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I absolutely love the show and I have been a fan since the beginning in 2010. I love the fact that the show has it's own story line and has not followed the comic books. I am so looking forward to season 7. I am just a die hard fan.
The show is about 80-90% faithful to the comics and continues to include 100% of the major story arcs.
The whole question is, what purpose does the gore serve? It makes sense that there are rotting corpses walking around and that you could potentially grab the hair of one trying to bite you (as Carol recently did) and the whole damn scalp would come off because it was so rotten. It's a small detail, but it adds a lot of realism. Yes, we have to "suspend disbelief" about the existence of the walkers, but they may as well be as detail oriented with regard to their condition as possible. Frankly, one bone to pick that I have is the fact that we've yet to see walkers that have rotted to the point that they can no longer stand or move, which would presumably happen.
I agree-the whole Rick neck biting thing was a potential shark jumping moment and a low point in general.
I actually found the whole Terminus storyline to be very plausible. I could see people resorting to that type of society given the situation. As I pointed out in another thread, Terminus, not unlike Alexandria, was a relatively small group with a strong leader, governed by group consensus. What they did was horrifying, but it was believable and told a story.
Negan's group (and his character), on the other hand just seem like purely cartoonish villainry, complete with most of the members (Negan included) resembling the Hell's Angels B Team. I will say though that it seems as though Negan's group has become much more formidable in the TV show than in the comics. I believe that in the comics they number less than 100, whereas the season finale would have us believe that Negan commands a small army of followers with access to untold numbers of vehicles, heavy equipment, fuel stores, weapons, ammunition, etc...and that they have some kind of reliable long distance communication network. One guy with baseball bat simply could not control all of that. The only explanation for this over the top portrayal of Negan and his group, complete with all of the skull bashing, face burning, and (insert horrible way to kill/maim someone here) is to throw redmeat to the fanboys who "can't wait to see it happen on TV..."
This is it. 100% correct. I had some issues with the plausibility of the Governor but Negan makes him look completely possible by comparison and a textbook example of what one might find in the ZA. The gov had walls...a compound and kept most everyone inside them. He had his inner circle of goons that were the only ones allowed to have guns and be brought along for his missions. The rest only saw him as a charming leader who kept them safe. When he got too sadistic and too over the top and started asking too much people turned on him and he shot them all. And then after his last two closest henchmen left him...we saw him have to move on and try to rebuild.
i thought the Termites were plausible. Good people forced to do something terrible and they keep doing it to survive. You either join them or you get eaten. Quite simple.
The police squad that killed Beth made no sense to me. I liked them better when some of us thought they were some kind of cult led by a mortician or holy man because of the trap at the chapel, and the crosses on the back of the Caddy limo that abducted Beth and the Magnum that Carol and Daryl chased. I would have been more intrigued by some sort of death cult twisted religious angle rather then some rogue cops holed up in a hospital. Actually...THAT would have been okay as a seperate group of villains if they had been military instead.
the wolves made sense to me. I would like for them to have lasted longer as antagonists.
the Claimers made sense to me. This is is about as big or as organized as a violent, biker styke code, rape gang could be. But this Negan dude is just a big cartoon character of a bad guy that pushes all the buttons of a pre teen fantasy world of a guy who has ultimate power, unwavering servitude from his minions, unlimited resources and all the women he wants. It really doesn't fit with the world and the struggle our characters have been through all this time.
The question what purpose gore serves is a valid one, and that's not what I disagreed with - I objected to the assertion that the comics were more gory than the show. Imo they weren't.
The terminus scenario sure looks plausible. Once the rules break down, some time passes and people get organized again, assuming they became cannibals (which isn't that big of a stretch as history is full of desperate people turning to eating their own when there was no other choice), places like that would probably exist. I don't hold how gory it was against it, it was justified by the situation.
Another difference I think we all noticed, is the fact that Rick still has all his limbs. Do you guys think this is a choice tv show creators made, or were they forced to skip this part of ricks story as it would be time/money consuming to have the main character without a hand, through all the coming seasons.
I also agree Neegan is very cartoonish so to say, compared to the Governor. I really hope they build this character up a bit more than in the comics - to me the comicbook Neegan was a smiling sociopath and not much more, a cliche. Charisma, intelligence and madness is a combination that is quite common in fiction (in real life too, but let's not get into politics :P), but for it to work it needs to be based on something more than looking cool. He served as a cool plot device, showing our group that they might be tough, but they shouldn't think they are the toughest out there, but as a character ? He didn't develop much... at least not yet
Speaking of that- issue 153 of the comics is out, finally!
