Literatur in Wissenschaft und Unterrichtlwu

XLVII . 1/2 . 2014

Theme Issue:Serial Narratives

Kathleen Loock (Ed.)

Literatur in Wissenschaft und Unterricht ISSN 0024-4643

Internet: www.anglistik.uni-kiel.de/LWU

Herausgeber/Editorial Board: Matthias Bauer, Konrad Groß, Anna-Margaretha Horatschek, Martin Klepper und Jutta ZimmermannRedaktion/Managing Editor: André Schwarck, Tel.: (0431) 880-2671 – e-mail: schwarck@anglistik.uni-kiel.deRedaktionsassistenz/Assistant to the Managing Editor: Hanna-Lisa Ott, e-mail: lwu@anglistik.uni-kiel.deEnglisches Seminar der Universität Kiel, Olshausenstr. 40, D-24098 Kiel

Verlag/Publisher: Verlag Königshausen & Neumann GmbH, Postfach 60 607, D-97010 Würzburg: Leisten-straße 7, D-97082 Würzburg, Tel.: (0931) 329870-0, Telefax (0931) 83620, Bundesrepublik Deutschland/Germany, e-mail: info@koenigshausen-neumann.de – Internet: www.koenigshausen-neumann.de

Bankverbindung: Deutsche Bank, Würzburg – Kto. Nr. 0 10 97 10 (BLZ 790 700 24)Postscheck Nürnberg – Kto.-Nr. 1349 14-852 (BLZ 760 100 85)

Literatur in Wissenschaft und Unterricht (LWU) erscheint viermal im Jahr. Verlagsort ist Würzburg. Preis des Einzelheftes 8,50 € (Ausland 9,50 €); Jahresabonnement 26,00 € (Ausland 29,00 €); Studenten und Leh-rer in der Ausbildung: 22,50 €. Alle Bestellungen sind an den Verlag zu richten. Das Abonnement ist nur zum Ende des Jahres zu kündigen, spätestens jedoch bis zum 15. November.

LWU wird im Englischen Seminar der Universität Kiel redaktionell betreut. Das Augenmerk gilt in beson-derem Maße der Zusammenarbeit von universitärer Forschung und Unterrichtspraxis in Schule und Universität. Ein Heft wird jährlich einem spezifischen literatur- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Thema gewidmet, das für Lehrende von besonderem Interesse ist. Diese Themenhefte betreut ein einschlägig spezialisierter Guest Editor. Anregungen sind den Herausgebern willkommen.

Die regulären Hefte bieten Aufsätze zu englischsprachiger (Großbritannien, Nordamerika, New English Literatures) und deutschsprachiger (Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz) Literatur, die den Stand der wis-senschaftlichen Forschung für den Unterricht in Schule und Universität erschließen. Die Beiträge behan-deln das Werk einzelner Autorinnen und Autoren, eine Epoche oder eine Gattung, oder sie setzen sich in textnahen Interpretationen mit forschungsrelevanten Einzelfragen und neuen Ansätzen in Forschung, Methodologie und Theorie auseinander. Die Rubrik „Forum“, „Forschungsbericht“ oder „Zur Diskussion“ bietet Informationen oder einen Überblicksartikel zu Entwicklungen auf verschiedenen Gebieten der Literaturwissenschaft und -theorie. „Buchbesprechungen“ und „Kurzanzeigen“ stellen relevante Werke zu den umrissenen Forschungsbereichen vor sowie Textausgaben und Interpretationshilfen, die für die Unterrichts praxis von besonderem Interesse sind.

Literatur in Wissenschaft und Unterricht (LWU) is a literary quarterly published under the auspices of the English Department at the Christian Albrechts University at Kiel, Germany.

It is devoted to literature in the English and German languages. LWU is particularly interested in fostering cooperation between academic research and teaching at universities and schools. LWU publishes an an-nual theme issue on a literary and/or cultural topic of specific relevance for university lecturers and school teachers. Contributions to a theme issue are reviewed and guest-edited by an expert in the field. In addi-tion to detailed reviews of research, or criticism on a specific author or subject, as well as a section of book reviews and review notes, each issue contains analyses of plays, novels, poems (or short stories) together with articles on an individual author or a literary period. Special emphasis is placed on textual interpreta-tion and close reading.

The editors request contributions in English or German which explore literary works from this perspective, as well as reviews of research and criticism.

Manuscripts should follow the MLA Handbook (7th ed., 2009) and be accompanied by sufficient postage. Contributors will receive 10 offprints free of charge. Contributors to the book review section will receive two copies of the respective number. The journal is under no obligation to review books not expressly ordered for review purposes. Manuscripts, editorial communications, review copies, and suggestions should be addressed to LWU, Managing Editor, English Department, University of Kiel, Olshausenstr. 40, D-24098 Kiel, Germany. Overseas subscription rate for individuals and institutions (4 issues per year with a combined total of a minimum of 320 pages): 35,00 € year (postage included), single copy: 9,50 € (postage included). Payment in Euro by international money order/postgiro or cheque made out to the publisher: Verlag Königshausen & Neumann GmbH, P.O.B. 6007, D-97010 Würzburg/Germany.

lwuKathleen Loock:Introduction: Serial Narratives.................................................................................5

Ilka Brasch:Narrative, Technology, and the Operational Aesthetic in Film Serials of the 1910s...............................................11

Rudmer Canjels:Sensational Programs without Head and Tail: Transforming and Distributing American Silent Film Serials in the Netherlands.........................25

Phyll Smith:“Poisoning their daydreams”: American Serial Cinema, Moral Panic and the British Children’s Cinema Movement................................39

Björn Hochschild:Superhero Comics and the Potential for Continuation: Identity and Temporality in Alan Moore’s Watchmen..........................................55

Guy Risko:More than a Gangster: Trilogies, Genre, and The Godfather...............................67

Kathleen Loock: “The past is never really past”: Serial Storytelling from Psycho to Bates Motel....................................................81

Agnieszka Rasmus: “I know where I’ve seen you before!”: Hollywood Remakes of British Films, from DVD Box Sets to the Online Debate.................................97

Marla Harris:No Longer Watching for the Plot?: The Crime Drama Bron/Broën and Its Adaptations............................................111

Maria Sulimma:Simultaneous Seriality: On the Crossmedia Relationship of Television Narratives.................................127

