8) The Television Show Is Frustratingly Safe
I need your help again comic book fans. Is it just me, or is Kirkman’s comic more dangerous and boundary-pushing? I can’t help but shake this feeling of safety and caution during the creation of AMC’s show. Kirkman’s comic is grittier, darker, and questions apocalyptic thinking in a way that absolutely has the biggest set of balls. No topic is too taboo. Love, survival, morality – storylines get deep and don’t avoid the dirty stuff.
Specific Examples:
Shane’s Death is the first instance that comes to mind, so let’s recap that real quick. In the show, the build-up to Shane’s death sees him at odds with Rick for most of season 2, until finally ending in a showdown with Rick at high-noon (or just at a random location away from the farm). Rick ends up killing Shane, his corpse reanimates, and Carl kills zombie Shane. My reaction – “OK, Carl killed a zombie, someone who has already been killed. Meh.”
Now jump to the comics and it’s something completely different, and entirely more meaningful/edgy. You’ve got the same type of standoff but Shane has Rick unarmed and dominated. Pleading for his life, Rick tries to reason with Shane, but it’s no use as he yells about how Rick never was meant to live and he was never meant to come back. But just as all seems lost and Shane goes to cock his shotgun, a bullet rips through Shane’s neck, killing him – and this is in the very first volume mind you. A child is forced to kill a human being, one who he grew close to and became connected with, but Carl did what he had to in order to save his father. Gut-wrenching, powerful, and completely out of left-field – and also the perfect way to set a precedent of deeply disturbing material.
Kirkman takes risks with his comic material that may seem too forward and progressive for AMC, but that’s also a major reason why his comics kick so much ass. The Carl example happens early on and is similar to the show, which is why I picked it to exemplify this point, but trust me when I say there are moments 10x more appropriate that I can’t bring myself to spoil. All I’ll say is Lori’s baby. Season 4, you know what to do.