The Walking Dead Analysis

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The Walking Dead graphic novel by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore portrays Rick’s journey after a zombie apocalypse. Unlike most zombie literature, this novel focuses on the characters, their emotional journeys, and their underlying nature. The extract selected is in the middle of the graphic novel and begins directly after the women are attacked by zombies while washing clothes. The scene opens with an illustration of the camp at night. Shane is guarding the camp, and Rick comes to speak to him. In this extract, the illustrations are important in showing Rick and Shane’s emotions, while their dialogue is important in the advancement of the plot, and sets the scene for a major conflict near the end of graphic novel.

The first page in this extract …show more content…

In such a dire and extreme situation as a zombie apocalypse, people's true nature comes out. This is one of the main themes in the graphic novel, and it is captured here in Shane and Rick’s dialogue. Some of the words in their speech bubbles are bolded to create intonation. Other words are bolded to draw attention to them, and to give insight into the character. Shane says to Rick, “What happens when the government starts cleaning this mess up? They’ll have to start with the cities… they’ll find us faster if we stay here!” Rick responds, “When are they coming Shane? Tomorrow? Next week? It’s getting really damn cold out here and it’s only going to get worse.” By bolding “government,” “cities,” and “here,” these words stand out against the rest of what Shane is saying. They emphasize how he is optimistic that the government will come to save them, as well as stubborn about listening to Rick and changing his mind. Rick on the other hand has words bolded such as “cold” and “worse,” showing that he is more of a realist and fully understands the camp’s …show more content…

One interesting aspect is that on different pages, the illustration or the text can carry more weight in the understanding of the scene. In this graphic novel, the characters, their journies, and the development of their character is more important than all the zombie gore. The realistic style of the illustrations, use of lines, frame size, and space effectively portray the character’s emotion, while the text in this extract is important in showing Rick and Shane’s basic

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