Literatur in Wissenschaft und UnterrichtXLVII . 1/2 . 2014

Inhalt / Contents

Robyn Warhol:Binge-watching: How Net ix Original Programs Are Changing Serial Form..............................1 5

Nathalie Knöhr:The Professional Practice of Serial Audio Drama Production in the Age of Digitization.....................................................159

Ursula Ganz-Blättler:The Medium Is the Audience: Successive Talk as Narrative Pleasure................................................................175

Bettina Soller:Fan Fiction and Soap Operas: On the Seriality of Vast Narratives......................................................................191

Reviews

Shane Denson: Postnaturalism: Franken stein, Film, and the Anthropotechnical Inter face (Dennis Büscher-Ulbrich)................................207

Carlen Lavigne (ed.): Remake Television: Reboot, Re-use, Recycle (Marla Harris)...............................................................208

Frank Kelleter: Serial Agencies: The Wire and Its Readers (Marcel Hartwig).......................................................209

Sarah Schaschek: Pornography and Seriality: The Culture of Producing Pleasure (Madita Oeming).......................................210

Rob Allen and Thijs van den Berg (eds.): Serialization in Popular Culture (Daniel Stein).....................................................211

Amanda D. Lotz: Cable Guys: Television and Masculinities in the 21st Century (Maria Sulimma).............................................212

Notes on Contributors......................................................................................215

Beiträge, die dem redaktionellen Konzept entsprechen und nicht über 20 Typoskriptseiten hinausgehen sollten, sind den Herausgebern ebenso willkommen wie Anregungen und Verbesserungsvorschläge. Alle Einsendungen sollten an die Redaktion gehen und Rückporto enthalten. Den Manuskriptsendungen sollten die entsprechenden Disketten in letztkorrigierter Fassung beigelegt werden (bevorzugt MS-Word f. Windows Versionen). Für die formale Gestaltung der Typoskripte ist generell das MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th ed., 2009) verbindlich. Die Autoren erhalten zwei Hefte als Beleg-exemplare ihrer Beiträge . Den Rezensenten wird ein Exemplar des jeweiligen Heftes zur Verfügung ge-stellt. Eine Verp ichtung zur Besprechung unverlangt eingesandter Rezensionsexemplare besteht nicht.Gestaltung des Heftcovers: Madita OemingAlle Rechte liegen beim Verlag und den Herausgebern.Satz: Redaktion der LWU. Druck: Königshausen & Neumann

127

Simultaneous Seriality: On the Crossmedia Relationship

of Television Narratives In August 201 , Starz, agship channel to the large U.S. American premium cable and satellite television network Starz Inc., aired the rst episode of its original historical drama/romance series Outlander. The series follows the story of World War II nurse Claire (Caitriona Balfe) who time travels to the Scottish highlands of the eighteenth century and falls in love with a clansman. The premiere attracted the channel’s largest audience so far.1 To do justice to Outlander’s fast-paced success story and heightened audience attention, one has to take into account that the television show is based on a bestselling, long-running, and still ongoing series of novels written by author Diana Gabaldon.2 The Outlander series is, in fact, the most recent example of a group of television narratives that are being developed from already existing and parallel continuing book or comic series.

This essay explores the interaction between serial texts of a franchise and takes into account the feedback between television show and book or comic series, as well as the speci c practices of production and reception that these simultaneously progressing serial narratives facilitate. Besides collecting a body of texts that can be grouped under what I tentatively label simultaneous seriality, I will also discuss potential approaches that the elds of adaptation studies and transmedia storytelling have in store. However, this essay can ultimately only lay the groundwork for further analyses. A lot is to be gained from considering these series’ interactions not only concerning different textual strategies but also the ways in which television narratives are made and received within a “convergence culture” ( enkins, Convergence).

An Overview of Simultaneous Series

Every year, the blog Torrent Freak, which features posts about topics surrounding piracy and collaborative lesharing systems, compiles a list of the most-download-ed television shows and contrasts this data with the estimated television ratings of audiences in the United States. Among the most downloaded series between 2009 and 2013 are Game of Thrones (HBO, 2011-), Dexter (Showtime, 2006-2013), The Walking Dead (AMC, 2010-), or True Blood (HBO, 2008-201 ). The gures can be indicative of audiences’ viewing preferences and illustrate that some of the currently most popular U.S. American television shows are based on a novel or comics series. Regarding content, production and reception, there is an obvious difference between a television series like The Leftovers (HBO, 201 -), that is derived off a single, standalone publication (Tom Perrota’s The Leftovers) and a series that is created from an ongoing text on which the narrative development of the series can have an in uence in turn and which can be watched alongside the ongoing source’ text.

1 Ratings for the Outlander premiere ranged from 3.7 to 5 million (Kang, Selcke). 2 The television series started airing 23 years after Gabaldon had published her rst novel in 1991.

At the time of writing this article (November 201 ), Gabaldon’s eighth novel made headlines for outselling Hillary Clinton’s biography Hard Choices (McKinney).

128

Television Series

Title (Network) Creator/Showrunner Seasons

Outlander (Starz) Ronald D. Moore 1 season (201 -)

Game of Thrones (HBO) D.B. Weiss, David Benioff seasons (2011-)

The Walking Dead (AMC) Frank Darabont (Season 1), Scott Gimple (Season and 5)

5 seasons (2010-)

True Blood (HBO) Alan Ball 7 seasons (2008-201 )

Gossip Girl (The CW) osh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage

6 seasons (2007-2012)

Dexter (Showtime) ames Manos, r. 8 seasons (2006-2013)

The Vampire Diaries (The CW)

Kevin Williamson, ulie Plec 6 seasons (2009-201 )

Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family)

Oliver Goldstick, Marlene King

5 seasons (2010-)

Rizzoli & Isles (TNT) anet Tamaro 5 seasons (2010-)

Bones (FO ) Hart Hanson 10 seasons (2005-201 )

The Dresden Files (Sci-Fi Channel)

im Butcher 1 season (2007)

Roswell (The WB/UPN) ason Katims 3 seasons (1999-2002)

Goosebumps (Fox Kids) Deborah Forte, R. L. Stine seasons (1995-1998)

Legend of the Seeker (ABC Studios)

Sam Raimi 2 seasons (2008-2010)

Women’s Murder Club (ABC)

Elizabeth Craft, Sarah Fain 1 season (2007)

Table 1: Overview of simultaneously progressing serial narratives.

