The Walking Dead as a transmedia phenomenon

Autor: Christian Vázquez Nóvoa Director: Mª Teresa Vilariño Picos The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Facultade de Filoloxía Grao en Lingua e Literatura Inglesas Xullo 2016 Traballo de Fin de Grao presentado na Facultade de Filoloxía da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela para a obtención do Grao en Lingua e Literatura Inglesas Traballo de fin de grao Autor: Christian Vázquez Nóvoa Director: Mª Teresa Vilariño Picos The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Facultade de Filoloxía Grao en Lingua e Literatura Inglesas Xullo 2016 Traballo de Fin de Grao presentado na Facultade de Filoloxía da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela para a obtención do Grao en Lingua e Literatura Inglesas Traballo de fin de grao The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction................................................................................................3 2 The Walking Dead Comic Universe...........................................................5 2.1 The Walking Dead Comic Series...........................................................5 2.1.1 .The Walking Dead Special Comics...............................................7 2.2 The Walking Dead Novels...................................................................11 2.3 .The Walking Dead Videogames..........................................................18 2.3.1 The Walking Dead: Michonne.....................................................23 3 The Walking Dead TV Universe...............................................................27 3.1 The Walking Dead TV Series..............................................................27 3.1.1 .Fear The Walking Dead..............................................................33 3.2 The Walking Dead Webisodes.............................................................36 3.2.1 “Fear The Walking Dead: Flight 462”.........................................38 3.3 .The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct..................................................39 4 Fan Phenomena........................................................................................42 5 Conclusions..............................................................................................46 Works Cited.............................................................................................48 2 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa 1. INTRODUCTION I have chosen The Walking Dead as the subject to finish my degree due to a set of personal reasons. I read the comic series for the first time in my degree's third year and it influenced me in various ways for the next years. Talking about that work itself, the attempt to continue a zombie story beyond the known limits in its genre is unique. The outcome has been successfuly exploring themes that anyone can identify with: failure, loss and then overcoming while we try to contribute to create a better future. These factors have always pushed humanity to discover a larger world than the one previously known, usually marking the end of an era, followed by a new beginning. These principles are suitable for both individuals and societies as a whole. The existence of the undead serves the purpose of increasing the idea that everything that is born must die, thus accelerating the cycles of destruction and recreation that have existed since the beginning of the world and of humankind. All these ideas are the engine of this story and most of them can be put in relation with our “networked culture”. This term is used in Henry Jenkins' recent works such as Spreadable Media: How to Create Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture (2013).1 This author is one of the pioneers in transmedia studies, his publications early highlighting the importance of fan communities.2 The term transmedia storytelling was introduced by him in an article for the Massacchussetts Institute of Technology (MIT),3 where Jenkins stated that “moving characters from books to films to video games can make them stronger and more compelling”. This idea was further developed in Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (2006)4. Its third chapter, titled “Searching for the Origami Unicorn: The Matrix and Transmedia Storytelling”, is one of the models I followed in this essay. That is where Jenkins emphasizes not only the characters in The Matrix franchise, but the world they inhabit and how it can be explored by following all the traces across diverse media. Carlos A. Scolari offers a similar approach to the well known TV show Lost in his article “Lostology: Transmedia Storytelling and Expansion/Compression Strategies”. By commenting on all the “points of entry” into both franchises,5 these authors create a guide to these fictional worlds. 1Henceforth, referred to simply as Spreadable Media. 2An example is Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture (1992). 3From <https://www.technologyreview.com/s/401760/transmedia-storytelling/> 4From this point onwards, simply mentioned as Convergence Culture. 5Referenced in the beginning of chapter 2 of this essay. 3 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa “Transmedial Worlds - Rethinking Cyberworld Design” (2004) is an article written by Lisbeth Klastrup and Susana Tosca. They introduce the concept in the title as “abstract content systems from which a repertoire of fictional stories and characters can be actualized or derived across a variety of media forms” (Klastrup and Tosca, 2004: 1). As other authors, they mention the importance of “fan following across media as well.” My purpose on this essay is creating a road map for this transmedial world that spans a variety of formats. There is no space available to explain all the views within it. However, I will make as much stops as possible during the trip in order to better explain what a story hiding behind tons of rotting flesh has to offer. Not only the creative minds associated with the franchise are given a voice in the next pages, but also my personal experience with their creations. Moreover, since The Walking Dead has invaded screens and shelves all over the world, some brief comments on the behavior of fans will also be provided. Many points that are apparently more appropriate for some chapters are distributed throughout the essay, which should be understandable if we accept the idea of transmedia being based in interconnection. As Jenkins claims in the closing paragraph of Convergence Culture: Welcome to convergence culture, where old and new media collide, where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways. Convergence culture is the future, but it is taking shape now. (Jenkins, 2006: 259-60) 4 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa 2. THE WALKING DEAD COMIC UNIVERSE Each franchise entry needs to be self-contained so you don't need to have seen the film to enjoy the game, and vice versa. Any given product is a point of entry into the franchise as a whole. Reading across the media sustains a depth of experience that motivates more consumption. Redundancy burns up fan interest and causes franchises to fail. Offering new levels of insight refreshes the franchise and sustains consumer loyalty. (Jenkins, 2006: 96) This is one of the statements by Jenkins that seems to be followed in transmedia environments even years after the publication of Convergence Culture. In the postapocalyptic world created by Robert Kirkman, this rule seems to be applied as well. Thus, he created Skybound,6 in order to keep control over any products released under the label of his creations, according to an article published in the videogame website Polygon in 2015. In that article, he also mentions the importance of keeping quality in every entry point to the franchise, avoiding the more common fact of purchasing a license and subsequently look “at ways to milk money out of it”.7 In some interviews, he has addressed his different levels of involvement in the various The Walking Dead products.8 Comics —all of them featuring black and white art—, novels and videogames are the media building the comic universe so far. They feature different approaches to the zombie theme and its storytelling, but all of them are related to each other to different degrees within this fictional world. 2.1. THE WALKING DEAD COMIC SERIES [U]na característica distintiva de los mundos transmedia es que su público y sus diseñadores comparten una imagen mental de su worldness, una idea del tiempo y el espacio del universo, de lo que se puede hacer en él y qué tipo de criaturas y seres humanos lo habitan. Dicho de una manera más simple, “lo que normalmente se siente” en ese mundo. Esta imagen mental está a menudo influida por la primera versión del mundo presentado. Llamamos a esta primera versión el ur-universo o ur-actualización. (Klastrup & Tosca, 2013: 180) 6Skybound is a transmedia company founded by Robert Kirkman and David Alpert —AMC's The Walking Dead executive producer. 