The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue

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rberman
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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Nov 30, 2019 8:23:00 GMT -5 Roquefort Raider likes this

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Post by rberman on Nov 30, 2019 8:23:00 GMT -5

#121-126 “All-Out War Part Two” (February-April 2014)

New Characters: John helps Eugene make bullets. Charles and Betty Orson are Alexandrians who die in the fire. Donnie is a Savior sniper. Nell lives at Hilltop.

The Story: We finally get a “twitchy guy lets the zombies in” moment when John insists on going outdoors to urinate. It’s the last thing he does. When Eugene flees the zombies let in by John, he runs smack into Negan. Oops. Negan wants Eugene to make bullets for him, but Eugene doesn’t cow easily, realizing that Rick’s dream is bigger than any one man’s life.

Negan hits upon a plan to use zombie-soaked weapons in the next attack.

Carson overhears Dwight talking to Eugene about killing Negan, and he wants to help. He leads Eugene and some other Savior deserters into a van. They’re forced to stop partway to Hilltop to deal with Donnie, one of Negan’s sniper watchmen, and Eugene gets into actual fisticuffs for the first time, pushing the watchmen off a building.

Heath sits vigil beside wounded Doctor Cloyd until she succumbs to the zombie plague; Michonne re-kills her. Rick evacuates all of Alexandria to Hilltop. Ezekiel brings all of the Kingdom there too. Battle-hardened Carl discovers that his new tough-guy routine doesn’t go over well with his former playmate Sophia.

Dwight is still pretending to be on Negan’s side, so he’s obliged to obey Negan’s command to shoot Rick from behind with a crossbow bolt. Kirkman lets us go two issues thinking Rick’s death is imminent, then reveals that Dwight used a clean bolt (not a zombie-tainted one) so as hopefully not to kill Rick. Still shot him through the abdomen, though—right where kidney and bowels are.

Night falls, and the battle continues. Carl covers for his wounded dad’s escape into Hilltop’s central mansion. Nicholas gets stabbed with a tainted blade and dies soon after in the company of his weeping wife and son.

Negan’s big assault is suddenly illuminated by car headlights, setting up a kill zone for Hilltoppers peering out the mansion’s upstairs windows. Negan flees, his forces substantially diminished. He thinks Hilltop will surrender once Rick dies. But as I said, Rick's not gonna die, thanks to Dwight.

Instead, Rick presents himself bright and early the next morning, exiting Hilltop alone. He has a long conversation with Negan, casting vision for a future built on mutual benefit rather than threats. Eventually Negan agrees that it makes a lot of sense. Negan’s not even faking.

But Rick is. He spoils the moment of heartwarming amity by slashing Negan across the throat. They brawl; Negan breaks Rick’s left lower leg but then passes out. Jesus, Michonne, and Ezekiel lead a team out to assist Rick. Dwight seizes Negan’s bat Lucille, proclaims himself the new leader of the Saviors, and leads them in a withdrawal back to their base.

Rick insists that Negan be imprisoned instead of executed. He prevents Carl from shooting Negan.

Lettercol: Kirkman reiterates that he has another 200 issues worth of story already roughed out. A gay reader is thrilled at the revelation that Jesus (the character in this story) is gay. A Christian reader says it “feels like a jab at Christians.” Kirkman says the Christian is “on the wrong side of history.” The Christian writes back in a later lettercol, and Kirkman rephrases his thought less stridently. Editor Sean Mackiewicz is more itching for a fight, printing a Greek language text out of 1 Corinthians and challenging the Christian to translate it.

Kirkman can’t answer whether a dead fetus would zombify and eat its mother from the inside. Ewwww! But fetuses don’t have any erupted teeth, so I suspect she’d be safe.

My Two Cents: So yeah, that was intense. Kirkman admits that Negan is his favorite character and allows him to steal the show. He’s talked himself into believing that he’s a good guy who just wants law and order. Do I believe his sudden change of heart to reject being a parasite on his neighbors? Seems unlikely. We can at least give him points for leading from the front lines.