129

Novel or Comic Series

Title (Publisher) Author Installments

Outlander (Random House) Diana Gabaldon 8 novels (1991-201 )

A Song of Ice and Fire (Bantam Books)

George R. R. Martin 5 novels (1996-2011, 2 more announced)

The Walking Dead (Image Comics)

Robert Kirkman, artist: Tony Moore /Charlie Adlard

13 comic books

Southern Vampire Mysteries (Ace Books)

Charlaine Harris 13 novels (2001-2013)

Gossip Girl (Little, Brown and Company)

Cecily von iegesar 11 novels (2002-2007), pre uel (2009) and se uel (2009)

Dexter (Random House) eff Lindsay 7 novels (200 -2013)

The Vampire Diaries (Harper Paperbacks)

L. . Smith 13 novels (1991/1992, 2009-201 )

Pretty Little Liars (Harper Teen)

Sara Shepard 15 novels (2006-201 )

Maura Isles & Jane Rizzoli- Series (Ballantine Books)

Tess Gerritsen 11 novels (2001-201 )

Temperance Brennan-Series (Scribner)

Kathy Reichs 17 novels (1997-201 )

The Dresden Files (Roc Books)

im Butcher 15 novels (2002-201 )

Roswell High (Pocket Books)

Melinda Meetz (and others) 10 novels (1998-2000)

Goosebumps (Scholastic Publishing)

R.L. Stine (and others) 62 novels (1992-1997)

The Sword of Truth (Tor Books)

Terry Goodkind 13 novels (199 -2013)

Women’s Murder Club (Lit-tle, Brown and Company)

ames Patterson 13 novels (2001-201 )

130

While, at rst, this group seems to disproportionately consist of current premi-um cable television shows that primarily fall into the genres of horror and fantasy, Table 1 provides an overview of all television series that are being produced parallel to an ongoing, serial text that precedes them. The chronological overlap of both series is the decisive factor for a crossmedia relationship based on dialog, competition or response. The table allows to identify other genres within this group: There are successful (network) shows geared towards teenage or oung Adult audiences, like Gossip Girl (The CW, 2007-2012), The Vampire Diaries (The CW, 2009-201 ), and Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family, since 2010), for example, as well as series from the genre of detective or crime ction, like Bones (Fox, 2005-201 ), and Rizzoli and Isles (TNT, 2010-201 ). Any such list could never be exhaustive due to the ongoing sprawl and vastness of contemporary popular culture.3 et, I suggest that considering these types of material as a phenomenon with diverse but also somewhat similar practices of reception and production does justice to the connections between the serial texts.

The narratives compiled in the table have all had dedicated audiences before moving to television. In each case, readers were previously invested in either characters or storyworlds and producers could rightly assume that these audiences would be interested in seeing the narratives expand on the small screen as long as the television series would do justice to the source text’s narrative rules or aesthetic (cf. Klastrup and Tosca enkins, “The Walking”). Concurrent to relying on long-running texts with built-in audiences, it is also the commercial interest of television series to extend their viewership beyond this initial group towards new consumers who are unfamiliar with the preceding book or comic series.4

Authorship and Simultaneous Seriality

This dilemma of appealing to a variety of viewers is solved differently in the television series. One strategy of establishing a connection between texts is the way and the extent to which an author or creator of the preceding series is involved in the television show, i.e. as executive producer, writer, consultant, or spokesperson. For instance, novelist Kathy Reichs, who based the protagonist of her crime novel series on her own experiences as a forensic anthropologist, also produces the television series Bones. George R.R. Martin, who has experience as television and lm writer,

3 I have not included television series that are based on comic characters of the DC or Marvel superhero universes, e.g. Arrow (The CW, 2012-), Gotham (Fox, 2014-), or Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC, 2013-). While several of the dynamics and practices I describe here also apply to these series, the process of crossmedia interaction is complicated by practices of alternative content universes/multiverses and the retrospective alteration of content (retcon/retroactive continuity). See Kelleter and Stein. Related are U.S. American adaptations or remakes of Scandinavian television series such as The Bridge (F , 2013-2014) based on the Danish and Swedish series Broen (DR1)/Bron (SVT1, 2011-2013) or The Killing (AMC, 2011-2013/Net ix, 2014) based on the Danish Forbrydelsen (DR1, 2007-2012). While the U.S. versions of these series closely resemble their Scandinavian precedents, their narratives diverge considerably as the series progresses while still maintaining a close textual relationship to the foreign original.

4 Although I have monitored various online forums, discussions following episode recaps, and social media for The Walking Dead, it is hard to determine how large the segment of audiences exhibiting these reception practices is. At the PCA/ACA National Conference 2014 in Chicago, Ofer Berenstein, Aiden Buckland, and Angie Chiang presented research on the connection between comic sales and television ratings. Their ndings correspond with my research in suggesting that audiences tend to migrate in both directions.

131

is involved in some of the writing of the Game of Thrones series for which he is an executive producer. And while eff Lindsay was apparently not involved in the production of Dexter, he is acknowledged in a cameo role in the third season.

Both the challenge and potential that result from incorporating authorial presence are especially interesting in the case of The Walking Dead comic creator Robert Kirkman. Kirkman started to write the comic in 2003 with artist Tony Moore (fol-lowing issue 7, artist Chris Adlard replaced Moore). The Walking Dead currently has 135 comic issues and 5 seasons on AMC. Both television and comic series describe themselves as stories of survival horror’ and focus on the social interactions in communities of humans formed to survive hostile surroundings after a zombie apocalypse. Kirkman functions as executive producer of the television series, he is part of the writers’ room and was credited with the writing of seven episodes so far.5 Whereas others have talked about the complicated conditions under which the show was developed (Platts), the way it confused AMC’s developing brand identity ( aramillo 179), and the “slow-burn narrative” format of the network’s other programs (Smith), little has been said about Kirkman’s connection to the television series.

