Oh hey, this was essentially my experience too, but with the Walking Dead comic! The TV series used plot points from the comic book and I think you can kinda tell where the TV series’ success started affecting the comic and the whole thing turned into an ouroboros of trying to maintain the success of a flashy zombie TV show.
I think maybe it was inevitable. Robert Kirkman’s original idea of a never-ending human drama surrounded by the pressures of zombies doesn’t seem profitable long-term without insane character deaths and (more) deliberate gore porn.
If anyone else is curious, this appears to be the original, with higher resolution.
I love how vintage it looks! Usually modern vintage art loses something but I don’t know what it is.