The 'Guts' Cover, With Art From Tony Moore

Here it is, the cover to "Guts: The Anatomy of The Walking Dead," with art by Tony Moore:

Grisly, right? I love it. Tony was the original artist on the graphic novels, a childhood friend of Robert Kirkman's, and they developed the story together. It was a big deal to get him to do the cover art for the book, and I'm very excited about it.

Publication is set for October, right around the time that season 8 of the show will premiere. If you want to order it now on Amazon, the page is here.

Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, Orphan Black, Mr. Robot, Z Nation, Humans, Even Rick and Morty - an Epic, Seven-in-One Piece of Fan Fiction

This is going to be the best "very special episode of" ever.

Who doesn't love a good crossover? You know, like Ray Romano showing up on King of Queens. The doctors from St. Regis having a drink at Cheers. Granny from the Beverly Hillbillies appearing on Mister Ed.

I guess that was on my mind lately. I was wondering - as many have - if there was any way to connect the cast of The Walking Dead with the spinoff show Fear the Walking Dead (I recap both shows for the WSJ, as you can see here and here, so I tend to think about them quite a bit.) The former is set in Georgia, and the latter in Los Angeles, and in case you don't know, the trains aren't running. So having these two groups of apocalypse survivors meet is pretty unlikely, but not impossible. Maybe it would have something to do with the cast of Z Nation? After all, they're in the same zombie boat, and trying to get from the east coast to California.

Then it occurred to me that there are a bunch of shows I watch that could conceivably be crossed over. Besides the three zombie shows, I also like Mr. Robot, Orphan Black, and Humans. Could there be a way to write one story that combines characters from all those shows? Just for fun, as a sort of as a writer's exercise, I tried to dream up a way to do it.

It all tumbled together quickly. Within an hour had the outline of one story that connects every show I follow on a regular basis. Essentially, it's this: A hacker society knocks out power across the country, which releases deadly rats from a genetics lab that spread a zombie plague. The only way to stop it is for the scientists at the lab to get back the one man who is immune, but he's clear across the country.

You can see where it's going if you watch the shows. What's more, it works out in a way that is actually pretty organic. It connects several completely separate shows (well, sort of completely separate) and doesn't violate the internal logic of any of them, I think, taking only minor liberties.

I even figured out a way to get a Rick and Morty cameo in there.

The Walking Dead Premiere at Madison Square Garden

I was lucky enough to get a press pass to attend Friday night's "Walking Dead" extravaganza at Madison Square Garden. You can read my piece on it for the Journal here. But, I took a bunch of photos, most of which we couldn't use for the post, so I thought I'd share those here.

I will say, personally, it was a blast. It was very unusual to watch a TV show in a theater setting, with a huge high-def screen and pounding sound system. With more than 10,000 other fans cheering and screaming, it was unlike almost anything else I've ever experienced.

They really did a great job of creating the right atmosphere. They had people shambling around dressed up like zombies:

And they even trucked in the Governor's aquarium:

Norman Reedus

I should've posted this a while ago, just been busy on a whole load of other things, which I'll be talking about more over the rest of this year. In the meantime, we were lucky enough to snag Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl Dixon on "The Walking Dead" for this interview back in the beginning of March. 

Also, if you've got nothing better to do, here's my season finale recap. The last three episodes, we were not provided with screeners, so I was watching, taking notes, and writing all at the same time. Wasn't easy. Anyhow, it was a fun season - I know "fun" sounds odd to attach to a show about human catastrophe - and I'm already looking forward to October, when the show comes back, the Grimes clan fights it way out of that rail car, Carol and Tyreese find Terminus, and we finally find out what happened to Beth. We have to find out what happened to Beth.

'The Walking Dead' is Back

"The Walking Dead" is back, and so are my recaps, which will appear every Sunday night right after the show ends on the Journal's Speakeasy blog.

Here's an excerpt from this week's recap. I also wrote a piece about the show, its fans and the economy.

"The Walking Dead” returned to AMC on Sunday night for its fourth season. The show that was apparently too bloody and too gory for the genteel folk at the Emmys is back in all its blood-soaked glory, and it’s finding new ways to dump zombies right into our laps.

No kidding. Tonight’s big set-piece involves an abandoned supermarket, zombies on the roof, and an Army helicopter. It’s not just a bloodfest, though. There is some very nuanced story telling here, and as we’re re-introduced to the characters, we see how much has changed since the Governor mowed down his own people and left Rick Grimes in control of the countryside around the West Georgia Correctional Facility – and how much hasn’t changed.

The Walking Dead Season 4 Trailer: Sanctuary

"Sanctuary. Those who arrive...survive."

If this trailer was on cassette tape - if you're old enough to remember cassettes - I'd have already worn it out. I can't stop watching this thing, and October can't come fast enough.


From about midseason on during season three, I was writing the Walking Dead recaps for the Journal's Speakeasy blog. I think I'll be doing it again. It ends up taking much more time than you might think; the reviewers get sent "screeners," so we can watch the episodes ahead of time. Which means I'd end up watching it two or three times during the week, and then write the recap, which always ended up being like 1,300 words that I'd try to whittle down.

So, after my day job, my family life, and The Walking Dead, well, that was pretty much every waking moment. Oh, and football, of course. Can't forget football.

You also lose a little of the excitement of seeing the show live on Sunday night with the rest of the fans, everybody screeching on Twitter and the text messages between me and my sister, and all that, you kind of get pulled out of that community a little bit, the visceral, holy sh..! moments that are so much fun.

On the other hand, it was kind of fun to do the recaps, to be on that other side. I'd never done that before, and it was a challenge to write good reviews, to capture the show, find the flaws, and to satisfy the readers who invariably are also heavily invested in the show.

One way or another, can't wait for Oct. 13.

"Sanctuary. Those who arrive...survive."

Investment Lessons from 'The Walking Dead'

Here's a snippet from my latest MoneyBeat post, "Investment Lessons from The Walking Dead."

Gene Page/AMC

You can learn a lot about investing by watching a show about a zombie apocalypse. 

I’ve been moonlighting as a TV critic for our Speakeasy blog, writing the recaps for AMC’s hit show The Walking Dead. I’d watch the show, then watch it again, then watch it again, looking for themes, angles, the human element that raised the story above a mere zombie gorefest. 

What I also realized is that there’s some good lessons in the show for investors, as well. Because, really, investing these days is not exactly unlike trying to survive in a plague-riddled Georgia countryside after a zombie apocalypse hits.  

Here, then, is a short list of lessons that investors can draw from The Walking Dead, with relevant market analogies from two long-term, value-focused money managers and fans of the show, Jim O’Shaughnessy of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management in Stamford, Conn., and John Schwinghamer of ScotiaMcLeod of Montreal. 

Don’t toy with zombies, kid. In season two, young, curious Carl Grimes comes across a zombie trapped in mud. Rather than run, Carl plays games with the zombie. He toys with it, throws rocks, pokes it with a stick. Of course the zombie gets loose, nearly eats Carl, and creates havoc down the road.

Relevant market analogy: “A lot of companies are like zombies that are stuck in the mud, they’re moving but the lights aren’t really on,” said Schwinghamer, who’s also author of the book Purple Chips. “These are companies that keep diluting earnings, are top-line oriented and don’t do any favors for investors.” 

 You can read the rest at MoneyBeat.