Kirkman has occupied a very central position as the creator of the franchise and spokesperson and/or author gure for both the television series as well as the comic series. Therefore, he is positioned to provide continuity and ll a void caused by the uctuation of showrunners (Frank Darabont, Glen Mazzara, Scott M. Gimple). This dual author role may cater to the audiences’ desire for a unifying author gure but also privileges the reception of both texts alongside each other.6

Possible Frameworks: Transmedia Storytelling and Adaptation Studies

The sprawling tendencies of so many current media texts are often subsidized under the label of transmedia storytelling. The term has become a buzzword in the past years and continues to be attractive to practitioners, academics and journalists alike. Whereas Marsha Kinder was the rst to introduce the term “transmedia entertainment” in her study of children’s franchises, the person whose name has been permanently attached to the concept is Henry enkins. His fre uently uoted de nition is:

Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a ction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a uni ed and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes its own uni ue contribution to the unfolding of the story. (“Transmedia”)

enkins has adamantly argued against a very broad use of the concept and it is his notion that each text has to contribute something new and uni ue to the franchise, that has been heavily debated especially with regard to the uestion of whether

5 Season 1, Episode 4 (1.4.) “Vatos,” 2.1. “What Lies Ahead” (co-written with Ardeth Bey), 2.13. “Besides the Dying Fire” (co-written with Glen Mazzara), 3.8. “Made to Suffer,” 4.3. “Isolation,” 4.9. “After,” and 5.2. “Strangers.”

6 After AMC had picked up the rights to the comic in 2009, Kirkman announced his involvement in the upcoming television series in the comic’s letter column “Letter Hacks.” The letter column has since then become a space in which the comic is discussed alongside the television show with readers responding to plots developments of both, discussing possibilities of adaptation, and media affordances of each. See Stein on letter columns and authorship practices enkins, “The Walking.” In my dissertation project, I analyze the “Letter Hacks” as authorized paratext of the television series.

132

adaptations have a place within transmedia storytelling and are able to provide their “own uni ue contribution” (cf. Dena Cardwell).

A second theoretical framework for understanding the interaction between the different serial texts of a franchise comes from the eld of adaptation studies. How-ever, the much lamented textual delity/in delity debate with its inherent dynamics of evaluation and hierarchization continues to haunt the eld because analyses are often based on the primacy of a source text (cf. Cobb Leitch). With regard to the simultaneously progressing texts that inform each other, hierarchies of one text over the other are evoked by producers of the second text (in the rhetoric of wanting to do justice) and sparingly by audiences when it comes to expressing personal preferences of either one text (cf. Proctor). et, television and comic or novel series are not evaluated or measured up against each other in the fashion of for example Shakespearian plays and their lm adaptations. In the case of The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones or True Blood, critics and/or recappers of the television shows have turned to the book or comic series in order to predict plot or character developments.

As Sanders has argued, adaptations always reinforce the canonical status of the texts they adapt (120). However, the largely synchronically, simultaneous series seem to rather reinforce each other. Overall, it is surprising how little echoes the crossmedia relationship of these texts has sparked in their (critical) receptions. Audiences are aware of the existence of the other serial narrative and while not every consumer may turn to that text, they do confess interest in its development as is evident in social media or message board discussions. Instead of viewing this other series as something that has to do justice or done justice to an original’ in the sense of textual delity, these audiences consider it as part of the same franchise that uses different means to present a familiar narrative.7

ason Mittell suggests that enkins’ concept describes an ideal type and cannot account for the practical circumstances of television production.8 Mittell goes on to refer to that ideal type as “balanced transmedia” and distinguishes it from what he calls “unbalanced transmedia,” in which the center of a transmedia franchise is clearly identi ed as the television series with corresponding transmedia extensions functioning as paratexts (220-22). In other words and Mittell draws on a term that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have used to describe the position of their television series Lost (ABC, 2004-2010) at the center of a transmedia franchise:

television storytellers must privilege the mothership by designing experiences that viewers can consume in a wide range of ways without sacri cing coherence or engagement, regardless of how aware they may be of the paratextual extensions. (222)

The “mothership” metaphor is not only an apt visualization of “unbalanced trans-media storytelling” but also of the relationship between simultaneously serial texts. According to Mittell, transmedia extensions serve to keep audiences interested in the “mothership” (the television series), especially during the gaps in-between episodes or seasons (222). These paratextual “satellites” provide additional information but are not necessary for the “passengers” on the “mothership.” In regard to simulta-neous seriality, one could picture not one but two “motherships” with paratextual

7 AMC has understood these reception practices and attempts to capitalize on them with the development of a spin-off series set in the same narrative universe as The Walking Dead (Ausiello).

8 On industry practices and perspectives, see Evans and Dena.

133

satellites possibly referring to either one or both. Contentwise, the ships may follow similar or different routes their paths may cross, but also widely diverge at other times. Audiences may travel on one ship or on both, or they may treat one ship as the paratext of the other ship. Because different segments of audiences will approach the series differently, the texts have to accommodate for all of these possible scenarios.

Seriality enables or forces these texts to interact with one another concerning devel-opments of plot, characters or storyworld. As my case study on The Walking Dead will illustrate, rather than solely intertextual references (e.g. the mise en sc ne of signi cant scenes of the television series that restage covers of the comic book) the different texts may also explore different aspects of a theme.9 The relationship between both texts has to be understood not as a xed con guration but rather as an ongoing process in which both occupy different positions, imitating, supplementing, contrasting or competing with one another.10 These considerations raise pertinent uestions concerning the impact of such a dynamic process of intermedial exchange on the storytelling mechanics, and the types and moments of interactions between the narratives.

During a &A following the world premiere of Outlander, the show’s creator and showrunner, Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi, 2004-2009) veteran Ronald D. Moore, was asked how closely he planned on following the books in the television series. Moore answered:

The plan is to be as faithful to the books as we can the show has its own life. The show has its own, you know, story going forward. So you do make changes I think our intention is always to be as true to the path that Diana Gabaldon has laid out for us and when we make a variation, then we try to bend it back, you know, one way or the other. If we can’t bend it back, right away, then eventually we will bend it back in another format. (Starz)

This symbol of a path is something the creator of The Walking Dead television series (and showrunner for the rst season), Frank Darabont, has also repeatedly invoked in interviews: “ We will take every, every interesting d-tour we feel like taking as long as in the long run we’re still following what Robert Kirkman has done expand the narrative veer off the path as long as we get back on it” (“Making Of”).

Transmedia storytelling and adaptation studies maintain that there is something to be gained by not viewing these texts as different entities but instead being aware of the paths’ they travel on and diverge from. The following case study of The Walking Dead is informed by this theoretical in uiry into the nature of simultaneous seriality, transmedia storytelling and adaptation studies. However, the ongoing controversies surrounding the nature of transmedia storytelling and which texts might or might not be grouped under such a label as well as the textual delity/in delity dilemma are surely justi ed within academic elds, but ultimately tell us more about the participants in these debates than the material they analyze.11

Hence, I will focus on the relationship and dialog of the two (in this case: even three) simultaneously progressing “motherships” in The Walking Dead franchise.

