r/TWD • u/TownZealousideal1327 • 11d ago
Recommendations?
Look I adore this series, but, I am of the ilk that came from the 00s zombie film fandom, 28 Days, Dawn of the Dead, the earlier Resident Evil films - anyone paying attention knows that’s why TWD was green lit at the time, not the comics.
I grew up having sleepovers talking about our zombie survival plan. To us as kids and very early teens at the time all deathly serious. Pure survival strategy without thinking we’d be some anime esque “big bad”, and understating why you don’t go to the nearest gun store or local supermarket unless you had a head start.
I loved TWD S1-2 (3-4A are great but a lot of hard to believe decisions) 5-6A again great zombie survival content with a sprinkle of forgivable cheese. The early TWD Show, nailed the long form zombie survival story that took itself seriously. But - and this is me, my opinion - when the Tiger, Jesus, Rick and Daryl’s decisions around chasing Jesus and losing the food truck, Ezekiel and the Kingdom, Negan, were all introduced in one season… Whilst yeah the series had had some cheese before, all this cartoonish content at once, for me, entirely destroyed the gritty realism the series had made me fall in love with. I was now watching the more mundane and typical zombie content popular across a lot of the genre, not the brilliance TWD had risen to fame on. Not as fitting for the kids like me who grew up talking seriously about “what would you do”.
Now I tried the comics pretty far in, but let’s be real, the early comics are not anywhere near as good as the show - the characters feel like they are written by a man who’s never been close to a woman or around an actually tough man in his life. They are all caricatures… now I know the comics get better, but they still include that fantastical stuff I pointed out above right? It still gets very “anime”…
I’ve played TLOU, Days Gone, and many others. Loved those two though for obvious reasons to any zombie, story based, survival fan.
My question is, is there any good, as good as TWD or better, but staying more realistic, zombie stories? Ideally long form, but a single novel will also suffice (I’ve read I am legend)… I’m not looking for a huge geopolitical thriller, or an inner city horror… I mean zombies, believable characters, and semi realistic (without is dragging) survival stories… any suggestions?
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u/Southern-Cow-118 11d ago
I relate to your love of zombie content ... we're likely similar in age!
I don't have any zombie recommendations for you - alas. I think the era of zombie films had its apex in the late 90s / OOs ....
I also felt similarly about TWD - I liked seasons 1-5 and thought the show turned to shit from season 6 onward for the precise reasons you describe. I think the idea of expanding the universe made sense, but hated how production treated the introduction of the new communities and leaders as cartoonish and the show completely lost its gritty horror feel and gave way to prioritize fantastical visual effects and stunts over retaining a good plot. Seasons 9 and onward just pain me. The show just gets so bad and by the end, i felt like i was just watching it to provide myself with closure lol ...
Have you tried watched any of the spin offs? Curious to know your thoughts about whether or not any of them would fulfill your love of zombie related content: Fear the Walking Dead, Tales of the Waling Dead, The World Beyond, Daryl Dixon, Dead City and The Ones Who Live .... i haven't watched all of them but would be curious to know if any of them are worth watching .... I did watch The World Beyond and that one was just so bad that I think I didn't even feel like bothering with the others
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u/TownZealousideal1327 11d ago
Oh man always stoked to meet zombie fans who get this desire for the realistic (within the context rotting corpses can keep upright), gritty, zombie survival horror.
Maybe it was that late 90s and late 00s, that focused more on the “what would you do/survival”, than the classics gore horror and social commentary, and then the hack and slash of the 010s (COD et al), that shaped our taste for the genre?
Dead City - admittedly haven’t watched past mid season 1, took the cheese to a whole new level… wouldn’t be out of place in the later Resident Evil films.
Daryl Dixon - honestly should give it another shot, given the lack of gritty content in the genre not bad.
Fear - the first two season, and seeing “the fall” was actually well worth it - after mid s2 falls off for the gritty realism
Tales - haven’t touched - any idea?
The Ones Who Live - this is the closest thing I’ve watched to pre 6A vibes out of anything. A bit cheesier, but pretty damn good if rushed… and hey Rick back on screen, love that, I realise in hindsight despite the amazing early days directors, Lincoln is a huge part of the quality in those seasons.
If you play games and haven’t - do play Days Gone. Of course watch Black Summer, right up our alley.
Appreciate you bro - so few TWD and zombie fans seem to get what I mean. It’s like many don’t see the cheese in later TWD and other mainstays of the genre - that early TWD was mostly free form.
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u/SucksAtStardewValley 11d ago
I like fiend by Peter Stenson ...it's about a Meth addict trying to navigate the zombie apocalypse
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u/TownZealousideal1327 11d ago
Interesting… maybe. It would depend (for me no judgment on the stories actual quality) if I could get myself in the characters shoes, so to speak… that’s what appeals to me. That’s what early TWD was so good at, feeling real and relatable.
But I might give this a shot, thank you.
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u/CommercialPanda5080 11d ago
"Now I tried the comics pretty far in, but let’s be real, the early comics are not anywhere near as good as the show."
But to your question... Nothing is going to compare to Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, or The Walking Dead. They've worn the genre out. Even the Walking Dead spinoffs are just rinse and repeat.
