Written By: ROBERT KIRKMAN
Art & Cover CHARLIE ADLARD & CLIFF RATHBURN
Ok, so I'm going to pretend that you've never heard anything about this book and just hit this review running.
THE WALKING DEAD IS SO FREAKING GOOD. ROBERT KIRKMAN IS A MONSTER AT WRITING COMICS WHEN HE'S NOT AT MARVEL! Ok enough with the caps, but man, whenever I pick this book up, I always set it down with a lasting impression sitting inside of me. There are few other comic titles that can stir up my emotions so well with characters that I have no other choice but to love and hate. This issue is without a doubt the most climactic and incredible issue in the series' history. I don't want to spoil anything, because man, this thing is chock-full of things just begging to be spoiled, so I'm going to go ahead and avoid specific plot details and just try to critic the book from a writer's point of view. It should be interesting since I'm nowhere close to being a writer (I pause and reread that last sentence, realizing that I occasionally write for this site and wonder whether or not I should feel like an idiot for writing it...). Anywhoo, in this issue, Kirkman displays a very efficient way to keep you interested in a comic that very well could have just dried up by now, much like a zombie years after the crazy government gases reanimated it from whatever resting place it was chilling in. He's shaking things up. He's killing people (left and right I might add...don't look at me that way, it's not technically a spoiler, I didn't say WHO died). He's doing what so many of our hero comic cannot, which is becoming routine. Since the series is his to do with as he sees fit, he can do what needs to be done to make it interesting. Since the story started, there have been so many shifts in the status quo, and just when I thought things were gearing towards being somewhat comfortable, and issue like this comes along and literally slaps you in the face for being so accustomed to comic stories where nothing truly changes, and if somebody tries to change something, the retcon timer starts ticking until the status quo is re-established.
Ok, on to the next thing that needs to be addressed. Character develpment. Kirkman is so good at making you love his characters. As I have read these most recent issues, I've almost felt as if I myself lived in the prison sanctuary our 'family' of survivors has taken residence in. I've glimpsed into their worries, their happy moments, their day to day hum-drum of getting by in a zombie infested world and their moments of incredible crisis. Kirkman takes the appropriate amount of time to really show you his characters, to build a beautiful house of cards and makes you forget just how fragile it truly is, and then writes an issue like this that seems to just turn a leaf-blower our way and force you to just watch the cards scatter and flail about. By the same token, he knows how to make you HATE a character as well. Any readers who have read any of the last year's issues can (or should) sympathize with me when I state that "The Governor" is one of the dirtiest, most awful villains in recent comic history. Now sure, it's easy to write a monster that does awful things, but it's not easy to do it well. Just compare and contrast The Gov' with a 90's 'extreme' violent psychopath like, say, Carnage. He was a killer who massacred people, but man....he was sooo gay. Wheras The Gov' isn't just a killer (in an albeit somewhat roundabout fashion), he's a liar. He's a puppetmaster taking advantage of those foolish enough to put him in charge. He's more evil in his abuse of trust and leadership than any simple killer symbiote can ever be (haha, again, after reading that, should I feel like an idiot?).
If you haven't read any of this series, please do yourself a favor and go pick up the trades. If you can't do that, at the very least you should go to a book store, park your butt in the aisle along with that dorky guy reading anime (....or 30 year old guy named omar...either way) and start reading son. And after you've gotten all caught up, you can sit back with me and watch Kirkman just pull out another deck of cards and get to work, knowing that at any moment, he's GOING to blow it all down again, and love him for it. +A
...oh yeah...the art's purty too.