9 On the theme of parenthood, see Sulimma.10 Kelleter and ahn-Sudmann have described this occurrence as serial one-upmanship or outbid-

ding (“ berbietung”), a “strategy of competitive continuity” in serial narratives (Kelleter 8).11 My research is indebted to the work developed and discussed within the interdisciplinary

Research Unit “Popular Seriality Aesthetics and Practice” (www.popularseriality.de/en/). I especially thank Bettina Soller, Britta Lesniak, and Kathleen Loock for their productive feedback, corrections, and support of my research and earlier versions of this essay.

134

“We are the Walking Dead” in Comic, TV Series, and Games Series

The Walking Dead franchise has been situated within the discourse of “ uality Tele-vision” (Hassler-Forest) or the framework of adaptation studies (Proctor enkins, “The Walking”). William Proctor understands the series as part of what he calls a “ ombie Matrix,” i.e. as a remake of existing zombie movies such as George A. Romero’s lms or Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later (6). While this analysis enables him to place the franchise in a certain tradition, Proctor neglects that The Walking Dead is foremost a serial narrative. In the words of Todd Platts: “The Walking Dead continues this tradition, but with a simple catch the story never ends” (294). It is precisely this notion of a never-ending zombie lm that is evoked repeatedly as a new or uni ue attribute of the franchise. Ultimately, by not having all characters rescued by some type of militia or eaten by zombies at the end of a lm, the franchise is able to place a central appeal of zombie narratives, namely the issue of ongoing survival horror, the handling of trauma and the connected uestion of what would you do in a zombie apocalypse’ at its core.12

When it comes to surviving the undead, media savvy audiences are at an ad-vantage over the characters. Kirkman has stated on several occasions that zombie

lms do not exist in the narrative universe of The Walking Dead. Hence, characters do not know what these creatures are or what to call them: Walkers, lurkers, biters, roamers, deadheads?

“We are the walking dead”/ “We’re all dead” is a key scene in the franchise because it establishes that the title-giving walking dead’ are in fact not the zom-bies but the characters attempting to survive in a post-apocalypse environment. It con rms the audience’s growing realization that instead of the zombies that provide genre fare and gory scenes the primary narrative focus is on the abysmal depths of the humans, and the uestion of what they will do to each other in order to survive. I want to look at the different renditions of this signi cant scene in the comic, television series and video game.13

In comic book issue 15, protagonist Rick is shocked to discover that two mem-bers of his group, ulie and Chris, reanimate as zombies after having committed suicide. Prior to this, characters (and readers) had assumed that a person had to be bitten by a zombie in order to contract the deadly disease that would turn him or her into a zombie. Rick goes to the rest of his group and tells them what has happened. But he downplays the event and tells everyone to go back to sleep. The next panel shows Rick in bed next to his wife Lori and son Carl, wide-awake with his features expressing sheer terror. The following day, Lori nds Rick lling up a motorcycle to leave the prison that their group has found refuge in. He tells her:

I haven’t slept. I laid up awake last night, thinking about ulie and Chris. If they revived without a bite that means we’re ALL infected or could be. That means we’re just waiting to die before we come back as one of those things. The more I think about it I realized there’s something I have to do. I think it is best you not know. I promise you wouldn’t want to. (8)

12 Cf. Max Brooks’ Zombie Survival Guide (2003) or the “ ombie Research Society” (http://zombieresearchsociety.com/).

13 Release/publication dates of the scene: anuary to November 2005 (comic) 18 March 2012 (TV) 27 une 2012 (game).

135

Rick travels back to the grave of his former best friend Shane who had betrayed his trust, slept with Lori, and challenged the position as leader that Rick had uickly ac uired upon joining their group of survivors. When Rick calls out at the grave, the reanimated ombie-Shane claws itself through the earth. Rick remains calm and utters:

So I guess it’s not an isolated thing coming back without being bitten. I thought it might be. ulie turned pretty uick. But it took us hours to get you into the ground. So many damn uestions. When I realized you might be at the bottom of that hole, alive or whatever I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I couldn’t sleep knowing you were down there. Would you have left me? (19)

Because Shane had never been bitten, Rick’s suspicion is con rmed. Characters in the series carry whatever it is that turns the dead into reanimated zombies in their own bodies. In the subse uent issues, characters nd more evidence for this new narrative rule (and readers expressed their surprise, hesitation but also admiration of this development in the comic’s letter column). Nine issues later, in comic book 24, Rick wakes up from a coma as a conse uence of a brutal ght with his close friend Tyreese in which both men had tragically confronted one another about the atrocities they had committed in order to survive and supposedly protect the group. The violence of their past deeds had joined with the physical violence against each other, while the members of their group were too shocked to intervene. Rick awakes to be told that because his dark secrets had been revealed, his sole leadership position has been compromised. Instead, the group of survivors wishes to be governed by a committee of which Rick would still be a part. Rick agrees with this decision but confronts the group about their mistrust of him. In this scene, Rick who is heavily injured, his face covered with several bandages and one eye bruised shut, aggressively pleads his case. He insists that the world around them has changed and his cruel choices had been necessary for their survival. When Tyreese, who again functions as his adversary, tries to emphasize that morality is what distinguishes human from the zombie, Rick picks up on this:

We’re surrounded by the Dead. We’re AMONG them and when we nally give up we become them! We’re living on borrowed time here. Every minute of our life is a minute we steal from them! ou see them out there. ou KNOW that when we die we BECOME them. ou think we hide behind walls to protect us from the walking dead! Don’t you get it? WE ARE THE WALKING DEAD! (18-21)

The last exclamation is then repeated less aggressively (indicated by a smaller font) and with Rick facing the ground while all other characters stare at him in shock. In this last panel, which encompasses one page and ends the issue, the focus is on the other characters and how they (together with the readers) take in the extent of this revelation while Rick’s gure is covered in shade (Fig. 1).

