The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye

Rick Grimes wakes from a coma in a hospital to find the world transformed by a deadly outbreak. The dead have risen, the institutions of everyday life are gone, and survival now depends on immediate, brutal choices.

As he searches for his wife and son, Rick encounters other survivors and begins to understand how badly civilization has broken down. The story follows the formation and strain of a survivor group as they try to stay alive, protect one another, and make sense of a world ruled by the dead.

This first volume introduces the core characters and the series’ central survival engine. It moves quickly, builds tension through danger and loss, and ends with a major turning point that sets up the larger series arc.