7As an example, see chapter 3.3 of this essay, in which the same article is cited as well. 8From <http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/8-revelations-about-walking-dead-robert-kirkmans-redditama-156423> 5 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa Apart from the couple of terms mentioned above, these two authors also use the word ur-text or ur-world to refer to the first installment of a transmedia franchise or, as they prefer to call it, a transmedial world. Regarding our object of study, it is The Walking Dead comic series the one which fits this category. It started its publication in October 8, 2003, written by Robert Kirkman with Tony Moore providing its art until he was replaced by Charlie Adlard. It is published by Image Comics,9 a company that highlights the rights of comic creators, from which Kirkman was able to benefit. As the ur-text for this transmedial world, this comic is the core and/or origin for all the other media bearing its title. 156 issues have been released as of the date of this writing. Six issues together make a volume. Both formats will be cited throughout this essay. The original story deals with Rick Grimes, a police officer from a little town in Kentucky, who is shot while pursuing a criminal and then left in a coma. He wakes up in a hospital some time later, finding the undead wandering everywhere. He travels to Atlanta looking for his wife Lori and their son Carl, finding them along with Rick's friend and job partner Shane. All of them belong to a heterogeneous group of people camping on the outskirts of the city. From this basic summary of the plot, there are some keys to understand how transmedia storytelling takes its part in this story. One of them is the time lapse during which Rick stays in a coma, vaguely determined and also overlapping with the beginning of the zombie outbreak. The other one is the city of Atlanta. Both elements constitute the onset for both the novels and the videogames. Comments on the comic are scattered throughout this whole essay, since every franchise entry emanates from this ur-universe. However, there is a particular aspect that I would like to talk about in this chapter, even though it might be a bit abrupt to introduce it so early in my explanations. It happened very recently and it is closely related to fan phenomena, particularly to fan theories: so far, no major characters have appeared in a cover after having died, which fans have assumed as a unwritten rule.10 Covers usually mislead readers to believe that they can find relevant new information about the story on them. Thus, it might be consciously that Robert Kirkman has taken advantage of that situation —in a twisted way— for the first time. In order to contextualize, I have to explain that since the bloody events in issue 144 took place,11 the story told in the comic series has seemingly been headed for a big conflict, which was confirmed when the cover for issue 157 was made public. We also have to take into account that 9Image Comics is a comic publisher founded in 1992 by several former authors from Marvel. Robert Kirkman has become one of his partners on 2008. 10 The only exception up to issue 156 is Kal, a minor character who appeared in the cover for issue 124 despite having died on issue 123. 11 The Walking Dead #144 was released on July, 2015. It is the 6th and last part of volume 24, titled Life and Death. 6 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa covers are released three months prior to the publication of its matching comic. The title of that issue is “The Whisperer War, Part 1 of 6”, in reference to the current antagonistic group: the Whisperers. These characters wear zombie-skin suits and move along with the undead herds, rejecting civilization. Their leader, Alpha, appears in the cover for issue 157, along with Rick Grimes and several inhabitants of Alexandria.12 We have to add that the previous main villain, Negan, recently escaped his prison in Alexandria and joined the Whisperers, encouraging all kinds of theories by readers.13 14 Among these theories, Negan executing Alpha in order to gain Rick's trust was one of the most popular, but it lost strength as events went on. In straight relation to this, we have to add that the cover for issue 156, titled “Queen and King”,15 displays both villains very close to each other in an intimate pose. The release of the aforementioned cover for issue 157 with Alpha apparently confronting Rick and, one month later, the cover for issue 158 implying that Negan would be an ally of hers definitely set the new scenario from fans' perspective. However, and surprisingly, Alpha is not alive in issue 157: Negan has just decapitated her in issue 156. Of course, this starts multiple new theories about future events, since everyone's mindsets included Alpha still alive in order to, at least, begin the war. Unpredictability has been a constant in this franchise from its onset to its most recent issue, with comics leading the rest of the entries in this sense as well. In this case, the surprising part comes from the interaction between the covers and the story, as well as from what readers know about —and expect from— both of them. 2.1.1. THE WALKING DEAD SPECIAL COMICS There are additional comics that expand the world of The Walking Dead. In the first place, there is a set of four six-page issues focusing on different characters' stories before their introduction in the main comic series. These brief issues are created by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard, which guarantees their consistency with the urtext. The first of them is dedicated to Morgan and was first featured at the end of The Walking Dead #34. Morgan had already been introduced in the debut issue of the comic series, along with his son Duane, but he decided to stay in Cynthiana when Rick left towards Atlanta. This special issue shows the quiet life of both father and son after they had met Rick. It also puts on display the characters' inaccuracy to locate themselves in 12 Alexandria currently is the main setting in The Walking Dead. 13 Seen in The Walking Dead #152, published on March 2, 2016. It is the 2nd part of volume 26, Call to Arms. 14 More information on Negan in chapters 2.1.1 and 3.1 of this essay. 15 The Walking Dead #156 was published on July 7, 2016. It is the 6th and last part of volume 26: Call to Arms. 7 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa the calendar: Morgan delivers a Christmas present to Duane, claiming that “it could be two days past Christmas”. This parallels the main comic series, in which the characters have the same dilemma. Father and son are later found in the main series by Rick.16 Duane had turned into a zombie and Morgan had become mentally unstable due to his loneliness, henceforth joining the leading characters. Another special comic, starring Michonne, was first released in the Playboy issue published on March 16, 2012. In this one-shot —or independent issue—, the reader is given account on how Michonne obtained her katana and the two mutilated zombies she was using to camouflage herself when she first appeared in The Walking Dead.17 This issue tells how, in the early days of the apocalypse, she manages to survive at home along with her boyfriend and a friend of his. When Michonne she is looking for supplies, she makes a stop at her neighbours' house, where she finds the katana. When she manages to return home, her boyfriend and his friend have already turned into zombies. Defending herself, Michonne cuts their arms and jaws, making the two of them unharmful and realizing that she could use them to move among all the other undead that populated Atlanta. Taking advantage of that fact, she achieves to run into the rest of the characters in the comic series. The concision of this short issue allows for even further development on the character's past story, which is explored in The Walking Dead: Michonne.18 The third of these short stories focuses on The Governor,19 the first prominent villain in the comic series and a leading character in the novel series.20 Several times in the comics, a set of fish tanks with zombie heads in them were seen in The Governor's apartment. “The Governor Special” tells how this character gathered the fish tanks helped by a man, Scott, who was killed by the villain after completing the task. That is how he becomes the first victim in the The Governor's collection of heads. On the one hand, this issue explains why The Governor wants such a collection: he wants to look at horrors until he is not scared anymore. On the other hand, it also reveals the precise circumstances of the demise of Scott, who is a prominent character in the novel The 16 Seen in The Walking Dead #58, published on February 12, 2009, as the 4th part of volume 10: What We Become. 17 Seen in The Walking Dead #19, published on June 1, 2005. It is the 1st part of volume 4: The Heart's Desire. 18 See chapter 2.3.1 of this essay. 19 “The Governor Special” was released on February 13, 2013. 20 The Walking Dead novel series is analysed in chapter 2.2 of this essay. 