Almost a week has passed since The Walking Dead season 3 reached its midseason finale. On that night, Twitter and Facebook were filled with posts of people asking what to do with their Sunday nights now that they are forced to wait until February for the show to return. Well, there’s no reason for fans of The Walking Dead to be stuck watching the previous seasons (or doing something really crazy like going outside) as Robert Kirkman and the rest of the team behind The Walking Dead have put out tons of other materials that both set up the story and characters of the show and/or went off in their own directions.
The Walking Dead Vol. 1 – 17
It’s where it all started. Over the course of 102 issues, The Walking Dead has taken readers through a rollercoaster of emotions. They have seen Rick and his ever changing band of survivors try to deal with a world that can never go back to what it once was.
While viewers of the show may witness some similar instances, they will also see how two different stories have been able to be told about the same essential concept. One of the things that keeps drawing readers back is the idea that really no one is safe and characters that they fall in love with end up becoming the biggest tragedies.
The Walking Dead from Telltale Games
When Telltale Games announced it would be working on an adventure game based on The Walking Dead, it was met with mild anticipation. Not because of Telltale’s reputation for quality, but because it was an adventure game which isn’t one of the hotter genres in gaming. It has ended up becoming one of the surprise hits in gaming with talk in many outlets of being in Game of the Year contention and going as far as winning Spike TV’s Video Game Award’s Game of the Year.
The game is set in the same universe as the comic series and even includes some characters from the comics in the first episode like Glenn and Hershel but quickly departs into its own story path. Players take on the role of Lee Everett, a man on his way to jail when the zombie outbreak occurs. After the car he is in crashes around Atlanta, Lee finds himself in a world where the dead have risen and comes across a young girl named Clementine whose parents are on vacation in Savannah.
In the five episodes, there is an amazing story built around the relationship created between these two diverse characters with tons of emotion throughout. Total time for the entire first season is a little over 10 hours but it can be replayed with different decisions that will affect the story in various ways. A second season has already been announced.
The Walking Dead: Rise of The Governor & The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury
Fans of the show will quickly recognize the name of The Governor. Before he made his way to the screen, The Governor first appeared in the pages of The Walking Dead comics. But Robert Kirkman wasn’t content to let the back story of The Governor and the town of Woodbury alone. He would write two novels that helped fill in the gaps of the comic’s universe to help readers learn more about the past and motivations of this brutal character.
The Walking Dead Board Game
From the team at Cryptozoic, The Walking Dead Board Game is set in the universe of the TV series. For two to four people, players take the role of survivors Rick, Shane or others as they try to make their way out of Atlanta to the CDC. Most unlike the show, this game is competitive and not about making sure everyone makes it out alive. While it is the only thing listed here that you can’t do alone, it’s probably good to get to know some of your friends a little better just in case the zombie apocalypse does really happen and you need to know who to stick by to survive. Cryptozoic is the company behind other licensed games like the World of Warcraft CCG.
