, since in the first issue Rick wakes from a coma to find the hospital, and subsequently the town he calls home is now populated by flesh eating zombies. There are some unavoidable similarities to other notable zombie films but the story quickly finds its own footing and settles into following Rick on his journey to find his family. Since this Compendium edition contains the fist 48 issues there are several story arcs that take Rick from waking up in his hospital room to struggling to lead a small band of survivors to some kind of safe haven where they can start over. Even with the massive page count (1088!) none of the story feels trivial.

For the better part of the decade the name Robert Kirkman has been synonymous with zombie comics, at this point The Walking Dead is used to measure the caliber of all others in the genre. Kirkman’s blend of suspense, drama, violence, and humor makes the characters in the story feel much more than just tasty zombie snacks, they are humans with thoughts and feelings- and they are fighting to stay alive every day.

The tricky part of the series is the art. The first chapter in the compendium edition (issues 1-6) titled “Days Gone Bye” is penciled, inked, and colored (gray tones) by Tony Moore. Moore’s art is lush and detailed and when in chapter two Charlie Adlard takes over as penciler & inker with Cliff Rathburn on grey tones it almost feels like a bait and switch. Once your eyes and brain adjust to Adlard & Rathburn’s style it feels like a natural fit.

There are only a few issues I have with this volume, there’s no cover gallery, it does not come shrink-wrapped, and there are no page numbers. All of these things are pretty minor considering the awesomeness of the reprint quality. The paper stock is good and glossy and even though it’s as thick as a phonebook the binding seems pretty sturdy. If you don’t already have any number of the different ways this series has been printed you should really consider this one.

A last word of warning: The worst thing you can do with The Walking Dead is to casually open it to a random page. There are so many “Oh man, I can’t believe that just happened!” moments that you would be cheating yourself out of if you don’t start at the beginning. Trust me, you’ll have a hard time putting it down, and when it’s over you’ll just want more!

Title: The Walking Dead: Compendium One
Collects: The Walking Dead issues 1-48 & Image Holiday Special 2005
Publisher: Image Comics

Robert Kirkman - creator, writer, letterer (chapters 1-3)
Tony Moore - penciler, inker, gray tones (chapter 1)
Charlie Adlard - penciler, inker (chapters 2-8)
Cliff Rathburn - grey tones (chapters 2-8)
Rus Wooton – letterer (chapter 4-8)
Compendium Edition Cover: Charlie Adlard & Cliff Rathburn