The world seems a more obsolete place this since March 30, when AMC’s hit drama “The Walking Dead” went on hiatus until the premiere of its fifth season in October.

However, not all is lost for those of us who are unhealthily obsessed with the going-ons of the Ricktatorship, for the show is based upon a comic book of the same name, written by Robert Kirkman.

“The Walking Dead” comic series follows Rick Grimes, a police officer who wakes from a coma and finds himself in the midst of the zombie apocalypse.

He then sets out to protect his family from the undead masses as well as other survivors.

The comic was originally published in 2003 and has 124 issues and counting, so it would be tedious to go into more plot detail.

Rick Grimes the comic book character was ranked the 26th Greatest Comic Book Hero of All Time in 2011, perhaps because Kirkman can literally keep throwing horrible situations at him forever because the comic does not have one set path or one set ending (expect for possibly the death of Rick Grimes…)

“The Walking Dead” comic is available to read to many ways; currently, there are 21 trade paperbacks consisting of about six issues each, nine hardcovers of twelve issues each, four deluxe books of 24 issues including extra, and two 48-issue compendiums.

Or if you are poor or do not understand how libraries work, you can definitely find them online for free.

“The Walking Dead” comic series and “The Walking Dead” television show have a wide range of similarities, mostly they follow the same story map and run into the same bad guys, meaning both are set in Georgia and characters share names. But mostly the two are different.

Specifically, just because one character shares the name in both the comic and on television, does not mean they are the same in both.

And just a warning to those who would pick up the comic in order to stare longingly at the beautiful, Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus, our sweet crossbow shooting savior is not a character in the comics and will most likely never be in the comics.

However, basically every other show character is also a comic character, such as Glenn, Michonne, The Governor, Carl Grimes, etc.

In order to be able to enjoy “The Walking Dead” in both television and comic forms, one must be able to separate the two in his or her mind.

If not, the two with jumble in an inconsistent mess of sexy dads and zombies bits.

Paige Jurgensen

Columnist

Paige       Jurgensen               can          be            reached   at             [email protected]