In the television series, the reveal is part of several surprising plot develop-ments of the second season’s nale (“Besides the Dying Fire”). This season had almost exclusively been set on the Greene family’s farm which characters stumble upon in a moment of crisis and where they remain until they are forced to ee when the farm is overrun by an enormous herd of zombies. During their escape, several characters are killed and the survivors are on the road again. The “We are the walking dead” se uence starts with the characters stopping their vehicles and getting together on an abandoned street that is covered in autumn leaves. The conversation is tense, several characters hold on to their weapons and look

136

around for possible threats. They are clearly shaken up and struggle to come to terms with what has happened to them. While especially the female characters seem panicked and prioritize getting the things they need for survival, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) refuses to let the group split up in order to run errands: “We’re together. We keep it that way.” Rick clearly functions as the narrative center of this conversation. Other characters directly address him and ask him what to do, with male characters like Hershel (Scott Wilson) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) stepping in to con rm his decisions. The scene establishes Rick as the leader: He makes binding decisions for everyone. et, it also illustrates how other characters start to speak up and uestion his authority.

DAR L: ou know I found Randall, right? He turned. But he wasn’t bit. BETH (directly addresses Rick): How is that possible?LORI: Like what the hell happened?DAR L: Shane killed Randall. ust like he always wanted to.LORI (asks RICK): And then the herd of walkers got him?RICK: We’re all infected.DAR L: What?RICK: At the CDC, enner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it.CAROL: And you never said anything?RICK: Would it have made a difference?GLENN: ou knew this the whole time!RICK: How could I have known for sure. ou saw how crazy that GLENN: That is not your call! Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone. RICK: I thought it best that people didn’t know.

Figure 1: Variations of a scene groups of characters gather to hear the narrative revelation.

137

In the following scenes, the camera lingers on the other characters’ shocked, confused and angry faces in close-ups and then captures how Rick aggressively counters the other characters’ stare. His face is not as severely injured as his comic counterpart’s is, but smeared with blood. Similar to the comic, Rick’s interaction with the group is marked by hostility and the uestioning of his decisions and leadership capabilities. Especially the female characters Beth (Emily Kinney), Carol (Melissa McBride), Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), in a later scene Maggie (Lauren Conrad) are critical of Rick, while characters like Hershel or Daryl will go on to express their trust in his leadership for the remainder of the episode. The only character of color, T-Dog (IronE Singleton), stares at Rick in disbelief after the revelation, yet does not express any opinion. Glenn’s (Steven eun) exclamation (“ ou knew this whole time!”) gains special importance because it works like a meta-comment, a character is expressing the audiences’ reaction. Like the characters, viewers are surprised to nd a plot they had thought abandoned after the rst season, picked up and explained in the second season’s nale.14 Like the characters, the audience may be wondering why Rick was never shown giving thought to such a major piece of information and what else he might possibly withhold from them.

In the DVD audio commentary, executive producer and showrunner Glen Mazzara adds that Rick, while not being entirely sure if he could believe scientist enner’s (Noah Emmerich) claim, revealed this knowledge because the group was

getting too close to asking uestions about Shane’s ( on Bernthal) death whom Rick had murdered him in self-defense. By means of this information he hopes to focus the group’s attention on something else and then walks off by himself to leave everyone standing in shock (Fig. 1). The second season of the television series, had been criticized (but also praised by some) for its slow-paced narration, focus on character development and character interaction that primarily consisted of one-on-one dialogs. This also makes that se uence stand out in the context of the overall season because the entire group of survivors is seldom shown in the same scene or even in the same camera frame.

The company Telltale Games has extended the franchise, when it started de-veloping a commercially successful video game series in association with Robert Kirkman’s company Skybound Entertainment. 15 The “We are the Walking Dead” scene in the game series is part of the rst season’s second installment “Starved for Help.”16 The character (avatar) to be navigated by gamers, Lee Everett, and his prot g Clementine camp at a forti ed and barricaded motel together with a group of survivors they have met in the previous episode. So far, all the characters of the video game series are original creations and do not appear in either comic or television with two notable exceptions: Hershel and Glenn. In this episode, food scarcity and hunger uickly become the central themes. After two new characters

14 Chris Hardwick, host of the after-show talk show Talking Dead that features cast, crew, and celebrity fans who discuss the latest episode, asked producer and showrunner Glen Mazzara: “So why was it important for Rick to hold this information all season?” Note how the television series, through this paratextual talk show, in uences how its episodes are being interpreted. Within the franchise, the talk show functions very much like the letter column in the comic issues.

15 Cf. Sulimma for a discussion of the game series. 16 Within game studies, the uestion whether to consider games as narratives and which function

storytelling may have in regard to gameplay has resulted in the “ludology vs. narratology debate.” Cf. Denson and ahn-Sudmann (5-8).

138

join the group, tensions over leadership erupt with hothead Kenny telling leader Lilly: “ ou know, you like to think you are the leader of this little group, but we can make our own goddamn decisions! This isn’t your own personal dictatorship!” This struggle against a single person making decisions for a larger group has also been a signi cant part of the way the reveal’-scene unfolds in the comic and television series. Unlike Rick, here it is a female character claiming authority. Lilly’s increasingly dif cult and unappreciated position is portrayed as she clashes with Kenny. By means of Lee, players have to decide whom to align with in this con ict.

One of the newcomers to the group is severely injured and dies relatively soon. Even though this character was not bitten, he turns into a zombie and attacks Lee. Once the player manages to get away from the zombie in a stressful uick-time-event, the entire group turns to the other newcomer, Ben, and uestions him.

KENN : Why didn’t you tell us he was bitten?BEN: What?KENN : He was bitten and you didn’t say a goddamn word!!BEN: But he wasn’t bitten! I swear!KENN : Well your “not-bitten” friend here came back to life and tried to kill my wife!BEN: What?!! Wait, you all don’t know?KENN : What the hell are you talking about?BEN: It’s not the bite that does it. pause, characters gather around him ou come back no matter how you die. If you don’t destroy the brain, that’s just what happens. It’s gonna happen to all of us.LEE (dialog option): ou’re lying. / We’re all infected? (my choice) / God help us. / (Say nothing). BEN: I I guess so. I don’t know All I know is that I’ve seen people turn who I know were never bitten.

Within the larger plot of each text, the scene follows the loss of the farm in the television series, the establishment of the prison as a safe space in the comic, and the search for food that drives characters out of their camp in the game series. Similar to this, the characters of the television show are also in need of shelter and resources. In the comic, characters are no longer on the run from zombies, but are able to get to know each other better and have to deal with what they nd out about each other (be it murder, brutality, or sexual in delity). In the game, the scene functions as a climax to the dire situation (no food, little resources) that kicks off the main plot of the respective installment (the con ict with the cannibal St. ohn family).

