By: Robert Kirkman (writer), Charlie Adlard (artist), Cliff Rathburn (gray tones), Rus Wooton (letters) & Sina Grace (editor)
The Story: Is this promise of a new colony a blessing or a threat?
Five Things:
1. How do you know who to trust? - I really do like how TWD continues to be about everything BUT the zombies. How do you know who to trust? Clearly, no one can survive in this zombieland on their own, but where do you stop your circle or trust? Rick’s gang has added new folks before: Michonne, Abraham, the Arlington folks… Clearly, more people is potentially better, but only if it is the right kind of more. If “more” means “more Governor” or “more cannibals” then it’s a bad thing. And of course anyone who has survived this long in the apocalypse is going to be a little paranoid due to natural selection.
2. How badass is Rick’s gang? - Rick makes an interesting observation towards the end of this issue: His gang is pretty darn badass and maybe they don’t have to worry about running into bad guys because they’ll just kill them if they act funny. How true is this? What evidence do we have that Rick’s gang is all that tough? Let’s see, they got smashed by the Governor. They crushed the cannibals. So, their record would be 1-1. I guess they did take out that other group that attacked the Arlington compound about 10 issues ago, but that wasn’t really a fair fight with Rick’s group being fortified. And, Rick’s group is clearly tougher than the original Arlingtonites, but those sheep are so wimpy that it kinda defies reason that they would have survived this long (it’s almost a plot hole). I think it’s not THAT clear that Rick’s group is badass.
3. Adlard does great storytelling. - Simple storytelling excellence is easy to take for granted, but when you also review books like the GI Joe comics, you realize that you can’t just assume the the storytelling will be solid. With Adlard, you rarely get anything flashy (although there are some pretty vistas in this issue), but you can always tell the characters apart and the action is always crystal clear. There’s even a neat fight scene in this issue where Rick smashes a dude to the pavement and each panel flows from the one before. That’s slick because we’ve all see countless comics that make you wonder, “how the hell did he land on the RIGHT side of his face if he was being thrown like THAT in the panel before? Did he do a flip or something?”
4. A little slow… - I know that TWD is a slow burn kinda comic and I don’t want to lose that, but I honestly wouldn’t mind if this series picked it up a little. Nothing too fast. Just like listening to a podcast at 1.5X.
5. Andrea? Rick? Carl? - Remember when it was a big deal that Rick and Andrea hooked up 4-5 issues ago? Now that doesn’t even rate a mention? Where’s Carl? Can Michonne talk anymore? These issues are becoming very Rick-centric. If the overall story is going to advance slowly, I’d like to at least check in on all of these smaller issues, not to mention that I think the Rick/Andrea dynamic has a lot of potential.
Conclusion: After sucking wind for a few issues, TWD has a nice bit of forward momentum again and that’s great. This series has a wonderful quality where Kirkman could probably just ad lib for years because we’ll always want to know what happens next. Still, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if they stepped on the gas a little bit.
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 #93, The Walking Dead #93 review
I liked this a little more than you because I really like how damaged this makes Rick out to be, but at the same time, despite the fact that what happened in this issue made sense for the character, it still felt a bit like stalling. I also agree that Kirkman should bring back the more ensemble cast elements that he usually excels at. I can’t help but worry that the tv show is getting in the way.
Oh, and I’m just curious, does anyone on this site read Chew?
For Chew…..I think Alex might read it. I need to, but have a bajillion other things screaming for reading.
I think we’re probably all roughly in the same place: We like it, but it could be better. Heck….he should just have one of us there with him when he outlines the arcs.
lol, yeah. But seriously, you need to read Chew someday. That is the most inventive and surprising book I read every month. Every time an issue comes out it is my favorite comic that week. It’s not my favorite, but there isn’t anything better.
A little slow? This series has been getting nowhere since the cannibals storyline. It’s just sad now. Part of me wants them to die already so I can stop reading this bad, boring ACTION-LESS soap opera.
Really….I thought the No Way Out story arc was pretty action filled and had that big attack at the end. And, I kinda enjoy the sopa opera aspect of any comic. But, if you didn’t enjoy that, I see what you mean. And the big set-piece action items seem to be getting further apart.
Since No Way Out ended, the book is definitely sort of just stirring and stirring. I wonder how much this coincides with the show’s production.
I enjoy reading it but it just doesnt have the same level of “wow” it had for so long with me. I’m not sure what would make it more exciting short of killing off main characters.
I actually went to trade with TWD when I realized that it was really going in a large narrative circles.
1. Rick and friends are on the road and experience some bad shit
2. They find a safe haven, but they are broken people. Can they get used to living in safety?
3. Catastrophe! Haven destroyed!
Repeat.
I wish I could think of something better to say than “Yeah”.