8 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa Woodbury soldiers fallen in that battle. It is in this whole sequence when we realise that Lilly also featured in the comic: she is the murderer of Lori and Judith —Rick's wife and their new born baby—, which is the “something huge and epochal to the story” referred to by Bonansinga when he describes the character. Following this moment, the text puts on display Lilly's stream of counciousness: finding out that she had just killed a baby is even more shocking for her after her recent abortion. Thus, her true reasons to suddenly murder the Governor, are made clear. In Lilly's only scene in the comics, she just follows The Governor's orders to kill the enemy. When the task is completed, and in deep regret for her actions, she immediately puts down her leader. The team formed by Kirkman and Bonansinga has built a whole story based on a character that only appeared in some vignettes. Lilly's story since her introduction in the second novel was meant to lead readers to this event, bonding both mediums even more strongly. Furthermore, we also get to read that she, along with some other Woodbury survivors, managed to survive. As a matter of fact, they had not been featured in the comic ever since The Governor's death. Another connection worth mentioning is Lilly's remorse while her group, during the aftermath of the slaughter, is trapped inside the prison. In those hours, her repentance is unbearable when she sees the bedroom of a child named Sophia and its childish decoration. Sophia is, indeed, one of the children among the comic protagonists. This is also a chance for comic readers to revisit one of the most emblematic settings in the series. After they manage to escape, Lilly's first deed as the new leader of Woodbury is killing zombie Penny and burying her, thus giving a full closure to the Blake family not seen in the comics. She also destroys the fish tanks in which The Governor collected undead heads, hence she finds out what happened to her friend Scott. Some instances of scenes featuring The Governor and Lilly's stream of conciousness narration have already been mentioned. Nevertheless, those are not the only times that this kind of storytelling appears in the novel series. Speaking the truth, it is the main device for character development and the distinctive trait for this branch of The Walking Dead transmedial world. In the comic series, the characters reject talking very much about their previous lives, since it is pointless for who they are in the apocalypse. This idea is also true for the novels, but with the insight obtained through the omniscient narrator, readers learn much more details about these characters' inner struggles than they will ever do with the comic protagonists. This literally confirms 15 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa Henry Jenkins' thought about different “levels of insight” (Jenkins, 2006: 96) that should be offered in each entry point to any franchise. Other authors support the novel format to “introduce your audience to the voice of your main character or characters” (Bernardo, 2014: 67). About these particular works, Jay Bonansinga asserts: I think the books are an opportunity for fans to go deeper into the psychology. With the others you can’t really get internal monologue, you can’t really get thought and feeling. It’s all visual. With a book you get to look at where these people came from and see their trauma, their childhood, their loves, their losses, their grief, who they are. You can find out more about settings too. Woodbury is a real place, you can go visit it. The book gives you a deeper texture of the town and what’s beyond the borders and the frames of the comic book. It also can provide a more vivid, visceral gross out.37 We can fin more examples of comic-novel connections within the first chapters of The Fall of the Governor, Part One. For instance, when Lilly and some of her colleagues are scouting the areas surrounding Woodbury, they find a zombie whose description perfectly matches Andrew's. He was one of the inmates of the prison in the comics, who had ran away from the place after a failed rebellion against Rick's group.38 This novel is the only source in which his fate is confirmed, since he was never seen in the comics after his getaway. Moreover, from this book onwards we get to know Gloria, one of the citizens of Woodbury. She is initially vaguely described as a woman wearing a cap who takes part in Tyreese's capture. This is a very important turn of events in the ur-text, where Tyreese is a prominent character. His capture is followed by his traumatic death. With his demise, comic readers were once sent a message that had not been so striking until that moment: no one is safe. As it was stated before, the comic did not provide an actual approach to many members of the Woodbury attacking force, Gloria among them. Indeed, if we read comic issues 45 and 46, in which Tyreese is captured, among his capturers there is a woman who wears a cap. The emphasys here relays on the fact that the novels present a new notable character for their storyline in the same sequence of events that results in the death of one of the main comic chararters. This fact is also consistent with the source story: the introduction of new prominent characters has been followed by the death of some of the leading veterans more than 37 See footnote 27. 38 Seen in The Walking Dead #19, published on June 1, 2005. It is the first part of volume 4: The Heart's Desire. 16 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa once. Furthermore, another remarkable trait is the description of comic protagonists, even those who never got into direct touch with the novel characters. Let us pick, for instance, Andrea. She is an outstanding sniper in Rick's group who manages to greatly diminish Woodbury's forces. She has also become one of the longest surviving characters in the comic and a fan favourite. Hence, seeing a distant description of her, mixing both hatred, fear and fascination, is an added value to comic readers. After this novel, in which the overlapping with the comic storyline ends, Robert Kirkman leaves Lilly and her surviving colleagues to Jay Bonasinga's complete will. With this, the novel series definitely runs separate ways from the ur-text. Thus, Bonansinga has written Descent (2014) and Invasion (2015). In both cases, the antagonist is Jeremiah James Garlitz, a preacher willing to fullfill “God's will” to erase mankind. In Descent, he manages to severely damage the walls of Woodbury. As a result, many of its remaining inhabitants die devoured by zombies or caught in the gunfire, including most of Jeremiah's allies. He gets to escape with two of his comrades and in the first chapters of Invasion they find a new group whose leader is killed by the preacher. Then, he persuades the rest of the members in that new group to attack the survivors from Woodbury. If you swap Jeremiah for The Governor in the TV show, this is an almost exact transcription from the first episodes of season 4.39 However, the TV show has also made its borrowings from this book series, as it will be later commented on. About the future of this series, a new novel has been announced to be launched on October, 2016. Its title will be The Walking Dead: Search and Destroy. Its official synopsis displays that “Lilly and her plague-weary band of survivors” are the protagonists again. It goes on by saying that “banding together with other small town settlements, they begin a massive project to refurbish the railroad between Woodbury and Atlanta”.40 This seems like an approach to the current situation in the comics, where a net of communities has been established and communications improved. Concluding this chapter, some details in the novel contradict parts of the comic, even though these are minor parts. The passage of time has always been confusing in the franchise, but the omniscient narrator in the book series usually sets the time of the global outbreak in an unlikely time: two years before The Fall of the Governor. That would conflict the comic 39 “Live Bait”, the 6th episode of season 4, aired on November 17, 2013. “Dead Weight”, the 7th episode of season 4, aired on November 24, 2013. 40 From <http://us.macmillan.com/robertkirkmansthewalkingdeadsearchanddestroy/robertkirkman> 17 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa storyline, since barely a year has passed up until that moment in the timeline. Whether it is an unreliable narrator what is faced in this case or a lack coherence between both mediums is unknown. What is for sure is that the retelling of the story changing perspectives is, generaly speaking, quite solid. 2.3. THE WALKING DEAD VIDEOGAMES Under licensing, the central media company —most often the film producers— sells the rights to manufacture products using its assets to an often unaffiliated third party; the license limits what can be done with the characters or concepts to protect the original property. Soon, licensing will give way to what industry insiders are calling “co-creation.” In co-creation, the companies collaborate from the beginning to create content they know plays well in each of their sectors, allowing each medium to generate new experiences for the consumer and expand points of entry into the franchise. (Jenkins, Convergence Culture, 2006: 105) Proving this statement by Henry Jenkins to be true, Robert Kirkman's company Skybound has taken control over every product related to the comic branch of this intellectual property. The Walking Dead (2012), developed by Telltale Games, was supervised by the comic writer and its company. To achieve this, Skybound has hired Dan Murray as a Transmedia Producer,41 who leads the videogame projects of the company. Its episodic structure keeps it even closer to the source material, by following a bimonthly schedule that keeps players guessing about the future development of the plot. Moreover, every episode is followed by a preview of the next one and preceded by a recapitulation of previous events, thus mirroring a TV series. Its continuity through seasons also contributes to that similarity. Two seasons, each containing five episodes, have been released so far, besides the interstitial downloadable content “400 Days” (2013). A third season is already in the works. In the first videogame —or the first season— the main character is Lee Everett, a man who is being carried from Atlanta to prison for having killed his wife and her lover. However, the vehicle in which he is being transported has an accident when the driver tries to evade a zombie in the road, which he got confused with a living person. This is how Lee becomes conscious of the existence of zombies. Shortly after that, he 41 Recognized as a standard job by the Producers Guild of America in 2010, according to Henry Jenkins and his co-writing partners in Spreadable Media. 