A few months ago I was walking through the very crowded halls of the Jacob Javitz Center in Manhattan with my daughter Meghan. Meg and I were caught up in the magic, the excitement, and the absolutely insane crowds of our very first New York Comic Con. Now if you’ve never been to this annual extravaganza, I highly recommend it. Although maybe skip going on a Saturday your first time. I’m just saying. Anyway, a HUGE part of what makes this event so incredible are the costumes. They strongly encourage participants to go all out, and boy do they ever. So our little group spent the day strolling the aisles with lots of Spider-Men, a whole lotta Wonder Women, a few monsters, a really cool Jack Skellington who I HOPE was on stilts, and one particular Dr. Manhattan who clearly knew his way around the gym…and had absolutely no shame about showing himself off.

   

At one point later in the day, after taking in all of the sights, sounds and spectacles happening around us, Meghan turned to me out of nowhere…the way that only a 9-year-old can, and she  asked “hey Dad, what’s with all of the people dressed up as zombies?” I have to admit that with everything going throughout that day, I didn’t realize it myself until that very moment. But yeah, Meghan was right. We seemed to be caught righ in the middle of our own little zombie apocalypse. And I know that as a dad I am supposed to have all of the answers, but I have to say I was stumped. “I guess they just really like zombies Meg” was pretty much all I could come up with. Then on the way into Artists Alley the mystery was solved for us. For on a HUUUGE billboard that took up nearly all of the wall over the entrance, was an advertisement for season 3 of the Walking Dead. Oddly enough, AMC’s huge hit show was kicking off its new season the very next night.
    

I have to admit, I have been a fan of zombie flicks my whole life. And take it from me, that’s a pretty long time. The campier and sillier the better too. I have a special place in my heart for the original Dawn of the Dead. That’s my all-time fave, in case you were wondering. But I have pretty much seen them all. So naturally when I first heard the buzz about a brand new show called the Walking Dead back in 2010, I was excited to say the least. And it’s premiere episode was launched on October 31. A weekly series, people and zombies, starting on Halloween? Come on now…what’s not to love!?! Okay, now I seriously doubt that anyone out there doesn’t know what the show is about at this point. I mean the title alone pretty much sums it up. But just in case, here’s the 4-1-1. The show centers around sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes, who is shot and sent into a coma right off the bat in the inaugural episode.
    

Rick wakes up in the hospital, groggy and confused, to find an almost post-apocalyptic world that his been overrun with zombies (or "walkers" as they are called in the show). So Rick sets out to find out what happened to his world…and to the wife and son he left behind when he was shot. There you go, consider yourself informed. Pretty cool concept right? Simple, yet awesome. I really do distinctly remember telling my friends how excited I was to watch the show right from the beginning. But alas, I am almost ashamed to say that for whatever reason, the first season slipped past me without me ever seeing one episode. Maybe because it was only 6 episodes long? Well whatever the reason, I clearly missed out. Because the general consensus for the show was that it was nothing short of incredible. And while I always swore I would catch up on both of the first two seasons, I was just never able to get on the Walking Dead bandwagon.
    

Cut to this season. Brand new episodes, awesome reviews from everyone, same pathetic excuses from me. Well after hearing for more than two years about how great the show was and how I was missing out on something really special…I swore that I would get caught up. The fact that season 3 was cut into two parts gave me the perfect opportunity. So I spent a good chunk of my holiday break from work on Netflix, cramming two seasons of the Walking Dead into just a few short days. And by the way, in retrospect, watching more than a dozen episodes of a show about zombies while you’re all alone in a big, cold, dark empty house that faces the woods? Probably not the smartest idea I ever had. Gotta say I was hooked from the first episode though. Hell, from the first couple of scenes. Oh yeah and it’s not a spoiler alert per se, but I plan to talk about some of the jaw-dropping events that have gone on over the three seasons so far.
    

So if you haven’t seen all of the episodes yet and still plan to, please tread through the rest of this article lightly. Not trying to ruin things for anyone. But anyway, the feeling of desperation and loneliness you get from Rick as he rides into Atlanta on a horse at the start of season one was enough to reach out and grab me. From there on it has been an amazing ride that I don’t want to end. Now I know this sounds like a naïve thing to think, but I couldn't help but wonder to myself if zombies eat animals. Or do they just crave human blood, or brains, or meat, or whatever it is that zombies crave. Well I got the answer that I was looking for about five minutes later. Rick turns a corner on an Atlanta street, only to come face to face with a sea of hungry zombies. Obviously Rick makes it out okay. But I still feel bad for that poor horse, who was sent to that great stable in the sky in one of the most gruesome scenes you will ever witness on TV.
    

That alone is one of the most amazing parts of the show. This is TELEVISION! It’s cable TV fine, but it’s basic cable, and it’s still pretty intense stuff. Every week people and/or animals get butchered before your very eyes. There is plenty of blood, guts, body parts and gore to last a lifetime. Oh yeah, and NO ONE is safe. Be careful which of the characters you get invested in. Because they can truly be here one second…gone the next…from the most minor character to a show regular. For me, that moment couldn’t be struck home harder than the scene in season two when Carol’s daughter Sophia, who had been missing for days, emerges from the barn as a walker. Maybe there have been some cooler, bloodier, more shocking or thrilling seasons in three seasons so far…but that is definitely the one that hit me the hardest. It was the moment where you could almost SEE the hope come out of everyone, and my heart broke for all of them.
    

If you’re wondering how I can sound like I am sooooo invested in fictional people, you clearly aren't watching the show. Because of the desperate situation they let you in on every week, it’s almost impossible to not root for these people to survive and endure. Well, most of these people anyway. I couldn’t WAIT for Shane to go. On the other side of the coin though, I HATED to see Dale die. In my opinion he was the one shred of humanity they had in a world that had spiraled out of control. So I banged out the first two seasons in almost junkie-like fashion, because I definitely couldn’t get enough. Then on New Year’s Eve, AMC ran a marathon of all of the episodes in season 3 so far…and I am not even almost ashamed to say that I rang in the new year with Rick, Carl, Daryl, Carol, T-Dog, Glen, Maggie, Herschel, etc. Season 3 said goodbye to a few characters, brought back some old faces, introduced some new ones, and took a few people to the bring of sanity...Rick especially.
       

And it’s not a classic show in the making unless you leave the audience with a cliffhanger before you take your break. Always leave em wanting more they say. I definitely do. Want more that is. Now that I am officially caught up to the rest of The Walking Dead community, I am chomping at the bit for the second half of season 3 to get underway. The big questions for the new episodes? Well first and foremost we need to discover if Daryl and Merle can figure a way out. Daryl by the way, is a great example of a character I didn’t like at first, and love now. Then there is the question of what the Governor will do now that he knows where Rick and his people are holed up. Or how about where Andrea’s alliances are? And what about the new people that made their way to the prison. Or what kind of life baby Judith has in store for her? I for one can’t wait to find out.

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Oh yeah…and if that’s not enough….there’s all those damn zombies too!