In both the television and comic series, protagonist Rick reveals to the group that everyone carries it’ in their bodies. In the game series, Ben, a minor, relatively unknown character, is the one to explain this narrative rule. Unlike the bloody and injured Rick, who seems so obviously transformed by the hostile surroundings of the post-apocalypse,

Figure 2: The character Rick revealing the narrative development.

139

teenager Ben appears harmless and vulnerable (Fig. 2). Ben stays with the survivors after this scene but time after time puts the members of his group at risk with his irresponsible and na ve behavior (which also accounts for rare instances of humor in the game).

et, in all media the person who reveals the truth does so to secure his position within the group, to make the others either understand his motivation for uestionable deeds (comic) or to distract from other contested issues (TV, game). While Rick wants to remain the leader of the group, in the game series, newcomer Ben hopes to become a member of the group, and, as he is clearly the outsider who is lowest on the totem pole, has to defend himself against accusations.

The dialog between the different texts of the franchise becomes most prominent in the tensions regarding leadership and decision-making. In the comic series, it is the tension building up to a climax in this scene that results in the establishment of a committee to govern the survivors. In the television series, this scene manifests both the general distrust the group members (especially the female characters) have in Rick and the extremes he is willing to go to if he feels them justi ed. At the end of the second season, this realization about their leader combined with the characters’ traumatic loss of the farm creates an urgent need to nd a new safe place as soon as possible. This is foreshadowed in the last frame showing the prison as the new location for the third season.

The comic series provides a string of different scenes in the issues 15 to 24, in which characters discuss the impact of this new knowledge, that then climax in Rick’s monumental declaration “We are the walking dead!” as a con rmation of the comic’s actual interest. By comparison, neither the television series nor game series grant this discovery as much space within their overall plots. Neither text has the characters explicitly phrase these actual words but they build up on this information in a shorter, yet more subtle fashion. In regard to the television show, this left audiences debating if Rick would ever utter this exact phrase or at which moment of the television series this would have worked best.17 In the comic series, Rick also sets out to con rm his suspicion, while in the game and on television other characters simply accept this literally game-changing information as truth about the world they live in. If these texts are understood as partaking in serial conversations, it makes sense that neither television nor game series have resorted to such a repetition. Instead, the focus of both television show and game series is less on a thematic repositioning of the Walking Dead brand and more about the characters and their responses. Both do not linger on the effects the revelation has on their characters for a long time but uickly move on to other crucial moments, such as the rst appearance of the much anticipated, fan favorite character Michonne (Danai Gurira) in the television series or the introduction of the episode’s villains (the St. ohn brothers) right after Ben’s last exclamation in the game.

The responses between texts can also be detected in the scenes’ sound as well as visuals.18 In both video game and television series, the scene is accompanied by strings that very subtly sneak in following the reveal and that successfully blend with the sounds of the characters’ surroundings (in all media the scene happens outdoors) such as insects or the wind blowing leaves. In both scenes, the sound is marked by polysemic, unsettling harmonies and not accentuated rhythms which may leave players or viewers with feelings of sadness but also disorientation as the sound refuses to offer any musical anchor points.

17 Cf. reddit discussions (BleedTheFreak 23).18 The comic book series does only rarely deploy onomatopoeia.

140

Visually, the comic series sets the scene at the end of spring with the sun burning down and characters sweating while planting crops on a eld in the prison courtyard. The bright sun explains the heavy use of shadows and light to emphasize certain characters (Fig. 1). Television and game series depict a location close to a forest, during or at the beginning of fall. The falling leaves and gray, cold light of this scene anticipate winter and serve to express the characters disillusioned feelings of threat and anxiety.

The scene in its different iterations is central to the self-understanding of the franchise and its reception. It breaks with conventions of the zombie horror lm because there is no escape from the apocalypse. There is no safe haven as everyone carries the threat in his or her own body, any character could die and then turn at any given moment. This establishes human interaction and the depths of what humans will do to each other in order to survive as the central theme of The Walking Dead in all connected series.

Each series takes up this notion yet re-focuses the uestion in order to explore different aspects of the theme. The comic series takes its time to establish the new knowledge of the storyworld with a plot in which Rick sets out to con rm his suspicion and talks with other characters about the implications thereof in various scenes. Whereas the comic is most explicit (and also chronologically rst), its narrative attention is focused on what the reveal means for the storyworld and the characters’ survival in it. The television (and game series) can build up on this previous exploration. In the AMC series, the scene is about the protagonist characters (and audiences) are left shocked about how Rick could have kept such a secret, who he has become and whether his murder of Shane was really justi ed. The game series in turn has an unknown character reveal this knowledge and due to its media speci city, gives players the choice of uttering their own response via the selection of different dialog options.

Conclusion

This essay prepares the groundwork for further consideration of the discussed group of narratives (Tab. 1) as a phenomenon of simultaneous seriality. I have argued for an understanding of the conversations, supplements, corrections, contradictions and competitions that characterize the relationship of a connected television, comic and game series, as enabled through their mutual, responding, simultaneous progression. Likewise, serial conversations, similar to those I explored for The Walking Dead, also take place for television shows and corresponding novel series. For Outlander, the relationship of the relatively new television series and established novel series will evolve as the serial narratives are progressing.

While any analysis will struggle to do justice to the vastness of these narratives and their proliferating intersections, adaptation studies and transmedia storytelling provide promising entry points. Especially Mittell’s notion of “unbalanced trans-media storytelling,” that has informed my case study, is helpful for conceptualizing the practices producers and audiences of these texts employ and that in turn shape the narratives. Crossmedia serial franchises raise interesting uestions about texts, industry practices and audience dynamics that might enrich the current debates informing the elds of adaptation studies and transmedia storytelling.

Berlin Maria Sulimma

141

Works CitedAusiello, Michael. “Walking Dead Spin-Off: Meet the Survivors (Including a New

Andrea’)!” TVLine Media LLC, 27 Sept. 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. http://tvline.com/2014/09/27/the-walking-dead-spinoff-cast-characters/ .

BleedTheFreak 23. “Will We Ever Hear the We are the walking dead!’ Speech in the Show?” Reddit. Reddit Inc., 13 Feb. 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. http://www.reddit.com/r/thewalkingdead/comments/1xs51a/will we ever hear the weare the walking dead/ .