I only read through the first compendium and my first impression was that the comic book had more gore and more violence. Maybe it really doesn't but the combination of the harsh language along with more sex might be why at least I think so. I can definitely point out places with the TV show where it at least matches the comic with its most graphic moments but I think the comic has a more gritty feel and more ongoing adult type situations over all that make it feel more gratuitous and more graphic than the show does.
I only read through the first compendium and my first impression was that the comic book had more gore and more violence. Maybe it really doesn't but the combination of the harsh language along with more sex might be why at least I think so. I can definitely point out places with the TV show where it at least matches the comic with its most graphic moments but I think the comic has a more gritty feel and more ongoing adult type situations over all that make it feel more gratuitous and more graphic than the show does.
the comics are in black & white as well, so the gore & blood doesn't stand out quite as much.
Other than the fact that TV Negan doesn't look like Henry Rollins (and comic book Negan does), they're pretty much identical. Of course, it's been all of one scene, so that's not saying much.
Otherwise, one thing to note - even the differences are often parallels.
Examples:
*There are two initially-unsolved murders at the prison. Carol is the TV culprit, while a serial killer inmate named Thomas is the comic culprit.
*At Alexandria, Rick is becomes involved with a major female character. It's Michonne on TV, Andrea in the comics.
*Someone loses a leg to save them from a bite at the prison. It's Herschel on TV, Dale in the comics.
*And someone loses a leg to the Hunters (the Terminus people on TV). It's Bob on TV, Dale in the comics (tough run there with the legs, comic Dale!).
*Someone gets an arrow to the eye. On TV, it's Dr. Denise. In the comics, it's Abraham.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Badfish740
Which is why the show is better than the comics. Kirkman made a fortune selling gory torture porn slasher fantasy books to comic fanboy/gamer-types. Good for him, and lucky that AMC was able to take the substandard source material and make an interesting show out of it. The worst possible thing they could do at this point is let the show degenerate to the level of the comics.
Not really.
The characterization of the comics really is complex and layered for the genre. While I certainly agree that it's much better in the TV show, that's just due to the inherent differences between a 24-page comic and a 45-minute TV show. I prefer the TV version for that reason. But that's just a genre preference, not really a weighing of how one medium adapts the story within the strictures of its own limitations versus the other.
The reason the TV show tones down the violence and sex and language is because the Legion of Decency ('porn slasher fantasy' ? - LOL... OK, Church Lady!) would pitch such a fit that it's not worth it for AMC, so they insist on a PG-13 rating. Kirkland is not limiting himself to that standard. Good for him.
Quote:
Originally Posted by K-Luv
A main difference are character deaths. For example, in the comic Tyreese dies before Lori and Lori dies after she gives birth to Judith. And Judith dies, too. In the live series Tyreese is introduced after Lori dies. Shane dies near the beginning of the comic book series and is shot by Carl, not Rick. Andrea is still alive. Beth also seems younger in the books, perhaps early teens.
Probably the most substantive plot differences are:
*The existence of Daryl on TV.
*The continuation growth (and non-demise) of Carol on TV.
*The development of Andrea (and, again, her non-demise) in the comics.
The reason the TV show tones down the violence and sex and language is because the Legion of Decency ('porn slasher fantasy' ? - LOL... OK, Church Lady!) would pitch such a fit that it's not worth it for AMC, so they insist on a PG-13 rating. Kirkland is not limiting himself to that standard. Good for him.
You left a word out... "Torture porn" was actually what I wrote-I wasn't implying that TWD comics were actual pornography
In the 2000s – particularly between 2003-2009 – a body of films were produced that combined elements of the splatter and slasher film genres. The films were dubbed "torture porn" by critics and detractors, most notably by David Edelstein who is thought to have coined the term. Like their splatter forerunners, "torture porn" films reputedly emphasize depictions of violence, nudity, torture, mutilation and sadism. Also like splatter films, the extent to which torture porn lives up to its sensational reputation has been disputed.
Just browse the fanboy forums and you'll find the gamer fanboy types panting over "what Negan's gonna doooooooooooo..." He seems to have achieved a sort of anti-hero status among that crowd.
I appreciate everyone's input, some great thoughts here. Being that the comics are the original medium, I would think correlation of the TV show is at least somewhat important.
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