Looking for a last minute giftable? B&N is selling The Walking Dead Compendium, Volume 1 for $29.99 — half of the regular $59.99 price — but only until 2:59 am December 20th, so don’t dawdle.

At 1088 pages, this collection of the first 48 issues of THE WALKING DEAD have proven a great entry point into the world of Rick Grimes vs the Zombies — even at that price it’s a consistent bestseller.

The simple answer should be BECAUSE YOU WANT TO.

Now getting you to want to read them is a whole different story.

Years ago, when the characters that would later become the backbone of the comic book industry were being created, those creators shared an independently(as far as comics are concerned) minded spirit. They wanted to make great, rich characters that would inspire and entertain every reader that gave them the opportunity to do so. It’s fair to say that when you’re introducing something for the first time, and it’s something the world has never seen before AND it’s as great as Spider-man or the Hulk, it’s easier to make that first huge impact. In today’s comic book market, it’s a lot harder to get that same kind of audience reaction. But maybe it can happen. There are definitely more than enough quality independent comic books out there in your shops right now, people just need to gave them a chance.

For a while independent comics were thought of with a negative connotation, a lack of quality. Some people say because the books don’t have the budgets that other publishers do, that the finished product is sub par to everything else on the stands. Well if that’s what you want to hang your argument on, I’ve got the perfect solution- GO PICK UP ONE OF THESE INDEPENDENT BOOKS – The Walking Dead, Chew, Our Love is Real, Shinku, Echoes, Heart, Who is Jake Ellis, Madman, Irredeemable, Echo(Not a repeat just another great book with a similar name) Green Wake, The Sixth Gun, Pigs, The Nightly News, Casanova, WitchDoctor. Trust me I could keep going on and on with the list. But the truth is, if you picked up any one of those books, you would see the quality is just as good as in any big 2 published book. That’s a little bit of a lie, because actually, they’re better.