18 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa finds Clementine, a little girl whose parents were in a trip for some days. He immediately feels protective towards her, helping her to be a stronger survivor. As usual in the franchise, they search for a safe place along with other people who is found on the way. Since we get to see the beginning of the apocalypse, it is clear that the videogame's storyline starts while the comic protagonist is in a coma. One of the first places Lee and Clementine visit is the Greene farm, one of the flagship locations in the franchise. They are led there by a young man called Shawn. Probably, many players who had also read the comics did not notice at first sight that they had already met Shawn in its pages, but he was quite different. He appeared in issue 11 of the comic book,42 being Hershel's older son turned into a zombie. He was kept in the farm barn as his father waited for a possible cure to the infection. In the videogame, when the player visits the place while controlling Lee, they also get to meet Hershel and witness Shawn's death, thus setting the basis for both characters as they are later —intradiegetically speaking— seen in the comics. Shawn's death is inevitable regardless of our decision to help him or to help Duck, the other character who was in danger in that scene. Duck is the little son of Katjaa and Kenny, who is one of the most prominent characters in the videogame. The three of them were introduced in the Greene Farm. Whereas Shawn's death was inevitable regardless of the player's choice on whom to help, Duck will survive anyway. However, the developers consider that “it doesn’t mean that the choice is meaningless because everybody remembers that choice, and that ripples through the entire game”.43 That means that Kenny has different attittudes towards Lee later, depending on what the player decides in that critical instant. Commenting on parallelisms with the source material, we can see that Hershel follows a similar behavior in both entries. In The Walking Dead #11, after the zombies in the barn —including Shawn— kill two more of his children, he expels Rick's group from the farm. That is exactly what he does with the characters in the videogame after Shawn's death. This parallelism, apart from the obvious reminiscence for comic readers, provides consistency for the character in both mediums. In the videogame, not all deaths are always unavoidable, which creates more differences in the story according to the player's decisions. This causes optional deaths to exist: the player is usually forced to “pick between a terrible thing and a different 42 The Walking Dead #11 was released August 15, 2004, as the fifth part of volume 2: Miles Behind Us. 43 From this interview: <http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/the-walking-deads-faces-of-death-part1/1100-4335/> 19 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa terrible thing”, according to the co-writer and co-project leader Jake Rodkin. This is how the story progresses, offering players alternatives to make their experience with the game somewhat different everytime they replay it. Later in the same episode, you have the choice to save Carley or Doug, with the decision immediately resulting in the death of the character you did not choose. The story will have some differences involving dialogue and character interaction depending on the surviving character, but the main storyline will keep the same path. For instance, the reaction of both characters towards the death of the other one has slight differences: Doug wishes Lee had saved Carley, whereas Carley, despite feeling terrible, understands Lee's decision. However, no matter who of them survives in the first episode, they will die shortly after the beginning of episode three. Moreover, as the players gathered experience through their progress in the videogame and its sequel, they realized that optional death or survival just buys the surviving character some more time. Knowing about this became even quicker thanks to the internet, where players share their experience. Even though there are some variations in the story regarding those determinant events, many players criticised Telltale Games for not developing a more ambitious project. They wanted bigger differences to happen following their choices. Shortly after their brief visit to Hershel's farm and still in episode one, the videogame characters visit Lee's hometown Macon. In that place, they meet a group that includes Glenn, one of the main charactes from the comics. He features the same set of skills that he displays in the comic: he is stealthy and agile, which allows him to reach and gather all kinds of objects. At the end of the episode, Glenn departs towards the Atlanta with the hope to find some friends. Being provided some background to the character and that being cohesive to the ur-text is an appreciated detail for fans. This first episode is the only one that has a direct connection to the comic characters. Beyond plot connections, videogames and comics in this franchise obviously have more common traits. It is natural that they develop the same themes and motifs, but each one delivers different approaches to them. For instance, cannibalism is addressed in the videogame's second episode, “Starved for Help”, in quite a different manner than Fear the Hunters.44 The latter first introduced this theme to the comic series by means of a stealthy gang that kidnaps the weakest members of other groups when they are distracted. However, those people had the bad luck to come across Rick's 44 Fear the Hunters (2011) is the 11th volume of The Walking Dead comic. It includes issues 60-66. 20 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa group when they were already hardened survivors, so the cannibals were immediately dealt with after being found. In the videogame, the cannibals seem peaceful people living in a farm. The protagonists arrive to the place after one of them —Mark— is wounded. The people in the farm offer to cure Mark's wounds and to feed the whole group. However, after a nice afternoon, the meal they serve is not other than Mark's legs turned into steaks, cooked and served in a plate. The intrigue is kept for a long time in both cases, but in the ur-text the human eating becomes evident the first time we get to see the villains telling tell their victim how tasty his leg is. On the other hand, the videogame takes advantage of its interactivity and it is the player who gathers several hints that lead to discover the secret in the farm. Moreover, the victim in the comics — Dale— is a leading character in his medium, whereas Mark had just been introduced in the videogame at the beginning of the episode. The storytelling characteristic of each media and the consideration put towards both victim characters makes these different approaches accurate and refreshing. In fact, as stated before, the game was entirely written by Telltale Games and supervised by Robert Kirkman. He immediately recognised the “tone and feel” of his comic series in the script, with no further intervention on the writing and development. Telltale's work was highly praised by its powerful and moving story, winning the 2012 Game of the Year Award from many media. Unlike what happened with the harshly criticised TV-related videogame,45 the comic writer was in direct contact with the developers of this videogame. He states that through Skybound they are “trying to make sure that all these games exist because they're good games, as opposed to because it's a popular license”. This assertion confirms Jenkins' theory cited at the beginning of this chapter: co-working is becoming more popular than licensing. The downloadable content for this first videogame was “400 Days”, a series of five short stories featuring different characters who visit the same place in different moments. It serves as a link between the first two seasons of the videogame, introducing new characters. Moreover, a safe spot called Howe's Hardware, which is an important setting in The Walking Dead: Season Two, is first mentioned here. Depending on the player's decisions during these short stories, some characters may or may not be gathered in the epilogue and then head towards that place. 