By: Robert Kirkman (writer), Charlie Adlard (art), Cliff Rathburn (gray tones), Rus Wooton (letters) & Sina Grace (editor)
The Story: The survivors reestablish their status quo in the wake of the big zombie attack from several issues ago.
What’s Good: Robert Kirkman is a master of the slow burn. Every story cycle he starts out with the smoldering embers of the last story arc’s explosive conclusion. He gathers those embers into a pile, adds some fresh fuel and in ~6 issues you have another explosion. What’s amazing is that the formula has stayed pretty constant throughout TWD’s run. It never gets stale since the “explosion” is always different.
This is one of those stories early in the cycle. Basically, we bounce around the Arlington compound and touch base with a bunch of characters and see where their heads are. Rick is worried about his son and wants to rebuild their compound better, and stronger. There is fallout from the Rosita and Abraham break-up. Rick has nice chats with Michonne and Andrea. But the theme for this issue is character development and community. Rick wants to live in this compound forever, he says. [Although you wonder how much of that is simply that Carl cannot be moved. Perhaps all this ‘wall building’ is merely his way of protecting his vulnerable son?
We do get to see zombies, but having fought off hundreds of swarming zombies inside the walls, it’ll take a lot more than 5-10 roamers to unsettle our survivors now! They treat the zombies almost with disdain.
There are still a lot of mysteries. It seems like Rick might really lose his shit if anything bad happens to Carl and we don’t know what form the new danger would take, and that’s fine. It’s always fun for TWD fans to guess: Will it be zombies? Will it be human cannibals? Kirkman also seems to be noodling around with Rick’s relationship with both Michonne and Andrea. I personally think you could get a very powerful storyline by establishing a love triangle among those three and then have it go wrong. Who would you bet your money on if Andrea and Michonne were trying to kill each other? What is the gender ration in the post-zombie world? I’d imagine having a 60/40 split either way would lead to all kinds of societal stress…
This is another very strong issue from Charlie Adlard. TWD is so rooted in first person realism, that it doesn’t give him a chance to really show off. But his storytelling is excellent. TWD would get really confusing if you ever had questions about who was talking or what was going on in the story.
What’s Not So Good: Well, this is kind of a slow issue. If you started reading TWD just a few issues ago, you might be saying, “What’s with all this standing around and talking? Aren’t they supposed to be fighting zombies?” Hey, that’s just how TWD is. I love it, but if you’re not into slow burns, it might annoy you.
Conclusion: The slow burn to the next explosion has begun because we just know that the story won’t end with Carl sitting in a rocking chair as an old man, safe inside the Arlington compound with grandkids running all over the place. The question is what kind of nastiness will happen that prevents that possible future. Just enjoy the ride.
Grade: B-
-Dean Stell
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Filed under: Image Comics Tagged: | Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn, Dean Stell, Image, review, Robert Kirkman, Rus Wooton, Sina Grace, The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead #86, The Walking Dead #86 review
I like having an issue like this every once in a while. It’s nice to just see the characters live after the horrible events that transpire in this series. I also really like the sense of hope, even though that probably won’t last long.
Agreed….it would be a boring comic if we were just watching them build fortifications. But, it also wouldn’t have lasted this long if it was nothing but being chased by zombies every issue.
I would love to see it get mixed up a little bit. What happens if they get on a boat? Are Kirkman’s zombies still dangerous around the water like those in World War Z? Or have them get ahold of a HAM radio and make contact with someone on the other side of the world? I just think it’d be fun to have a big jiggle to the story at this point.
Yeah, I’m really interested in what the next shakeup will be. They just did the zombie swarm story, and attack from other humans, and the hunted by cannibals. They’ve been through a lot, but I’m excited what other horrors Kirkman will through their way.