The start to the Walking Dead comic book series starts off rather brilliantly like Danny Boyle’s excellent horror film “28 Days Later” My daughter, Marisa realized the similarities right away. She is a huge fan of that film as well.

She noticed Boyle’s zombies are not the traditional zombies of cinematic lore but infected, angry and VERY fast creatures. We totally loved that. But the start of “The Walking Dead” and the opening to “28 days” is where the similarities end.

“Walking Dead” starts off a in lonely, zombie infested hospital (like “28 Days”) with a lone survivor waking up to a Hell beyond description. From there the story hooks and grabs us with what is called the “McGuffin” and never lets go.

Maris (pardon the pun) ate it all up with relish and fervor. I must admit I admired her for seeing what lies beneath the facade of the Zombie plague story. A survival and love story. A story about family, hope and about friendship with some zombies thrown in to mix it all up a bit.

I’m particularly happy about how well received the series is in Marisa’s case. Sure, she is biased when it comes to horror but she just doesn’t like any old thing. Like “The Walking Dead” it must have engaging characters, symbolism and great flow to work. The art ain’t so bad either.

Moore’s art is very imaginative, realistic and visceral where it counts and it can be very emotional as well. Marisa and I have been hooked since day one. The story plays out like a complicated horror/drama teetering on soap. I think that is another reason Marisa likes it and of course we love the occasional zombie munching. We love the suspense and the danger that lurks right around the next page. A universe that is always unfolding where we are not sure when and how a zombie is going to strike. We like our zombies well fleshed out.