45 The TV-related videogame is The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. See chapter 3.3 of this essay to know more. 21 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa The five episodes of Season Two follow the surviving characters from the first game: little Clementine, Christa and Omid. This can be seen as a way to illustrate that both stories present more differences. Let us take the common theme of hopelessness as the next topic. From the beginning, this group has been smaller and has had worse luck than the comic protagonists at finding safe places. Even though in both mediums survival is dramatically difficult at some moments, Rick's group has never been so small as Clementine's. She becomes the protagonist of the game series after Lee's death, having been its deuteragonist up until that moment. The fact of controlling a little girl also contributes to that increased sense of hopelessness, not to mention the death of the first protagonist. That sensation is even more intense after Clementine's caretakers are out of the story: Omid dies at the beginning of Season Two, whereas Christa disappears after an attack by bandits. After some difficulties, Clementine manages to find another group, but they do not accept her easily. What is achieved is providing a new approach to the same theme of survival. After reuniting with Kenny, whose death was assumed in the last episode of the first videogame, Clementine's group becomes larger. They are almost immediately attacked and captured by another group lead by Carver. He is the leader of Howe's Hardware, the safe spot mentioned in “400 Days”. This section of the game has several similarities with The Governor's plotline in the comics: the main characters are kept prisoners and have to find their way out of the place using violent measures. The characters from “400 Days” that the player had managed to recruit for this community now appear in Season Two. Bonnie, who was the only of them joining regardless of the player's actions, becomes a new member of Clementine's group after they manage to escape. This settles another parallelism with The Governor's storyline: a character first placed in the villain's side becomes a new partner for the protagonist group. In this second videogame, there is no possible connection with the ur-text due to geographical distance between both storylines. Furthermore, there is an almost total lack of gaps in the comic to make both of them coincide without breaking coherence on the original story. Kirkman gave the Telltale Games' staff some hints of what he intended to write for the comic series and hence some points that should be avoided in Season Two, but he described the developers' work as “a great success”. This second game ends in five possible ways, all of them very different from each other. Clementine and baby Alvin Jr. remaining alive is the only common point in the five of them. It would be difficult to 22 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa start a new game taking into account all the possible endings, since it should feature a variety of different beginnings. Nevertheless, it seems that Telltale Games has found a solution for this. Robert Kirkman recently revealed that Season Three will “be getting pretty close to where we are in the comics currently”.46 The Walking Dead #127 featured a time skip spanning two years,47 so that implies that the videogame will also make an important time ellipsis. When the first teaser trailer for the videogame was released, a teenage Clementine —clearly older than in the previous videogame— appeared in it, which confirms the earlier statement. According to Telltale Games' staff, this season will show that, “depending on the paths players may have taken with her in the past, she may or may not be exactly the same person we knew back then”48. That would probably mean that the game will portray the same storyline independently from the ending achieved in Season Two by each player. However, since the data saved will still be important, it is likely that her mindset and conversations will vary regarding that ending. Javier, the character introduced along with Clementine in the trailer, will also be a playable protagonist. This will be the first time in the series that players will be able to control two characters. Robert Kirkman also confirmed that Season Three will be more connected to the comic storyline than Season Two. That is not difficult due to the size that the network of communities in the ur-text is achieving and the existence of the time gap in both storylines, which opens numerous possibilities to explore. 2.3.1. THE WALKING DEAD: MICHONNE The Walking Dead: Michonne (2016) is also developed by Telltale Games. This videogame is directly related to the comic storyline. In fact, her protagonist is Michonne, one of the leading survivors in the ur-text. Clementine and the rest of the characters from previous videogames do not take part at all in these events. Anyway, the gameplay style is the same, making the story change according to the player's decisions. After the aforementioned time skip in The Walking Dead #127, her situation was 46 From <http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/04/25/telltales-the-walking-dead-season-3-will-bechecking-in-on-clementine> 47 The Walking Dead #127 was published in 2014, as the first part of volume 22: A New Beginning. 48 From <https://telltale.com/community/discussion/106884/sneak-peek-at-telltales-next-season-ofthe-walking-dead-revealed-at-e3> 23 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa unknown for readers up until issue 139.49 Then, she returns from the sea, being a member of the fishing boat The Companion's crew. Rick tells her about everyone's concerns about her sudden disappearance, to which she answers explaining her remorse for having abandoned her children in the past. She has decided that she does not deserve to be happy because of that. Fans only reading the comic have not been provided with further information on this part of Michonne's past, but they can get it from this interactive story. It starts with Michonne, lonely in the middle of the forest, where she is having hallucinations in which two little girls cry for her help. She tries to commit suicide and is quickly stopped by Pete, both of them meeting in that scene. That is when Michonne joins The Companion's crew, who provide the communities in the comic with fish. Thus, the time represented in the game is set during the time gap between comic issues 126 and 127. The game is always coherent with the storyline written by Robert Kirkman. For instance, Michonne does not have her trademark katana with her, since she left it in her former home before suddenly disappearing. The weapon is kept by her former boyfriend Ezekiel, who tries to give it back to her when she returns in issue 139. The dialogue lines selectable by the player also fit the character known from the comics, the player just choosing the mood with them. Moreover, her hallucinations are also consistent with her former customs: she “talked to” her deceased boyfriend Mike for a long time in the comic. After hearing a call for help on the radio, Pete and Michonne investigate the surrounding area, finding Samantha and Greg, two young siblings. The four of them are made prisoners by a large community of pirates. The conflict between groups is a trademark in the series and in zombie narratives overall. Once more in the videogames, there are parallelisms with The Governor storyline, as it had already been seen in Season Two. Greg is accidentally killed, triggering a violent escape by Michonne and Samantha. They shelter in the latter's house, inhabited by the rest of her still living family, whereas Pete may remain captive or escape with them regarding the player's actions. As The Governor did in Made to Suffer, the villain group in this videogame plans on taking revenge. Randall, one of the enemy leaders, is held hostage after a first attack and his sister Norma tries a rescue along with her comrades. In the meantime before her arrival, the player has several options on what to do with Randall. Probably, a player who has read Michonne's experiences with the Governor in the comics might 49 The Walking Dead #139 was published on March 25, 2015, as the first part of volume 24: Life and Death. 24 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa Another character who experienced huge changes between the original story and the TV version is Carol, played by Melissa McBride. Whereas in the comic, Carol follows a path in which she does not manage to overcome her affective dependence and thus commits suicide,64 in the show she has to cope with her husband's and her daughter Sophia's deaths. Thus, she finally becomes the group's roughest warrior from season 4 onwards. She gets rid of many of the threats which her partners are not able to deal with, which makes her a perfect substitute for Andrea as she is known in the comics. Moreover, she also presents some specific features, such as her stealthy killing methods and,65 in the last episodes of season 6, even trickery.66 Her daughter Sophia, on the other hand, is still alive in the comics and has always been a great support for Rick's son Carl, apart from a point for comparison and contrast for him from an analytic point of view. However, she died in season 2 of the show, which later led the writers to introduce Enid —an original character— in season 5 to fill that role. Moreover, time outside the story has affected these younger characters' portrayal. Carl is played by Chandler Riggs, who was 10 years old when he was cast to play the role. Even though barely two years have passed in the intradiegetical level, the six years transcurred from the beginning of the show to the end of season 6 have made the actor change noticeably. This translates into different approaches to Carl and also to the characters directly related to him, such as Enid. Much like Scolari commented on The Adventures of Tintin, the TV series usually switches what character performs one action or function regarding the comics, or even creates new ones to make up for the absence of an already dead character. Some cases, such as Carol being the savior of the group instead of Andrea and Enid being the best support for Carl instead of Sophia, have already be mentioned. Some more instances are Michonne becoming Rick's girlfriend instead of Andrea,67 or Sasha being the emotionally disturbed woman after all her losses instead of Michonne.68 The list could actually get as long as this essay. The case of Allen and Donna is also interesting. They were a prominent part of the original group of survivors, as well as the parents of two 64 The Walking Dead #41 was published August 29, 2007. It is the fifth part of volume 7, titled The Calm Before. 