All of this is a lead-up to Rick’s own change of heart, as he realizes that civilization requires imprisonment of one’s enemies rather than execution. It’s a luxury that Rick needs to believe his community can now afford. Plus it allows Kirkman to keep Negan around, which he clearly wants to do.

tarkintino
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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Nov 30, 2019 19:01:49 GMT -5

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Post by tarkintino on Nov 30, 2019 19:01:49 GMT -5

Nov 25, 2019 0:06:58 GMT -5 rberman said:

#91-96 “A Larger World” (November 2011-April 2012)

New Characters: Paul “Jesus” Monroe, Samuel, Kal, Eduardo, Ethan, Wesley, Crystal, Dr. Harlan Carson, and Mandy live at Hilltop. Gregory is the leader there.

Most of this group appear on the TV series.

The Story: Carl is haunted by his execution of young Ben. He can't remember that he really did it due to his head injury, but he has nightmares about it.

Differences from the TV Series:

Carl never loses a moment's sleep over the TV equivalent--Lizzie and Mika, since we now know Carol was the one who killed Lizzie. As a matter of fact, the last time Carl would ever see the sisters was sometime before the Governor's second attack.

Abraham and Michonne go out for supplies and encounter “Jesus,” a long-haired stranger with impressive combat skills. He claims to represent 200 people (several times the size of the Alexandria community) living in “Hilltop” on the opposite side of Washington, D.C. He also reports two other communities in the general area.

Differences from the TV Series:

The TV version has Rick and Daryl encounter Paul Monroe, capture him, and take him back to the ASZ, where he soon escapes. While sneaking around the house occupied by the Grimes family and Michonne, Monroe blurts out to Carl about his "mother and father"--which actually means he spotted Rick and Michonne in bed. By this time in the series, they have grown close on many levels and recently consummated their relationship. It is during an interrogation that Monroe tells them about Hilltop, and their problems.

Rick hears Jesus’ pitch, offers him the hand of friendship – then beats him unconscious, just like with Aaron a few issues ago. Don’t mess with Rick! He fears that Jesus is actually a scout preceding an attack. Is Hilltop really out of bullets, as Jesus claims?

Differences from the TV Series:

TV Rick does not beat Monroe into unconsciousness.

Jesus leads Rick to Hilltop, and it turns out Jesus is not only a fighter but also some kinda Houdini who could have escaped any time he felt like it.

Differences from the TV Series:

TV Monroe is also an escape artist to a degree, but he never thinks of Rick as being an evil man.

The Hilltop “boss” Gregory is somewhat obnoxious, constantly asking questions and then interrupting so he can boast about his own community. Maybe he’s just overeager.

Differences from the TV Series:

TV Gregory is a possessive "leader," assumes too much about what people need or want, and is clearly a sniveling opportunist from the start. To Maggie's annoyance, he constantly refers to her as "Margaret" (which is her formal given name, but she has never used it at any point in the series).

Minutes later Gregory is gut-stabbed by one of his own people on orders of someone called “Negan,” and Rick has to kill the assailant. Gregory survives, but he’s not in great shape obviously.

Pretty much what happens on the show, except one of the forced residents tries to strangle Abraham, and he strangely acts as if he cannot take them seriously. At this point, he has broken up with Rosita (in a very heartless manner than one would expect), moved on to Sasha, and is thinking about the future. Keep this in mind.

Negan is the leader of another community known as The Saviors who have been extorting Hilltop out of 50% of their farm production, in exchange for continued self-determination and local zombie control. Rick offers to help Hilltop deal with their Negan problem, in exchange for winter supplies.

Not many differences here. Gregory and Monroe have used their own fears to lead Rick's group into one of their worst defeats, and failed to provide proper intel on how large the Saviors group was.

My Two Cents: It’s about time we ran into someone who’s a better fighter than Michonne. Granted, she’s been using her katana on zombies for two years when occasion arose, but her real profession is lawyer. It stands to reason there’d be some actual combat-trained folks running around. They should be a higher percentage of the populace than before the zombie apocalypse, in fact.

Not necessarily. Trained fighters do well against the predictability of living people who attack, defend or flee in similar ways, so your abilities might be reliable. On the other hand, mindless zombies keep coming, do not fear attacks (which will throw off someone trying self defense designed to use against thinking opponents who duck, dodge, approach, etc.), and in no time at all, can swarm to numbers too large to kill or even escape. I would guess that early in the zombie apocalypse, many a "trained fighter" type thought they would handle the dead with ease, but ended up bit or scratched (not knowing the means of transmission early on), thus ending their bid at being an ultimate survivalist.

