By: Robert Kirkman (writer), Charlie Adlard (art), Cliff Rathburn (gray tones) & Rus Wooton (letters)
The Story: Chaos comes knocking at the door of the walled enclave, setting a very bad sequence of events in motion.
[Spoilers lie below…]
The Walking Dead is another one of those series that never flings out a stinker, ho-hum issue, but this issue is better than most for a couple of reasons. For one thing, we have a couple of funerals in this issue and that allows us to have a quiet moment for Kirkman to expound on the root nature of humanity in a post-apocalyptic world. Does this environment show people as they really are, now that they are free of society’s expectations for behavior? Or has this horrid world warped people so that they are not much better than the zombies wandering the wastes?
Then, just when things are getting all touching… BANG! It’s action time as the enclave has to deal with that band of rednecks who have been popping up here and there for the last few issues. I won’t spoil the outcome of the fight, but with Kirkman’s history in this series, you are on pins and needles because he has shown us time and time again that no one is safe. And the big action leads to us recalling one truism that has been in place throughout this series: gunfire attracts zombies. And….there is a lot of gunfire in this issue. Oh boy!
As if that weren’t enough, we close the issue by touching on another constant theme since our survivors found this gated community: Is the fact that Rick Grimes is paranoid and slightly nuts a good thing or a bad thing? He may not make good company in decent society, but it seems like the community might be glad to have him when the shit hits the fan.
Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn just continue to do a great job with the art on this series. It has been said before in this space, but it should be said again: It is hard to imagine anyone else drawing this series. Adlard’s stark realism is always perfect. Perfect angles on every shot. Never gets lazy with backgrounds. Detail out the wazzu. Shades faces appropriately to indicate mood. Splendid!
It is also worth giving an atta-boy to Russ Wooton. Kirkman had some very dialog heavy panels in here and finding a way to squeeze in all those word balloons without covering the art isn’t as easy as it looks.
This is simply another great issue of The Walking Dead. This series couldn’t be in a better place to coincide with the launch of the TV series on Halloween.
Grade: A-
– Dean Stell
Grade
Conclusion