65 Seen on “JSS”, 2nd episode of season 6, aired October 18, 2015. 66 Seen in several episodes of seasons 5 and 6, prominently on “The Same Boat”, the 13th episode of season 6, aired on March 13, 2016. 67 As seen in “The Next World”, the 10th episode of season 6, aired on February 21, 2016. It partially adapts the events from comic volumes 15 (We Find Ourselves) and 16 (A Larger World). 68 As an example, Michonne's outrageous yelling during a welcome party in Alexandria (comic issue 72) is paralleled by that of Sasha in “Forget”, the 13th episode of season 5, aired on March 8, 2015. 31 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa little children —Ben and Billy— in the comics. However, they were not included in the Atlanta camp of survivors in the show. Instead, they were replaced by the Morales family, who left the group looking for a safer place in episode 5 not to be seen again. However, the third season featured Allen, Donna and their son Ben —in this case, a teenager— as secondary characters. After Donna's almost immediate death, Allen and Ben remained as recurring characters for the rest of the season, but they had nothing in common with their comic counterparts beyond their kinship. In fact, they did not even join the protagonists' group. To finish with the comment on characters, one of the most beloved ones from the show is Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus. He was originally created for this version and initially planned to appear only as a recurring character. Later, Reedus became one of the main cast members and is still on board after season 6 finale. His popularity triggered a videogame which will be talked about later in the essay. Going back to the change of tone mentioned in the first paragraphs of this chapter, there are many moments that the show has not dared to portray. It is worthy of mention that when the TV adaptation was still a project, it was refused by HBO — which nowadays broadcasts a TV show as Game of Thrones (2011)— for its violent content.69 However, even though it was chosen by AMC, who has managed to deliver adult shows such as Breaking Bad (2008), they decided to target a widest audience on the demographics. Apart from language, and even though producers deny whichever reason behind it, the softening of some violent scenes from the comic is evident. One of them was referenced in the previous chapters concerning the comic universe: Michonne being tortured and raped by The Governor. That series of grotesque actions that took several days was replaced on the screen by intimidating another female character — Maggie— with harassing manners for some minutes, which had not the same impact on the viewer. However, it was Michonne who took revenge on the villain anyway, but again in a much softer way: the brutal torture portrayed in the comics was substituted by a simple plain fight. In common, both versions perform this moment in the same setting: The Governor's appartment in Woodbury. The Governor looses an eye in the show, compared to the eyeball as well, along with an arm and —implied— his sexual organ in the comics, apart from other painful injuries. What the reader was supposed to feel in this scene in the original story was deep pleasure from the revenge of one of the main 69 From <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-hill/walking-dead-amc_b_1968726.html> 32 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa characters. On the other hand, what the TV version intended was probably some kind of identification with the villain, since Michonne also kills Penny, his zombified daughter. The TV show tried to portray this villain as somehow more human than his comic counterpart, who was plain evil and eager to obtain power. However, The Governor is also humanized through transmedia means in the novels belonging to the comic transmedial world. Moreover, some of the content of the novels was also translated into the show. In season 4, The Governor meets the Chamblers —inspired by the Chalmers from Rise of the Governor— with one of them, Lilly, being a mixture of the roles of April Chalmers and Lilly Caul, who appears in next novels. Another aspect related to the violence issue is that show writers do not kill a big amount of important characters as easily as Robert Kirkman does in the source story. Comparing the end of the prison arc, in the comics, the death toll of veteran characters raises to eight, whereas in its televised adaptation only one of them dies.70 Other deaths are left for characters from Woodbury that had been recently added and barely had development nor interventions in the plot. It is likely that the writers and producers prefer to separate deaths in several episodes to keep the audience interested. To what extent many of these differences are a result of commercial or economic reasons or truly the outcome of the writers' creative intentions is unknown. However, the show is a goldmine for transmedia studies and its success will allow for larger and more in depth analysis. 3.1.1. FEAR THE WALKING DEAD Your audience will find it very difficult to relate to an abstract idea or a product. Characters, on the other hand, give them a guiding persona to experience your storyworld, however fantastic. (Bernardo, 2014: 46) This statement by Brazilian author Nuno Bernardo might serve as the perfect example of what is happening with the so-called “companion series” Fear The Walking Dead. Even though it started in summer 2015 with an outstanding audience rate, numbers started falling episode after episode. One of the main reasons exposed by viewers is that the characters are not half as compelling as the protagonists of the main show. As a 70 “Too Far Gone” is the 8th episode of season 4. It was aired on December 1, 2013. 33 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa matter of fact, the charm of this second series was giving the audience some insight in the zombie apocalypse to the other side of the country: Los Angeles. This made it quite diffcult to share any of protagonists from the main show, who live in the area surrounding Atlanta. Moreover, the other big promise for this series was showing the first steps into the new world order, since The Walking Dead started with Rick waking up from a coma and finding the situation already established, as it happened in the comics as well. Due to these traits, the use of the term “companion series” instead of spin-off and prequel is very accurate, even though there was confusion among media and audience regarding this issue. For Robert Kirkman, also totally involved in this work, the companion series is seen as a chance to work more creatively on TV, since it “isn't tethered by the events of the comic book, and is truly a blank page”.71 In this occasion, the main group is composed by a family that was already disfunctional prior to the zombie crisis. Travis is a divorced man now in a relationship with Madison, who has two teenage children: Alicia and Nick, who is a drug-addict. Travis' ex-wife, Liza, and their son Chris, will also make a part of the group. During the six-episode season 1, other members join: the Salazar family and the mysterious Victor Strand, making up for a cast diverse in its background, both racial and social, a feature not so emphasized in The Walking Dead. The main theme is, once more, the threat posed by humankind over themselves. As Nuno Bernardo notes, “it is the conflicts that play out between characters, their alliances and antagonisms, that establish storylines and plot” (Bernardo, 2014: 50); which is true for this and the rest of media involving the franchise. However, this time it is given a different approach, which would be: the initial chaos and confusion, the military establishing and protecting camps of civilians and the unsustainability of control. All of these situations were mentioned both in the comic and the main series, but not actually put on display to the audience. With Fear The Walking Dead, apart from being witness of that onset, we can infer that the situation is given, at least, countrywide. In the second season, the group abandoned Los Angeles to sail the seas towards Mexico, now facing the dilemma of helping other groups that