In March 2012, a Michonne-centered six-page flashback was published in Playboy Magazine, which resulted in some grief from completist fans who didn’t want to support Hugh Hefner. Kirkman defended it as a “stunt” to attract new readers who don’t normally frequent comic book stores.

...or Kirkman thought Playboy had any relevance / ego stroking. Whatever arguable prestige Playboy had vanished decades ago, as it just became another "T and A Rag."

Nov 26, 2019 0:46:30 GMT -5 rberman said:

#97-102 “Something to Fear” (May-September 2012)

New Characters: Dwight, Paul, and Mike work for Negan.

TV's Dwight is another story altogether....

The Story: Rick’s team takes the van back from Hilltop to Alexandria. Partway home, they encounter an overconfident team of four bikers from Negan’s group, The Saviors. The bikers’ ultimatum (“Give us all your stuff”) doesn’t go well against Rick’s well-armed, well-prepared squad. Rick spares one biker to deliver a warning back to Negan. War has effectively begun, though Rick thinks Negan’s side will prove to be all bluster and no fight.

Differences from the TV Series:

Big difference. The TV version has Daryl (on his motorcycle) along with Sasha and Abraham (in a car) trying to slowly lead a massive horde of walkers to a large quarry, where they will just rot away. This plan is interrupted by a car filled with men attempting to shoot them for no apparent reason. Daryl ends up in the woods, while Sasha and Abraham evade their attackers and flee to a small, abandoned town. Daryl is attacked and taken hostage by a man named Dwight, his wife Sherry, and Tina--Sherry's diabetic younger sister. Dwight and Sherry are convinced Daryl is one of "them" not "living on your knees" and that they will kill him if he des not cooperate. Daryl tries to reason with them, even offer to take them to Alexandria, but they are intent on reaching a hidden gas tanker to use to fuel their escape.

Daryl's break comes when Tina collapses from a diabetic episode...and he grabs a bag holding his crossbow, and the case containing Tina's medicine. Once Daryl is free, he realizes what the medicine case was for (having witnessed Tina's collapse), and returns it to the trio, only this time, all hide as a truck filled with men call out to Dwight, demanding his return of something he had stolen...

After the men leave, Tina discovers the charred remains of two people she knew, but fails to realize her movement "awakened" the corpses; startled, Tina falls on top of the walkers and is bitten in the throat, which kills her...

As Daryl makes his way back to his bike, Dwight and Sherry reappear, holding him at gunpoint. Daryl is clearly pissed, but cryptically promises that they will regret what they've done.

Elsewhere, Sasha and Abraham take refuge in an office building. It is here where Ford makes his interest clear, but Sasha reminds him that he has something to take care back home, namely, Rosita. He takes this as a sign that she's receptive to his intentions. Never mind how crappy this will be for Rosita. Side note: while looking for supplies in town, Abraham discovers a rocket launcher and two shells...

Daryl hotwires the gas tanker and eventually locates his companions. On the way back to Alexandria, their path is blocked by a group of men all on motorcycles, with their leader announcing that their possessions now belong to "Negan."

NOTE: this was the season 6 mid-season finale.

The leader and his men aim guns at the trio, and demand everything--from the taker, from their weapons, food--everything, right down to any porno that might be stashed under the seats. As part of their practice of letting newcomers know exactly where they stand, he hints that he might kill one the trio. Daryl is forced to go to the back of the tanker to remove any valuables; the leader toys with Sasha and Abraham, in one moment promising to kill them, or spare them in another, until the homicidal man finally settles on shooting both. Suddenly the entire motorcycle convoy is blown apart in a large explosion, which turns out to have been Daryl using the rocket launcher. Daryl now understands who was in pursuit of Dwight and his companions, and begins a tens journey home to warn the others.

A war needs ammunition. Eugene and Abraham head to a possible munitions plant. While strolling and gossiping about Rosita (Abraham’s rejection of her; Eugene’s unrequited lust for her), Abraham suddenly goes down with a crossbow bolt through the head, and Eugene is captured by Dwight and ten other Negan soldiers

Dwight thinks to use Eugene as a hostage to force Alexandria to surrender, but a bite to the testicles from Eugene disrupts his plan rather severely, and the Alexandrians gun down half of the attackers. The rest are able to escape when a crowd of zombies disrupt Rick’s attempt at a chase.

