Production began today in Atlanta on AMC's adaptation of Robert Kirkman's zombie comic book epic "The Walking Dead," written and directed by Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption") and starring Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey DeMunn, Laurie Holden, Sarah Wayne Callies, and the cable channel released its first image of how its zombies will look.

Though I'm a devout comic book nerd, I haven't had time to pick up many new titles in the last few years, and "Walking Dead" has been on that ever-expanding list of books I mean to try if I had unlimited paid vacation time (and round-the-clock childcare). Still, AMC's track record so far with "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" means I'm very intrigued by the series, even though I'm not a zombie-hound in general.

So click through to look at the zombie lady, and then, two questions for the fanboys and girls: 1)Are you excited to see this adapted, or does it seem like the kind of title that's better-off on the page? (Someone attempted to turn "Fables" into a series a while back, for instance, but that's one I can't see working in live action.) 2)In this hypothetical time bubble where all I can do is read (and where my glasses aren't broken), what other new series of the past 5 or 6 years do I need to have stacked up next to my lounge chair?

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

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Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com