could be dangerous. Thus, several parallelisms with other entries to this franchise are established. For instance, the theme of exploring the waters was first introduced in The Walking Dead universe in comic issue #139, as it is explained in chapter 2.3.1 of this essay. Within that game, apart from exploring a little further the mentioned topic, we 71 Article on the announcement of Fear the Walking Dead: <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/livefeed/walking-dead-companion-series-works-629848> 34 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa can find an almost exact and simultaneous —in terms of release/airing dates— correspondence with the episode “Captive”.72 In both cases, there is an exchange of hostages between the antagonic group and the protagonists, who return their hostage as a zombie with the head covered in order to make an ambush. Nevertheless, we have to notice an antecedent: in comic issue 119,73 antagonist Negan returned his hostage Holly to the protagonist group in a much similar fashion. Another parallelism that should be highlighted is the topic of being respectful to the dead, first seen in the comics as a trait of the Greene family and their farm. That family kept zombies in the barn as an act of faith to God and hope for a cure, which was also seen when adapted to the screen in season 2 of the main show. The same practice was seen once more, in episodes 6 and 7 of Fear The Walking Dead season 2;74 this time with different characters but in a quite similar setting —a Mexican hacienda. Taking into account the main show, this series is not transmedia. In fact, both of them are aired through traditional TV by the same broadcaster. However, Fear The Walking Dead is indeed interesting from a transmedia approach if we bear in mind all the other media involved in the franchise. Its influence on this work is crystal clear, as well as the new point of view that it provides to the undead world created by Robert Kirkman. It is also appealing to try and find a reason why Fear The Walking Dead is on TV show format and not on any other media. Citing Bernardo again, he states that media creators “need to produce very different types of content and ask audience to move back and forth between lean forward and lean back experiences”. He also highlights that they “risk losing a portion of audience who are unwilling to make the jump” (Bernardo, 2014: 115). Thus, television is among what the writer calls “lean back experiences”, since they involve a minimum degree of participation. Indeed, television audience is used to turn on their TV sets at the time marked by the broadcaster. Moreover, The Walking Dead already had an established record-breaking audience for cable TV, and as television viewers, they are not very used to explore other media. So, it seems logical to think that Kirkman and the rest of the show's producers did not want to risk and lose part of their potential audience. That happened anyway when the ratings 72 “Captive”, the 5th episode of season 2, was aired May 8, 2016. “What We Deserve”, 3rd episode of The Walking Dead: Michonne videogame was released April 26, 2016. 73 The Walking Dead # 119 was released January 8, 2014, as the 5th part of volume 21, All Out War, Part 1. 74 “Sicut Cervus” —season 2, episode 6— and “Shiva” —season 2, episode 7— we aired, respectively, May 15, 2016 and May 22, 2016. 35 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa began to drop, although they keep steady. Even regarding that fact, it remains the 2nd highest rated show on AMC. 3.2. THE WALKING DEAD WEBISODES In these mobisodes the TV characters interact in situations that complement what has already been seen on the small screen. This type of content can be called interstitial ... because it fills narrative gaps that in the original story had disappeared into the logical ellipses of the plot. As a “fill in the blanks” grammar exercise, the producers created these mobisodes to fill those little empty spaces and contribute to the construction of the general sense of the story (Scolari, Lostology, 2015: 8) In the article above cited, the author refers to short-length episodes released exclusively for mobile devices, belonging to the “transmedia fictional world of Lost” (Scolari, 2015: 5). In the case of The Walking Dead, there is a very similar format: short-length episodes released in the web known as webisodes or webseries. They are also interstitial, since they fill gaps, not only in the plot but in the fictional world as well. There are three webseries, each one released between each of the first four seasons of the TV show. As happens with many of the entries to the franchise, the gap covered by these is Rick's months in a coma, told within the first minutes of the series premiere episode. Moreover, they are all somehow connected to Rick. “Torn Apart” is the first webseries, whose release was placed shortly before the main series' season 2 premiere.75 The plot is quite simple: Hannah is trying to take their children to a safe place. The name of the protagonist was not known among The Walking Dead viewers, but after the six webisodes, that character dies and becomes a familiar face. In fact, she was one of the most popular zombies in the main series, seen in the first episode. Half her body was missing and while she crawled towards Rick, who killed her out of mercy. As the story in the webisodes happens while Rick is in a coma, it belongs to the early apocalypse days, which is proved on the screen. A helicopter hovers over the neighbourhood suggesting people to gather in a given place, which fits Shane's report of the situation to Rick in season 1. Moreover, it also fits what 75 “The Walking Dead: Torn Apart” was released October 3, 2011. The Walking Dead season 2 premiere was aired October 16, 2011. 36 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa was later seen in the first season of Fear the Walking Dead, when the situation with the undead seemed manageable. However, there is also an inconsistency regarding the TV series universe. While Hannah and her children are staying at her ex-husband Andrew's house, they have to shoot his zombified girlfriend. The incoherence is evidently, since they seemingly killed the zombie by a shot in the stomach. Moreover, that actually left her unconscious for a while, something never seen in the show. In fact, one of the mainstays for zombie related fiction —including every member of The Walking Dead corpus— is that no matter how much you hurt a zombie's body, they keep moving unless you hurt their brain. Nevertheless, what is appreciated about Torn Apart is the approach to the identity of an anonymous zombie was when it was alive. This is an attempt to match the undead populating the show with its protagonists, who sooner or later become —walking or not— dead as well. “Cold Storage” is the second installment of the webseries. This time, in words of Greg Nicotero,76 the director, it has “a clear nod to the 'show' but our story could definitely exist on it's own”.77 The only link to the main series is found in the setting, a storage facility. Chase, the protagonist, finds some of Rick Grimes' personal belongings, which included a family photo. However, there is a relation of parallelism in the plot. Chase is trying to find his sister, as Rick tries to find his wife and son at the beginning of his story. This includes a subtle reference to the comics: Chase's sister lives in Cynthiana, Rick Grimes' hometown in the comic version.78 Apart from that, the plot in this webseries involves conflict between Chase and one of the employees of the facility who has taken control of the place. The most intriguing part comes when the protagonist finds another employee —Kelly— imprisoned. All four webisodes were available at AMC's website prior to the season 3 premiere.79 “The Oath” is the third and last of these webseries, released before the start of the fourth season.80 It is more directly linked to the TV show storyline, revealing the origin of a certain element from the TV series. The main characters, Paul and Karina, 76 Greg Nicotero is a mainstay part in The Walking Dead as a supervisor and designer for make-up effects, apart from other roles such as Executive Producer in Fear the Walking Dead. He is also the director of all three webseries. 77 From <https://web.archive.org/web/20121002223953/http://blogs.amctv.com/the-walkingdead/2012/10/season-3-webisodes.php> 78 In the TV show, Rick and his family come from King County, a fictional place in the state of Georgia. 79 “The Walking Dead: Cold Storage” was released October 1, 2012. The Walking Dead season 3 premiere was aired on October 14, 2012. 80 “The Walking Dead: The Oath” was released October 1, 2013. The Walking Dead season 4 premiere was aired on October 13, 2013. 37 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa escape from their camp, which has been overrun by zombies. When they reach a medical facility to treat Paul's injuries, they meet Dr. Gale Macones. After some intriguing situations, Karina decides to die and Paul abandons the place, painting the words “DON'T ENTER, DEAD INSIDE” in the cafeteria doors. This detail makes audience realize that this is the same hospital where Rick is kept during his coma, later waking up and finding the spray paint that leads to his first encounter with the undead. This also provides a likely explanation on who took care of him during that time: Dr. Macones. These webseries offer brief but enjoyable expansions of the fictional world for fans. Maybe the main objection against them is that each one of these webseries was released all at once, not really taking an advantage of its serialised nature to keep viewers intrigued. 