The Walking Dead #123 – Review

By: Robert Kirkman (writer), Charlie Adlard (pencils), Stefano Gaudiano (inks), Cliff Rathburn (gray tones) and Rus Wooton (letters)

The Story: Negan attacks!

The Review (with SPOILERS): Pretty big event on the final page, huh?  Robert Kirkman has either done something very brave OR very eye-rolling.

The topic for discussion is – of course – the fact that Rick Grimes was shot with a bolt from a crossbow on the final page.  Negan’s plan of attack has been to smear all of his Saviors’ weapons with zombie gunk, so this would imply that Rick is infected with zombie goo and is going to die.  He isn’t shot anywhere that can be amputated either – right through the abdomen.

If Kirkman really and truly is killing Rick, that is a very brave decision.  He is the main character and it is his story that we’ve followed since issue #1 back in 2003.  Rick is also the central character of the highest rated drama on cable television.  Can you imagine telling your friends who watch TV, but don’t read the comic that, Rick is dead in the comics?  The thought of that might actually sell some comics…

However, it would make a lot of sense to kill Rick.  I personally think his story has been used up for some time.  It isn’t that we can’t keep having stories with Rick in them, but wouldn’t it be interesting to see how a survivors group of Michonne, Maggie, Andrea and Carl managed after Rick was gone?  We’ve never seen that dynamic.  It would be new and fresh and The Walking Dead could use a little freshening.  It isn’t so much that I want to see the group do any particular thing, it’s just that I feel like I’ve seen the story with Rick in charge.  I’d like to try something new.  Let’s see what ELSE this group of humans can do.

A Rick death would also be consistent with the longer-term storytelling.  All through this All Out War storyline and the buildup thereto, there has been lots of talking about Rick and Andrea and how they’re finding happiness and how they can’t die and how Maggie should try to find someone like Rick.  Most of the foreshadowing has made me uneasy about Andrea, but now I’m thinking it could be Rick.  How bitter the irony if Andrea ends up like Maggie?  Will Carl have to put his father down?  What if Ezekiel and Jesus also die and the group is lead entirely by strong women?  That would kick ass, right?

On the other hand, it could be that there was no zombie goo on that bolt.  You’ll also notice that it didn’t hit Rick in a terrible spot – the area off to the side of the abdomen that storytellers always use as shorthand for bad, but not THAT bad.  So, this could just be a big tease and it will turn out that Dwight didn’t really wipe zombie goo on the bolt and that he carefully shot Rick in a non-vital area.  Honestly, I’m going to be a little irritated if that is the case.  Not so much because I want Rick to die (although I kinda do want him to die), but because TWD shouldn’t be a pulp serial where convenient excuses for non-death keep happening: The gun was loaded with blanks!  There just happened to be a swimming pool under the window he fell from!  He didn’t swallow the poison….he just held it in his mouth!  TWD really shouldn’t be about that kind of cheap scare because the “nobody is safe” ethos of the comic fades when someone like Rick avoids repeatedly avoids implied death.

Otherwise, the comic is fine.  I enjoy Negan a LOT and hope he doesn’t die.  The guy is just a wonderful character.  In fact, I’d almost say they made Negan too cool.  He’s supposed to be the villain, but I enjoy watching him a LOT more than I enjoy Rick and Gang.  Negan seems to truly enjoy his work.  I even enjoyed the bit of meta-commentary about Negan rolling his eyes at Dwight when Dwight corrects him about the proper term for arrows fired from a crossbow.  Given how much Kirkman screws up facts, I’m sure his inbox is constantly full of emails from fans saying, “You know they’re called bolts, right?  Do some research, you hack!”  This is his way of telling those people to lighten up.

Some of the other storylines are kinda getting sloppy.  Whereas there is a very episodic cadence to the Rick-v-Negan drama, you can’t say the same about the Eugene situation.  That story is just fitting in where it can get in.  It’s okay…..it’ll read just fine in trade.  But, I do notice that this B-Story is slipping and getting messy.  I just imagine Kirkman sitting at his computer in a caffeine haze pounding out the last few pages of this story and not really caring about the precise pacing of the B-Story.

What about the chances that Eugene kills Negan?  I mean, clearly there is some role for Eugene to play.  He’s not meaningful enough to be the BIG death at the end of the story.  Perhaps he will do something heroic to complete his reformation from loser to hero?  I mean, this is the guy who lied about knowing about the cure, bit a man on the penis to get out of trouble, etc.  I mean, biting another man on the penis is the ultimate in umanly fighting techniques.  Now he is a productive member of society is making inroads with the pretty girl…  Maybe he kills the villain?  I’m intrigued.

The art is acceptable.  There’s nothing in here that is blowing me away and a few places where the action is getting kinda static, but I’ve got no major complaints.  I’ll be curious to see how the art responds if the series goes back to a monthly schedule after All Out War.

Conclusion: A fine issue.  Curious to see if they are brave enough to follow through with the final page or whether they’ll wuss out.  I want bravery, but I fear cowardice.

Grade: B

-Dean Stell