Now this is where it gets confusing...I think alot of us take on the "ideas" of different writers/stories/movies and we can get confused by taking it all in....
As for myself, I stand by the Romero idea... Zombies are created by biting a living person, /and or by transfer of saliva/blood pathogen, etc...(which the zombies or "Ghouls" were somewhat created by the radiation of a space probe) if you remember in NOTLD the zombies ate anything living...( the zombies tore the body and you see them eating the intestines etc...and then the one zombie who took the bug off the tree)... Now Russo ( who helped Romero with NOTLD) when he parted ways with George, he made the ROTLD series...It was him who made the idea of zombies wanting brains only...(stating eating the brains quells the pain that the dead feel)
Now in Max Brooks Survival Guide... Bodies of the Undead should last an average of 5 years, before rotting/drying up to dust...(depending on climate/weather)
Now in the Walking dead comics
The dead followed the Romero rule... and my interpretation was that there is some type of airborne virus that becomes active when a person dies... What did the zombie in the bottom of the well eat, or the zombie that hung himself? Zombies with most of the body missing, including their stomachs, still seem to survive just fine.
The first kept hydrated, that's more important than food

Nacho is correct....Hydration is the key... The zombie in the well was bloated by being in the water for a long period of time... (oh and the makeup was on point...When i was in Navy, we retrieved a body that was in the ocean for 2 weeks... and words cant comprehend how that body looked..) Look at the Bicycle Zombie...she was missing her lower torso...and she was still ticking...as long as the brain was operating, the zombie will continue...
The zombie hung in a tree...that could be several possibilities there... 1.) He was infected and hung himself before he turned... 2.) He could have been with a party and they took him out before he could attack... or zombies could have came and turned him)

But as for the series , I wanted to question why they have dead bodies... When Carl opened the truck door and took the tools out of the dead guy truck...I wanted that to be a zombie and attack...
I wonder if the 3rd series would
bring in Michonne... just that entrance in the comics, blew me away... ( walking with 2 zombies with their jaws and arms missing)What really crazy, is if they are trying to be realistic with the whole zombie apocalypse mess...Why havent we seen zombie animals?...Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---, Lassie just eaten Timmy!!!