Cardwell, Sarah. Adaptation Revisited: Television and the Classic Novel. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2002. Print.

Cobb, Shelly. “Adaptation, Fidelity, and Gendered Discourse.” Adaptation 4.1 (2010): 28-37. Print.

Dena, Christy. “Transmedia Practice: Theorising the Practice of Expressing a Fic-tional World across Distinct Media and Environments.” Diss. U of Sydney, 2009. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. http://www.christydena.com/phd/ .

Denson, Shane, and Andreas ahn-Sudmann. “Digital Seriality: On the Serial Aes-thetics and Practice of Digital Games.” Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture 7. 1 (2013): 1-32. Web. http://www.eludamos.org/index.php/eludamos/article/view/vol7no1-1/7-1-1-html .

Evans, Elizabeth. Transmedia Television: Audiences, New Media, and Daily Life. New ork: Routledge, 2011. Print.

Hassler-Forest, Dan. “The Walking Dead: uality Television, Transmedia Serializa-tion and ombies.” Serialization in Popular Culture. Ed. Rob Allen and Thijs van den Berg. New ork: Routledge, 2014. 91-105. Print.

ahn-Sudmann, Andreas, and Frank Kelleter. “Die Dynamik serieller berbietung: Amerikanische Fernsehserien und das Konzept des uality-TV.” Populäre Serialität: Narration – Evolution – Distinktion. Zum seriellen Erzählen seit dem 19. Jahrhundert. Ed. Kelleter. Bielefeld: transcript, 2012. 205-24. Print.

aramillo, Deborah L. “AMC: Stumbling Toward a New Television Canon.” Tele-vision and New Media 14.2 (2013): 167-83. Print.

enkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New ork: New ork UP, 2006. Print.

---. “Transmedia 202: Further Re ections.” Weblog of Henry Jenkins. Henryjenkins.org, 1 Aug. 2011. Web. 8 Dec. 2014.

http://henryjenkins.org/2011/08/de ning transmedia further re.html .---. “The Walking Dead: Adapting Comics.” How to Watch Television. Ed. Ethan

Thompson and ason Mittell. New ork: New ork UP, 2013. 373-82. Print.---, Sam Ford, and oshua Green, eds. Spreadable Media: Creating Value in a

Networked Culture. New ork: New ork UP, 2013. Print.Kang, Inkoo. “Outlander Pilot Drew Male and Female Viewers in E ual Numbers

And Lots of Them.” Indiewire. Indiewire.com, 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/outlander-pilot-drew-male-and-female-viewers-in-e ual-numbers-and-lots-of-them-20140812 .

142

Kelleter, Frank. Serial Agencies: The Wire and Its Readers. Winchester: ero Books, 2014. Print.

---, and Daniel Stein. “Autorisierungspraktiken seriellen Erzählens: ur Gat-tungsentwicklung von Superheldencomics.” Populäre Serialität: Narration – Evo-lution – Distinktion. Zum seriellen Erzählen seit dem 19. Jahrhundert. Ed. Kelleter. Bielefeld: transcript, 2012. 259-90. Print.

Kinder, Marsha. Playing with Power in Movies, Television, and Video Games: From Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Berkeley: U of California P, 1991. Print.

Klastrup, Lisbeth, and Susana Tosca. “Game of Thrones: Transmedial Worlds, Fandom, and Social Gaming.” Storyworlds across Media: Toward a Media-Con-scious Narratology. Ed. Marie-Laure Ryan and an-No l Thon. Lincoln, NE: U of Nebraska P, 2014. 295-314. Print.

Leitch, Thomas. “Adaptation Studies at a Crossroads.” Adaptation 1.1 (2008): 63-77. Web.

“Making Of.” The Walking Dead, Season 1. AMC and Anchor Bay Entertainment, 2011. DVD.

McKinney, Kelsey. “This Science Fiction Romance Novel Outsold Hillary Clinton Last Week.” Vox. Vox Media Inc., 19 une 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. http://www.vox.com/2014/6/19/5822098/this-science- ction-romance-novel-outsold-hillary-clinton-last-week .

Mittell, ason. Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling. New ork: New ork UP, 2015. Print.

Platts, Todd K. “The Walking Dead.” The Zombie Film: From White ombie to World War . Ed. ames Ursini and Alain Silver. New ork: Applause Theater and Cinema Books, 2014. 294-97. Print.

Proctor, William. “Interrogating The Walking Dead: Adaptation, Transmediality, and the ombie Matrix.” Remake Television: Reboot, Re-Use, Recycle. Ed. Carleen Lavigne. New ork: Lexington Books, 2014. 5-20. Print.

Starz. “Outlander World Premiere Screening &A STAR .” Online Posting. ouTube, 28 uly 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v gi xwnTv0z8 .Smith, Anthony N. “Putting the Premium into Basic: Slow-Burn Narrative and the

Loss-Leader Function of AMC’s Original Drama Series.” Television and New Media 14.2 (2013): 150-66. Print.

Stein, Daniel. “Superhero Comics and the Authorizing Functions of the Comic Book Paratext.” From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels: Contributions to the Theory and History of Graphic Narrative. Ed. Stein and an-No l Thon. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2013. 155-89. Print.

Ryan, Marie-Laure, and an-No l Thon, eds. Storyworlds across Media: Toward a Media-Conscious Narratology. Lincoln, NE: U of Nebraska P, 2014. Print.

Sanders, ulie. Adaptation and Appropriation. New ork: Routledge, 2006. Print.

143

Selcke, Dan. “Starz Renews Outlander for a Second Season.” A.V. Club. Onion Inc., 15 Aug. 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. http://www.avclub.com/article/starz-re-news-outlander-second-season-208211 .

Sulimma, Maria. “ Did you shoot the girl in the street?’: On the Digital Serial-ity of The Walking Dead.” Digital Seriality. Ed. Shane Denson and Andreas ahn-Sudmann. Special issue of Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture

8 (2014): 83-100. Web. http://www.eludamos.org/index.php/eludamos/article/view/vol8no1-6/8-1-6-html .

TorrentFreak. TF Publishing, n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. http://torrentfreak.com/ .

All illustrations are from the Walking Dead comic, television, or video game series. They are solely reproduced for analytical purposes and all rights are held by Image Comics, Skybound, AMC, or TellTale Games.