It’s always fun to see how The Walking Dead comic compares to the show based on it. Sometimes the show explores entirely new characters and locations and sometimes the show is very true to the comic book. Tonight’s episode (#409—”After”) is of the latter variety. Almost all of tonight’s episode is taken directly from Volume 9: Here We Remain (specifically issues 49 and 50), with Michonne’s flashback from the Michonne Special, a 6-page back story that first appeared in Playboy in March 2012.
While the Michonne flashback is framed as a dream sequence which takes place in an apartment, in the comic it’s more straight-forward.
The Prison opening and the Rick and Carl portion of episode 409 is visually VERY similar to Volume 09 (issues ). Here we see some key scenes and how they compare.
Michonne comes across Hershel’s severed head (in the comic book it was Tyreese that the Governor held captive and eventually decapitated) and puts him out of his misery:
Rick and Carl explore an abandoned BBQ Joint and come across a walker. Rick attempts to stop it with a hatchet but merely embeds his blade in it’s skull:
Carl ultimately intervenes, despite Rick’s instructions to the contrary:
And once they find sanctuary, Rick examines his wounds:
The next day, almost an entire sequence is right out of the comic as Carl is unable to wake Rick, begins yelling, which attracts walkers, then lures the walkers away from the house, takes care of them, pukes, and smiles—pleased with his ability to survive. Here’s the truncated version:
When Carl returns to the house, he finds Rick in the same condition he left him, and takes out his frustration:
And last, we see what happens when Rick finally wakes up, but sounds a bit too much like a walker. Luckily, Carl is unable to pull the trigger (again, truncated):
It’s an amazing few issues. If you want to pick up Volume 09: Here We Remain, you can do so RIGHT HERE. Use Coupon code AAGGGGH to save 10% on Volume 09 through next week! And as always, you can pick up individual issues on either Comixology or ImageComics.com!
Excellent stuff – love seeing how the two stack up alongside each other. I did something similar for a conference paper using Season 1. Link is here:
http://www.slideshare.net/rob_jewitt/adapting-the-walking-dead-long
You might want to skip to slide 17!
wow…barring the head difference, the show definitely stayed true to the comics.
I wish Michonne’s reunion with Rick & Carl would’ve been the same as in the comics.
Yeah, the comic’s version was way better, but the show was still ok.
I liked the show just because of the emotinal moment that took place. I liked the comic version but the acting was so well done.
wow. God Carl’s acting is amazing. i surely hope that now people don’t tell him to stay in the house. when the whole rick-as-a-walker thing happened, he just….wow. just made me think what is possible with a lot of hard work. Aplause to him and to all the cast. but especially to him. Allbeit the puke thing did gross me out. my favorite line from that episde? “there was more but….I ate it.” “what was it?” “a 112 ounce can of pudding.”
I agree he is a great actor.
I found the parts where he was angry a bit dodgy but Jesus, that final scene with the crying and thinking his father was dead was done perfectly. I think it’s been one of the best personal moments of the series.
agreed. one of my friends was telling me how awful that episode was. then they were saying he was only a mediocre young actor who shouldnt be tasked with monolouges. then of course, the song f you rang into my head. oh modern day music, how correct you are!
Very cool how the show and the comic was almost hand in hand
The walking dead season 4 episode 9 http://tvlando.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-walking-dead-s04e09.html
Kudos to Chandler’s acting last night. I could feel that last scene where he truly thought for a moment he was alone and would rather die than be by himself.
This was a really GREAT premiere….
i was worried michone would be like “its just a halucination.” and chop off carl and ricks heads.
Now looking at this again been awhile since I’ve been on issue 49 I needed a refresher they did a phenomenal job adapting this .
So, easier to deal with Carl’s behavior? I figure it had been a while for you & that’s why you mentioned that in the recap post.
Yes . It’s sometimes hard for me to remember being a teenager and the emotions that come with it he did a very good job he’s very gifted . Being a father I immediately put myself in Rick’s position nothing against Carl but after thinking it over I was just like him at that age and there were no zombies around .
Yeah, same here…difference with me is that I would’ve gotten my butt T-O-R-E UP long before I stopped wearing that Science Dog T-Shirt! lol!
see, it wasnt just that one scene…the one everybody is talking about…it was also the “i saved you’ speech. the was he had intenation on maggie’s name….it was stunning. litterally stunning. he just seemed so into it…i wish he could be in this one movie i’m writing.
seeing that hillbilly farmer walker must have brought back ose not-so-good memories for carl. anyone recognise it? its the one that killed dale. its the one CARL accidently didnt shoot. so, no, rick couldnt protect anyone….but it so seems the same for carl.
ya know, exept for this episode.
LOVE YOU CARL!!!
Hopefully Carl still gets to shine in the rest of this season.
#bringonthecarl
I didn’t realize that the Hershals head scene was Tyreases head in the comics. Well played Kirkman!
is it just me, or in that scene where carl is crying, carls voice went up about two octives?
I love the show and I love the comics! I respect Kirkman for wanting to keep some elements from the comic different from the show, but honestly, I wish the writers and producers would do more of this! It’s nice to see the comic book played out on the screen. I understand the need for different stories and “filler” episodes, but this was great! Keep more episodes like this coming!
First of all, sorry for my bad english.
I’m getting tired of Adlard´s drawing “style”. When the first books came out I thought Tony Moore accomplished a great work. Then came Adlard and the visual quality dropped dramatically. In some places the drawing is crappy enough that it´s hard to differentiate the faces of two different characters. Please Kirkman, hire some one more talented. I am going to purchase the TPB #10 and I’m tired of Adlard’s work, your writing is very good but the visual experience has left much to be desired
Adlard, with all respect, your ability to handle perspective and human anatomy is pretty bad.
Your development of secondary characters is very poor and uncreative, they are all so similar, in fact at the beginning of volume 9, the zombie decapitated by Michonne is very similar to Rick, I was shock because i believed that Rick had become zombie.
(Check the JPG included)
The truth is that I have tried to justify your poor drawing skills all this time, but with examples like Volume 9 of the series, its impossible.
maybe it is possible that you felt so proud drawing the walking dead, but you should seriously consider two options, either take anatomy classes or stop drawing the series and let someone with more imagination to handle it.
Sorry man, hope you don’t take this comment personal, its just about being honest.
while i do agree, that looks like rick, and while i myself dont read the comics, do not think adlard is bad. and to be honest, i’ve tried drawing comic books before, and its harder than it looks (if i can say that at 13…) and its actually quite a lot harder to draw comics than detailed pictures.
give him that, at least.