The Walking Dead Omnibus Volume 2

Every time I have a nightmare about zombie hordes, I swear off all forms of zombie-centric media, because the dreams are so grim and negative. Of course, I break my resolution every chance I get. I don't know what my problem is.

Today I received the The Walking Dead Omnibus Volume 2 and I'm ready to feed my nightmares once again. It's a massive hardbound, slipcased anthology of the terrific Image comic book series by Robert Kirkman about a small band of humans struggling to live in a world filled with undead flesh eaters.

Omnibus Volume 2 contains issues 25-48 of the comic book. Walking Dead Omnibus Volume 1 contains the first 24 issues. Used copies are on Amazon for $350. A better way to get caught up is by purchasing the hardback anthologies. Book 1 has the first 12 issues, and Book 2 has issues 13-24.

Previously:

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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anthony

Someone needs to begin compiling zombie horde dreams. This person would be the new Alan Lomax. C’mon! Who among you has not had a zombie dream or many?
Anonymous

@#13 Don’t hold your breath for an ending. In the first trade Kirkman says he has not plotted out an ending to the series. He said the thing he hates about most zombie stories is that they end and he’s always wondering what happens next. The series is often refered to as ‘a continuing tale of survival.’ He wants to just keep writing the series until he has no more stories to tell or Image forces him to stop, which ain’t happening anytime soon. It’s not like Y or Vertigo series where the writer has a complete story that was plotted out mostly before they started. Kirkman has said in multiple interviews that while he does plot things out ahead of time, he doesn’t have an end planned for any of his books right now, he just keeps making it up as he goes along.
FoetusNail

Can’t say I understand the zombie horde fascination. The stories are all the same, it’s like watching I Love Lucy over and over.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  it’s like watching I Love Lucy over and over.
  
  Isn’t that the quintessence of normal human behavior?
Takuan

exactly
anthony

Foetus, It’s a perfect metaphor for the times. Don’t you sometimes think of yourself as the only sane/”living” person in a sea of cannibalistic “consumers”?

Don’t you dream about zombies, too?
Takuan

http://www.destination360.com/north-america/mexico/images/s/mexico-day-of-the-dead.jpg
Takuan

http://rlove.org/images/paris_catacombs_20061210.jpg
Barnaby Claydon

Oh I’m so glad you posted this Mark!

I had vol 9 of the graphic novel format on pre-order for ages and it just arrived except I was under the impression it was the conclusion… but it appears to not be. Hence, I’m not entirely clear how many more I’ve got to look-out for. Does this Omnibus Vol 2 conclude the series? Is it /ever/ going to end?

I need closure on all this character development and plot twists!
avantard

@#2 A lot of us read comics that way. Part of the draw is the serialized format with the monthly cliffhanger. That said, this one I collect in the trade paperback format instead, since I started that way.

@#6 Guilt-free, aside from the guilt of stealing from an indie artist. If you can’t afford an omnibus like this, you can always pay $15 for a 6-issue trade.

@#13 Dear lord if you think this series is concluded you are sorely mistaken. Based on recent interviews we’re only at the halfway point… or possibly the end of Act 1. This is serialized fiction, it’s not meant to end until the publisher and/or author calls it quits. yes, it will end, but the story has just seen a dramatic shift that’s set it on an entirely new course. There’s plenty of this world left to explore.
madzack

i love this comic.
FoetusNail

Read some SF when I was younger, but read more non-fiction now. When you put it that way it makes some sense. I suppose the metaphor was always lost on me.
Slowermo

I’m pretty inexperienced with comic books and I’ve only read them, including The Walking Dead, in hardback anthologies. It seems like it would be incredibly slow and annoying to read issue to issue. It would take two minutes to read and I would never remember what was happening by the next issue. Does anyone read comics like that?
Mark Frauenfelder

You are right. Slowermo. It really is better to wait and read anthologies.
Anonymous

Holy Smokes! I have a copy of V1 “Deluxe”. People are selling it for insane prices! I am tempted to sell mine, use the money to buy the standard hardcovers, then go out to dinner! One guy is selling his for a grand? People are nuts!
freshyill

@Avantard

I used to buy the trades *and* individual issues of The Walking Dead. Unfortunately, I moved recently to North Carolina, and I can’t find a comic shop anywhere (the closest one is 82 miles away). I can’t read *any* of the comics I’d like to.

My solution is to download the individual issues of the Walking Dead (not without a certain degree of guilt), and then buy the trades as they become available. It’s not a perfect solution, but at least Kirkman’s getting some of the money I’m trying to give him.
SlightlyMadman

I must be the only one who thinks these books are sorta crap. I’m a huge fan of the zombie genre, and appreciate the humanist approach and depth of material, but the writing is just horrific. I keep picking these up, hoping the next will be somewhat readable, but the dialog more often than not just makes me cringe.
jim

Introducing me to “The Walking Dead” in particular, and Zombie Literature in general; more than makes up for Cory being wrong about nearly everything else! P.S. did I do right with the semicolon?
Bionicrat2

@ #4
You are correct. You are the only one. The great writing is the primary draw to this series. Of course, EVERY time Cory or another Boingboinger writes praise for the series a couple of folks come in and rant about the detailed violence that has popped up throughout the last 20 or so issues.

@#2 and #3 (Mark!)
It’s how I have almost exclusively read comics for the past 5 years. I only recently learned that there is a term for us in the comic community: trade-waiters.

That said, these giant-sized hard cover anthologies I find hard to read – physically. Almost impossible in bed. Absolute Watchmen was certainly worth it for the detail it provided, but otherwise there is a major convenience virtue to the trade paperbacks.
Barnaby Claydon

@#15 & @#20:

Thanks for setting me straight. God knows what I read that made me think it was ending. Hmm… actually I guess the WikiPedia page is kind of stale and I thought there was also a wrap-up party for the final issue a while ago. Maybe that was Y though.

Ah well, lots more zombie-fighting single-parent amputee hero action to go! Yay!
antquinonez

Get the torrent! Guilt free reading without spending all the money on those ‘collectables’!