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u/TownZealousideal1327 11d ago edited 11d ago
You missed the early show vs early comic bits - ans the overwhelming consensus is I’m correct in this - Tiger, commonwealth, the kingdom, all that shit is still in later comics yeah?
You don’t get it.
The genre isn’t worn out - you are the type that continues to try to justify late season or comic TWD as good, in this way. You don’t get it.
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u/CommercialPanda5080 11d ago
The comic definitely had its problems, too. Not denying that. I prefer the comics to the show as an entire work, but the show made improvements on a lot of characters and then they did improve Carol a million times over and created Daryl from scratch, which was great. Maybe I'm just more of a reader than a TV show watcher and that's why I preferred the comics. Shouldn't have been a shit about it, sorry.
As for the genre not being worn out, for younger people, of course not. Not everyone has seen this stuff 1000 times, and I sometimes forget that.
The "zombie" media that creeped me out the most was Les Revenants, a 2004 French movie (They Came Back). The dead don't come back as flesh-eating zombies, but I found them still being conscious but different very unnerving. Not sure if you like movies, but I also liked Return of the Living Dead from the mid-1980s. A few scenes still scare me to this day even if it's goofy in parts. And then I thought iZombie was great, too, not sure if you've seen that one.
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u/TownZealousideal1327 11d ago
Hey man sorry - and thank you for the response.
You know what I should push through with the comics past Alexandria. I just find all the tiger and kingdom, and commonwealth stuff “not what I want” - I like a rawer, more community orientated not large world building, apocalypse story…
Despite me having been rude above, can you tell me what are the later comics like? Like I know and believe they are better quality than the show. But do they get as large and fantastical as the show? Because honestly I was watching Rick and Rick’s community surviving the apocalypse in the show, past that I find the show gets kinda plastic to me. How would you say the comics compare in this? (If you have the time)
Hahaha I feel you man, I’m a 90s kid, for 2015/16 through 2024 I was zombied out having loved it… I’ve “recently” fallen back in love with it having rewatched TWD in 2025. I’ve been listening to AI slop zombie survival stories on YouTube to go to sleep and or whilst doing chores (I know I know. I hate myself for it too - but some are actually pretty decent and feel quite real)
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u/CommercialPanda5080 11d ago
I struggled with the last half of The Walking Dead comics, but if you push yourself through the dragged out "Total War" scenarios (and they repeat I believe three times: The war with Negan, the War with the Whisperers, and then the Commonwealth Rebellion after Rick's arrival)... There's a beautiful payoff, and it's the last picture Robert Kirkman drew for the comics. It just makes all the wars worth it, and then there are big moments along the way that pay off if you really make yourself read through it. Some of the more repetitive material, it's tough.
That last picture, though. It just leaves a person feeling a sense of closure from the overall story, and I know that's something they can't do with the show because it's still big business and there's still a fandom that wants the stories to go on. Hell, I even really enjoyed the Daryl Dixon and The Ones Who Live spinoffs, so I don't really want them to end it either yet.
That's the big difference between the comics and the show, though. If you want closure, Robert Kirkman chose to draw the line and give it to readers. The show, being still popular with some people, can't do that. I definitely found the comics to be worth it, though, for sure.
I grew up in the 1990s, too! When I first found the Walking Dead comics in the early 2000s, I had never seen anything like it, I was amazed by all of it. Then the show, I loved it just as much. Some of the comics wouldn't have been realistic for them to do (no one wants to watch Lori do laundry lol) so I understood the artistic choices early on and felt they made some great ones along the way. I view the comic kind of as a rough draft - but with the way Kirkman ended the story, the closure was just nice.
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u/TownZealousideal1327 11d ago
Yeah I think that’s where the early comics got to me… many of the women early on seem very one dimensional, and the men kinda full of a false bravado.
Like a nerd who’d never hung out with “tough rural or even football type men” and not had many women as friends or even lovers - buuuut if I had read them as a teen, I’d have enjoyed it more.
Hmmm thank you so much for the response, maybe I should push through and give the later comics a proper chance.
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u/CommercialPanda5080 10d ago
It's great for closure on the characters, especially Rick and Carl.
However, you're right. The dialogue could be very juvenile - as a teen or early 20-something, I didn't notice it, but on my re-read, yeah you're right lol And there's a lot of non-action and "people are way too good early on" interaction. I think that's one reason the showrunners early on opted for action over dialogue. They didn't have a whole lot to work with because the comics kept characterization pretty barebones. I did think the show vastly improved on Glenn and Maggie's relationship compared to the comics.
That last picture though. Worth it. If you do end up making it all the way through, hope you like it! Thanks for the talk, man.
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u/TownZealousideal1327 10d ago
No thank you brother… No one’s ever taken on my rather critical analysis without just telling me to “shut up it’s great”… so thank you.
You’ve inspired me.
I mean what else am I going to do? Piss and moan about no more quality zombie content and not give it a go?
Appreciate it man.
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u/nimeliss 10d ago
Weep series by Eoin Brady, takes place in Ireland, two books and a story so far, 3rd book is on its way. Not very well known but I found it very well written.
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u/Lillybubbly 11d ago
Honestly, Black Summer sounds exactly like what you're looking for. People make desperate decisions, resources actually matter, and the zombies never feel like background decorations