The Dead Walk at Collector's Corner in Parkville

While thousands of fans throughout the Baltimore area were gathering at bars or in living rooms to watch the Ravens go hand-to-hand with Pittsburgh Steelers on national television, a much smaller group was filing into Collector's Corner on Harford Road to watch the season finale of AMC's TV series "The Walking Dead".

The show, which premiered on Halloween, is based on a graphic novel of the same name written by Robert Kirkman. The story follows a group of survivors of an event that leaves humanity devastated and our world in the hands of the undead. 

Randy Myers, who owns the Collector's Corner, said, "I think the story is very well written—it's not all blood and guts, it's really character-driven." 

About eight people turned out to watch the season finale, which aired on AMC at 10 p.m. Sunday. 

"The turnouts for this thing have varied a lot, normally we have 12 or 15 people.  For the season premiere, we had about 30," Myers said. 

A back room of the store, normally used as an events space for various games, was converted into a makeshift theater—with rows of seats, a projector and surround sound—to screen the show.

The Walking Dead is not the first comic book to make a splash on the screen this year. Earlier in the year, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, based on a comics series by Bryan Lee O'Malley, made its mark on the big screen. 

"People are predisposed to thinking comics are for kids," said Myers. "But that's changing.  I think that they've really started to penetrate pop culture. You see it with superhero movies—it's not a fad, it's kind of a genre now." 

"The Walking Dead is probably the biggest independent comic success in the last 20 years—sales of the book have increased every year since the book came out in 2002. That's really unusual for a comic," Myers said. 

Sales of the book have increased even further since the show premiered.

Adam Scheidt, 28, of Westminster, came to Parkville to attend the Sunday night screening of the show's season finale. 

"I picked the first book up from a friend a year or so ago, and I just couldn't put it down," he said. "I like coming out here to watch the show because there are a lot of people here, it's like going to a movie theater."

Collector's Corner moved to its current location back in March from a smaller store up the street at 8108 Harford Road, where it had been since 2001. The store, which sells comic books, games and related merchandise, is the only one of its kind in Parkville. 

Myers said the idea to organize screenings of the show came to him easily. 

"We have the space here now, it's a great way to get people in the shop. If they spend money, that's cool—if not, they remember us, and maybe they come back," he said. 

The Walking Dead was renewed for a second season by AMC—and when the show starts up again, Collector's Corner will continue to organize screenings.