3.2.1. “FEAR THE WALKING DEAD: FLIGHT 462” After the first season of Fear The Walking Dead, AMC began airing these 16 webisodes online. They released a webisode a week from October 4, 2015 to March 26, 2016, with a hiatus after the eighth one.81 Flight 462 was also announced to introduce one of its characters into the second season of Fear The Walking Dead. The story begins with teenage Jake taking a plane as the situation with the undead begins to get out of control. There is a case of turning during the flight and an unnamed girl seems to know more than anyone about the dangerous creatures: she knows how the bites work and the only way to kill zombies. She does not reveal her name or the source of her knowledge, even though Jake explicitly asks during the webseries, which ends without a clear resolution. However, during the last seconds, there is a fragment of Fear The Walking Dead season 1 in which Nick sees a plane flying low near his house.82 Both Jake and the mysterious girl —her name finally revealed as Alex— appear in the beginning of “Ouroboros”,83 the boy seriously burnt from the plane crash. They later meet the main characters, but they are rejected to join the group, who was sailing 81 The second season of Fear The Walking Dead premiered on April 10, 2016, shortly after the last episode of “Fear The Walking Dead: Flight 462”. 82 This scene belongs to “The Dog”, the 3rd episode of season 1, was aired on September 13, 2015. 83 “Ouroboros”, the 3rd episode of season 2, was aired on April 24, 2016. 38 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa the nearby waters. She is later seen in “Captive” as a part of Connor's crew, a group of pirates that have problems with the protagonists of the show. In this episode, Alex reveals that Jake died from his injuries and that she was welcomed by her new group, now positioning herself as an enemy of the show stars. She is expected to be seen again in the second half of season 2. 3.3. THE WALKING DEAD: SURVIVAL INSTINCT The current licensing system typically generates works that are redundant (...), watered down (...), or riddled with sloppy contradictions (...). These failures account for why sequels and franchises have a bad reputation. Franchise products are governed too much by economic logic and not enough by artistic vision. (Jenkins, 2006, 105) What Henry Jenkins mentions here has been a paradigmatic feature of intellectual properties. The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is, perhaps, the biggest example of that view in the overall The Walking Dead franchise. It is a videogame released for several systems in 2013 developed and released by Activision. It fits into the first-person shooter genre. As Bran Crecente states in the videogame website Polygon, the difference in quality between Survival Instinct and the Telltalle Games Series “can serve as a perfect case study for the importance of creator ownership”.84 AMC is the entity that manages licensing issues regarding the TV show. Thus, they do not involve Robert Kirkman, who is in charge of the rights of comic branch of the franchise along with his company, Skybound. As previously stated, the Telltale Games installments — set in the comic universe— got very positive reviews and were a commercial succes. However, Survival Instinct achieved exactly the opposite in both areas, receiving an average score of 32 out of 100 in Metacritic.85 Robert Kirkman usually mentions his concerns about this videogame, usually joking about it. 84 From: <http://www.polygon.com/features/2015/3/30/8311735/the-walking-dead-invincibleoutcast-fear-the-walking-dead-interview-robert-kirkman> 85 Metacritic is a website in which scores from relevant reviews for different media are aggregated, obtaining an average score. 39 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa If we analyse its story —as we did with every other entry to the franchise—, there are several aspects to analyse. It is a prequel for the TV series starred by Daryl Dixon, its most popular character. His reputation among fans is probably the reason for choosing him as the protagonist. Daryl's father —referenced in the TV series— is the pseudoprotagonist, whose death serves as an introduction for Daryl. The player's mission is to look for Merle, Daryl's conflictive brother, who is in jail. This objective is fulfilled at the end of act 1 (out of 4). Then, the focus is reaching the safe haven in Atlanta. During the adventure, Daryl finds a crossbow, his trademark weapon in the show. There are also several references to the TV series. The first one is seen during the prologue, when Daryl's father is fatally bitten and his brother shoots him after saying “Sorry, brother.” The same sentence was uttered by Daryl in “Judge, Jury, Executioner”, right before shooting Dale out of mercy after a zombie severely wounded him. During the game, Daryl meets the Harrisons a couple who are looking for their daughters Amy and Andrea, both of them from the TV series. Mrs. Harrison is bitten and resting in bed, so Mr. Harrison asks the player to get some antibiotics. Unfortunately, when Daryl is returning with the medicines, a gunshot is heard: Mrs. Harrison had already turned into a zombie. Daryl witnesses how the man lovingly says to her dead wife “I'm sorry. I thought there would be more time. I love you”. These are the same words with which Andrea addresses Amy, right before shooting her when she turned into a walker.86 The interplay between both media is stronger, since Amy and Andrea nostalgically talked in the show about her father and how he had raised them in different ways.87 Mr. Harrison joins Daryl's group, but he later dies either devoured by zombies or in a helicopter crash, depending on some of the player's previous choices. In the article by Polygon previously cited, Robert Kirkman acknowledges a “soulless corporate idea of transmedia”. That would be a good description for the situation with this videogame, which was launched with a mediocre level of development. It features “bland settings, broken mechanics and terrible writing”, according to the author of the article, besides to most of the reviewers and users as well. Citing Jenkins once more, we could conclude that this game somehow fails to “offer new insights and new experiences” (Jenkins, 2006: 105) due to its doubtful quality in 86 This scene is seen in “Wildfire”, the 5th episode of season 1, aired November 28, 2010. 87 Seen in the opening scene of “Vatos”, the 4th episode of season 1, aired November 21, 2010. During the last scene of this episode, Amy dies due to a fatal bite in her neck. 40 The Walking Dead as a Transmedia Phenomenon Christian Vázquez Nóvoa If I have to speak personally, I choose the comic series above any other option. Some may criticise a long-term repetitive structure, but that is what has happened with the history of humankind so far. Indeed, what I see is one more retelling of that history accelerated by the circumstances. Not only in a social level, but also from an individual perspective. The long-term characters have followed steps towards a maturity that would have difficultly achieved without walking into the undead world. That is what all other works in this franchise try to display following different approaches. Some of them, I find more enjoyable than others. The television series has to deal with slower and more frequently repetitive plotlines. Sometimes, it causes its characters to walk backwards in their development and an inability to introduce more themes than the dilemma of “killing and losing humanity”. That is why its success is negatively surprising to me, even though it presents several ways to interact with the source material. However, it has been proved that something bigger takes place when mere users become fans, gathering as many pieces as possible and new meanings emerge. The experience can reach even higher levels when we consider not only the texts navigated, but the particular vision of every explorer on each of them. 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Telltale Games, 2014. Video game. “A New Day”. The Walking Dead. Game of the Year Edition. Telltale Games, 2013. Video game. “All That Remains”. The Walking Dead. Season Two. Telltale Games, 2014. Video game. “Around Every Corner”. The Walking Dead. Game of the Year Edition. Telltale Games, 2013. Video game. “Beside the Dying Fire”. The Walking Dead. The Complete Second Season. Entertainment One, 2012. Blu Ray. “Captive”. Fear The Walking Dead. AMC, 9 May 2016. Television. “Cold Storage”. The Walking Dead. The Complete Third Season. Entertainment One, 2013. Blu Ray. “Dead Weight”. The Walking Dead. The Complete Fourth Season. Entertainment One, 2014. Blu Ray. “Fear The Walking Dead. Flight 462”. AMC TV. Web. 20 April 2016. “Forget”. The Walking Dead. The Complete Fifth Season. Entertainment One, 2015. Blu Ray. “Four Walls and a Roof”. The Walking Dead. The Complete Fifth Season. Entertainment One, 2015. Blu Ray. “Give No Shelter”. The Walking Dead. Michonne. Telltale Games, 2016. 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