SPOILERS!
Once again, do not read any further if you have not read the comics or do not want to know potential storylines for future episodes.
Man, I am glad that 2 month wait is over. The Walking Dead is back! While we got another episode on the farm with no end in sight we did get a bad a$$ ending by Rick. After watching that ending I got the feeling that Rick isn't a carbon copy of the comic book character...It also got me thinking about what I like about each storyline and depiction. Lets start with the TV show.
TV Show
Rick Grimes: He is one BAMF. He is pretty cold in the comics too but he gets the group in ALOT of trouble. In the comics he follows a helicopter crash and then leads part of the group to Woodbury where they encounter the Governor and put the group in mortal danger. Rick's curiousity, need to help, and desire to find other survivors clouds his judgement. His actions are responsible for the deaths of many group members and he even loses his own hand. In the TV show Rick, Glenn and Herschel encounter shady characters at the bar in town. Rick makes sound judgement that these 2 men are bad news and he dispatches them with nasty authority. I think this is a better representation of a veteran police officer who undoubtedly would think twice about encountering other survivors in a world where it is every man for himself. Now this isn't to say Rick will not mess up down the line in the TV show but so far I like the Rick who thinks twice.
The Visuals: The comic book art is fantastic and does an excellent job of depicting scenes. However, nothing beats seeing a well shot video of the same thing. Bringing the comic book to life and seeing some of the excellent kill shots is much more exicting to me. The black and white of the comics books while understandable takes away from the visual stimulus and lacks the punch you get with the TV show. The camera work, acting, setting and storyboarding are all of superb quality. These are all things that just cannot be replicated in print form.
COMIC BOOK
The Pace: I think we can all agree the current pace of Season 2 is so so very slow. The farm is highlighted for way to long. I understand budget constraints and character development but things are starting to slow to a crawl. The comic books do such an amazing job of keeping the pace heart racing. I could not put down a comic and was really excited about what was going to happen next. Even when there wasn't much walker action the pace kept moving along and kept me interested. The TV show had some parts where my attention started turning to other things due to lack of pace.
The Characters: The characters in the comic book, with the exception of a few, are fantastic. Tyrese is one of my favourite characters and is someone who joins the group very early on. However, he is not in the TV show and with the inclusion of "T-dogg" I am not sure if we will see him. T-dogg does some of the dirty work for the group but is about 3% of the man Tyrese is. I don't understand why they chose to include T-dogg while omit a fan favourite like Tyrese. Also the depiction of Carl is much better in the comics. We get to see and hear more of Carl who is a centerpiece to the comics rather than a small character with little screen time in the TV show. In the comics we also get introduced to new characters quicker and at a faster pace which helps keep the story fresh. The TV show has slowed this introduction down and only introduced a few more to the original cast.
So thats my thoughts on the comics vs the TV show. I could go on with more but maybe we can have a further discussion in the comments..Would love to hear your thoughts.