Cactus - I spoke with a friend who has been reading The Walking Dead from the start. He is a fan of the new TV adaptation. He is of the opinion that the earlier writing wasn't the best and he also says, which I agree with, that character development is different for TV.
What I like about the TV series is that we're taking our time to understand the characters, that this is character driven, not plot driven, that it is far more about the characters than the scenario. It's very easy to convey various emotions and thoughts in a few easy animations - which is not the same as on the screen. For me, if the Sheriff had simply gone to the park and blown the woman away from his car - it would simply have been rather meaningless. Now, we're seeing him think about it, sympathise about it, it shows depth and character development.
Darabont only had 6 episodes to portray this story and could simply not have followed the comic scene by scene, plot by plot. It would have been completely lacking in depth. I fully expected him to move away from the source material and use it where necessary. The ultimate goal is to be within the spirit of the source material - now bearing in mind that the comic has been running 6 years, you have to start somewhere and present well, pull us in. The rules that apply to a comic are not the same as a TV series. I'll accept a guy passing a park and blowing someones head off in a comic, but in TV, it makes no sense. The most interesting TV series are those that give us good character development and depth to characters.
Aside all that, it's the best thing on TV.