I could argue either way -- on the pro side of A World Without Zombie Movies, none of the characters can be faulted for not immediately running to the nearest Blockbuster and familiarizing themselves with ideas that do or don't work, not to mention books like The Zombie Survival Manual. Nor will there be smart-ass characters making in-jokes about Romero movies.

On the meta side, the producers have less of a chance for getting sued for copyright violation by overzealous legal departments.

Speaking of stories copying other stories... according to a commenter on Alan Sepinwall's review of the first episode, in fact the original graphic novel had been written/drawn prior to the release of 28 Days Later so the plot of "comatose survivor wakes up in hospital after zombie apocalypse" wasn't copycatting.

according to a commenter on Alan Sepinwall's review of the first episode, in fact the original graphic novel had been written/drawn prior to the release of 28 Days Later so the plot of "comatose survivor wakes up in hospital after zombie apocalypse" wasn't copycatting.

In Kirkman's own words:

Welcome to my life seven years ago. It was complete coincidence. I saw 28 Days Later shortly before the first issue of Walking Dead was released. That first issue came out in October of 2003 and 28 Days Later was released in the States in June of 2003. So we were working on our second issue by the time I saw it. It was going to be a matter of somehow trying to restage the entire first issue, because it was a very similar coma opening. I made a decision—which I pretty much regret at this point—I said, “You know what? It’s so different [from that point on], I will probably never hear anything about this.” And I was wrong.

In any case, they're both inspired by Day of the Triffids, I hear.

the author of the graphic novels says that there is no zombie entertainment or myths prior to the event. so that's why they call them walkers, etc.

There's no other explanation for their not referring to the things as zombies, really. It takes some getting used to.

We're too quick to call everything zombies. 28 Days Later? Not zombies. Reanimated corpses--zombies.

Which made 28 Days Later interesting, because eventually the infected would die. With zombies, you have to wait until they rot too badly to be able to do much in the way of lurching after you.

28 Days Later? Not zombies. Reanimated corpses--zombies.

My boss would love you.

With zombies, you have to wait until they rot too badly to be able to do much in the way of lurching after you.

Yeah this is one of my issues with a lot of zombie stuff. After a month or two, most of the muscles and ligaments you need to move will have rotted away, so if you are a reanimated corpse, you're a reanimated corpse who's a pile on the ground, which is a bit less scary.

The Walking Dead comics have covered a way longer period than it would take for the zombies to fall apart, I think. I'd be happy enough if there was some handwavium about the virus preventing muscle decay or someting though; I'm pretty easy.

They'd also be pooping everywhere, since what goes in must come out, or stay rotting in the stomach and eventually bursting, which is sort of like pooping but out of your belly button instead of your bum.

There's a whole lot of disbelief suspending with zombies.

I did go to a "science of zombies" panel with a neurologist, a mathematician specializing in virus outbreaks (specifically HIV), George Romero, and Max Brooks. They talked about zombie biology and how it would all work, and what the infection rate would be. Was pretty neat.

That's one of the reasons why I appreciated them spending so much time on the legless zombie in the first episode, because that clued us in that the Rules Are Different.

I suppose in the Walking Deadverse, 'zombies' are an obscure legend of Haitian voodoo lore that nobody is going to think of to label their geeks with.

It's weird, right?

Isn't that traditional? Most of the zombie movies (and comics & books) I've seen avoid having characters use the word. At the moment the exceptions I can think of veer toward comedy.

Maybe it's because they're a modern monster... I think it's problematic for the characters to live in a world with zombie stories. It'd make everything they do or say into an evaluation of their taste in zombie media, which: barf.

They've been in pop culture for almost a century, though. Maybe it's being PC?