Differences from the TV Series:

In the series, Dwight and Sherry have been recaptured by Negan's forces; Negan punishes Dwight by burning one side of his face with an iron, while Sherry has to take Tina's intended place as one of Negan's "wives". Psychologically defeated, Dwight has to work his way back into Negan's "good graces," which is accomplished by trying to capture or kill the Alexandrians. He spots Daryl, Rosita and Alexandria's lone "doctor"--Denise (an out-of-nowhere girlfriend for Tara), fires a crossbow bolt meant for Daryl into Denise's skull, wit the girl still arguing with Rosita and Daryl, her mind not yet (if ever) comprehending that she's been mortally wounded.

Dwight and his men emerge from the forest and attempt to kill the survivors, until Eugene (on a run with Abraham to a foundry to explore the idea of making bullets) is spotted and taken hostage. Eugene betrays Abraham's position, long enough for the distraction to allow him to bite Dwight's genitals. A firefight breaks out, costing several Savior lives.

Romance time. Rick and Andrea formalize their relationship, and Andrea moves in. Maggie and Glenn are going to have a baby! Yay. But the fighting with Negan has Glenn worried; he wants to move to Hilltop, taking Sophia as well. He jumps at the opportunity when Rick organizes another trip to Hilltop.

Differences from the TV Series:

Maggie learns she is pregnant, but she becomes ill and needs to go to the Hilltop to see the resident doctor. Meanwhile, a vengeful Daryl wants to hunt for Dwight; he's so insistent on killing Dwight that he's taken leave of his senses and cannot be talked out of his revenge mission. To help / watch him, Glenn and Michonne accompany him, but end up captured by Dwight and his men...

Rick thinks that recent damage inflicted on The Saviors’ attack parties will make them hesitant to attack Alexandria soon. He’s wrong; they still have a large supply of disposable goons. Negan ambushes Rick’s team on the road with fifty men. He beats Glenn to a pulp with a barbed baseball bat. Rick has one week to assemble Alexandria’s first load of tribute.

Differences from the TV Series:

With Maggie's illness growing worse by the hour, Rick, Carl, Maggie, Abraham, Eugene, Aaron and Sasha pile into a camper and head for Hilltop, only to have their every route either blocked by large numbers of Saviors, a recently hung man, or a pile of burning logs. It is clear they are being led in a certain direction.

Trying one last distraction, Rick plans to use a makeshift cot to carry Maggie to Hilltop on foot while Eugene will drive the camper in another direction as a distraction. Before parting, Eugene gives Rick his "recipe" (as he refers to it) for bullet construction. Almost sensing the worst is about to happen, Eugene and Abraham share a heartfelt hug and farewell. The heroes do not travel for too long before they are led into a clearing, surrounded by a large number of men, including Dwight and Negan's lieutenant, the sadistic Simon. They are shocked to see not only the camper, but a bloody & battered Eugene on his knees. Simon has the heroes hand over their weapons, drop to their knees and are joined by Rosita, Daryl, Glenn and Michonne.

Negan strolls from the camper and makes his pint clear: he's not going to retaliate for all of the men Rick's group killed, as people are a resource and he will need them to "work" for him through tributes and half of their belongings. He recognizes Rick as having "ruled the roost," but those days are over. Rick is teary eyes, as he cannot see a way out. Negan studies each of the group and notes how young Carl--who stares at Negan as if he's (Negan) already a dead man--is not even crying.

Negan insists that the group still needs to be punished to a degree, so he plainly reveals he will beat one of them to death. Playing the "eenie-meenie-miney-moe" game, he selects a victim, and promptly delivers a blow. From the camera's POV. blood runs over the "face" and falls to the ground...

Negan's formal introduction, and selecting his victims ended the 6th season of The Walking Dead in what was a controversial cliffhanger amongst a large part of the audience. The entire Spring and Summer had innumerable fans and TV critics in social media trying to learn the identity of the victim through footage analysis, placement in the line up (which was deliberately confusing by jumping around Negan's selections), even voice analysis, but as it turned out, only a few picked the right victim--and it was not Glenn...

As the scene resumes, Abraham is selected and struck with Negan's bat. Defiant till the end, Abraham spits out "suck my nuts" which makes Negan laugh--until he finishes beating Ford's head to an unrecognizable pulp. With the others wailing (except Carl), Negan twists the screws by telling Rick about the new world order. Recognizing how devastated Rosita is, Negan taunts her, demanding she look at what was Abraham's head; this is too much for Daryl, who leaps to his feet, and delivers a punch to Negan's jaw with such force that the man is nearly laid out. Dwight and others subdue Daryl, but he is not punished as he will now take Daryl to the Sanctuary as his prisoner. However, Daryl's impulsive attack leads Negan to make sure the heroes really know who he is--accomplished by beating Glenn, with the first blow caving part of his skull in, while causing an eyeball to bulge form its socket. In his last breath, Glenn looks to Maggie, making an obvious promise/reference to the After Life with, "I'll find you." With that, Negan continues to crush Glenn's head until it is nothing more than mere tissue on the ground.

As a foggy morning comes, Negan drags Rick into the camper for a short ride. He tempts Rick to use a hatchet against him, but with every thought of revenge, Negan slaps that down, not only threatening the rest of his group, but conditioning Rick to be an emasculated servant by having him "fetch" the hatchet from the camper rooftop that's now surrounded by walkers. Rick is unhinged as his mind continues to jump back to the beatings and the men he's lost. Glenn's death is uniquely painful as it was Glenn who rescued him in downtown Atlanta, and as a result, reunited him with Lori and Carl so long ago.

Driving back to the cleaning, Negan continues to psychological beatdown of Rick by demanding that he cut off one of Carl's forearms, or else he will kill the rest of his group in front of his eyes. Carl is fed up and resigned to his fate, giving his own authorization for Rick to cut his arm off, but seeing how broken the elder Grimes is, Negan relents, leaving the group to collect the corpses of Glenn & Abraham, where they will be buried at Hilltop. Although Maggie is beyond grief, she tells Rick he needs to fight (she does not hit him at all). As Rick drives away, in the rearview mirror he sees a walker drop to its knees to eat the remnants of Abraham or Glenn's heads.

The TV writers handle this in a far more suspenseful and terrifying manner, with a believable, coda to the beatings, Negan as a threat of a kind they've never faced before. The performances, audience investment in characters there since season one made for a potent mix that leaves Kirkman's version feeling weak and lacking mature emotional impact in comparison. Its like the comic is the Cliff Notes version of War and Peace to the actual Tolstoy novel (despite the fact that TWD comic came first).

Sophia stays at Hilltop with Maggie

Differences from the TV Series:

TV Sophia died in the premiere episode of season two. Enid (now a love interest for Carl) has taken her place as a sort of surrogate sister (now that Beth was killed at the end of the Grady Memorial Hospital arc).

In Rick’s absence, fifty Saviors attacked Alexandria but were repelled, and Dwight was captured. Chilled by the thought of facing such a large force in combat. Rick sets Dwight free, with a promise to pay Negan’s tribute demand. But he also sends Jesus to track Dwight back to the Savior base and reconnoiter it.

Although Simon leads a pack of Saviors to attack Hilltop one evening, Dwight is not captured.

In a few brief moments of innocence, Carl and Enid (who have become very close) roller-skate, and share their first kiss, with Enid wanting Carl to stay with her at the Hilltop.

On another day, Monroe does sneak aboard a truck to learn the location of the Sanctuary, but he has company: Carl, who is on a mission to kill Negan....

rberman
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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Nov 30, 2019 23:11:08 GMT -5

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Post by rberman on Nov 30, 2019 23:11:08 GMT -5

#127-132 “A New Beginning” (May-October 2014)

New Characters: Lots. Magna’s group includes Yumiko, Bernie, Kelly, Luke, and Connie. Alex Cooper, Josh, Wendy, and Annie are Alexandria youth. Siddiq, Wesley, and Delbert are Alexandria adults. Benjamin is an incompetent patrolman from the Kingdom. Rolland and Brian are Hilltop youth. Hershel is Maggie’s toddler. Ken, Marco, Louie, Larry, and Dante are Hilltop adults.

The Story: Jesus and Heath are leading a squad of horsemen, which in turn is herding hundreds of zombies away from Alexandria. Unfortunately and accidentally, that means leading them through the path of a group of travelers led by a woman named Magna. She and her crew used to live in an abandoned retirement home, then spent seven months on the road, meeting no other humans. They agree to surrender their weapons and join the Alexandria colony.

Two years after the war with Negan, Alexandria is now a thriving community with farms and a mill. Rick and Eugene talk extensively about Eugene’s insecure relationship with Rosita. Carl often slips down to the prison to chat with Negan.

Carl wants his father’s permission to move to Hilltop and study blacksmithing. Rick isn’t ready to let him go yet but eventually agrees. Rick and Carl head out for Hilltop but have to fight zombies on a route that should have been kept clear. The patrolman belatedly rides up and gets a thrashing from Rick.

At Hilltop, everyone treats Rick very deferentially. Carl is bummed to discover that Earl has already taken Rolland as his apprentice. That’s fine, Earl says he can have two apprentices. Sophia has turned into a little scrapper in the last two years. She fends off two bullies and then accidentally punches Carl when he wanders onto the scene. She’s delighted to hear that Carl is moving to Hilltop.

New characters Marco and Ken are on patrol. During a zombie strike, Ken’s horse rears, falling on him and breaking his leg. As Ken and Marco hide in a ditch, they hear whispering voices among the passing zombies. Zombies that talk? That’s new.

Marco makes it back to Hilltop; Ken is left behind somewhere. Maggie sends Dante and two other guys to find Ken. Instead, they find a cluster of zombies, and mixed in with the zombies are weapon-wielding “Whisperer” humans wearing zombie flesh for masks. Grody to the max!

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Back in Alexandria, Magna gets curious about the prisoner locked in the basement. She interviews Negan at night, and he tries to convince her that Rick is a sadist. But she sees through Negan’s lies. His general condition shows her that Rick is humane even towards those in prison for life. She yanks Andrea into an empty house to interrogate her.

Lettercol: One reader presents a tally of all of Negan’s various vulgarities.

My Two Cents: Ah yes, the soft reboot of “two years later.” A popular move to inject new life into many TV shows these days. Jesus wears a man-bun now, in keeping with fashions in our world from 2015. He looks less like Jesus and more like Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune.

Kirkman has commented before about the sliding timeline problem since the story began in 2003, but only about four years have elapsed since then even with the two year jump between #126 and #127. Much of this six-issue series is given over to showing us the progress that Hilltop and Alexandria have made.

rberman
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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Dec 2, 2019 10:37:59 GMT -5

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Post by rberman on Dec 2, 2019 10:37:59 GMT -5

#133-138 “Whispers into Screams” (October 2014-March 2015)

New Characters: Darius and Nathaniel are Hilltop scouts. Joshua and Lydia are Whisperers.

The Story: Gregory is still hanging around Hilltop, making crass references to Maggie’s breasts as “milkshakes” and the like. He bluffs about how concerned he is with Dante’s missing patrol; Maggie calls his bluff.

Carl finally opens the letter he’s been carrying from Anna, a girl in Alexandria. She gushes over him and apologizes for flashing her breasts at a pack of boys. She wishes she had just shown him. Carl feels studly. Plus he’s learning to make metal arrowheads in the smithy, and Sophia wants to have dinner with him. The two bullies from the previous arc attack Sophia again, braining Carl with a brick in the process. Carl beats them both severely with a shovel, and Maggie is obliged to lock Carl up to protect him from enraged parents.

Jesus leads a trio on horseback to look for a missing scout. They are waylaid by humans Whisperers mixed in with a zombie group. How did the zombies get that close without Jesus noticing? Anyway, he dispatches them with his usual ninja aplomb, and takes a teen girl prisoner.

Jesus brings the captive Whisperer named Lydia back to Hilltop for interrogation. She’s oddly dispassionate and articulate, like many fictional teens.

She’s in the cell next to Carl, so the two teens chat, and he comes back to talk with her more once he’s released. He even gives her his dad’s police hat, his most prized possession. She’s released from jail, with Carl responsible for her good conduct. She tells him about living in a society ruled by tooth and claw, where “consent” isn’t even a concept. Soon she’s licking his empty eye socket and mounting him in the grass.

Gregory conspires with the aggrieved parents to assassinate Maggie and Carl. He takes a private meeting with her and drugs her drink. Jesus interrupts the scene and carts Gregory off to jail.

Lydia’s mother, Alpha, shows up with a couple dozen Whisperers. Lydia agrees to go back with her mom, and Alpha releases two Hilltop prisoners, Dante and Ken. Carl, hopelessly smitten, sneaks away from Hilltop to follow Lydia’s trail.

Back in Alexandria, Rosita is pregnant by another man. Eugene doesn’t want it to end their relationship.

Lettercol: In previous lettercols, Kirkman brashly and ignorantly declared that clearly nobody could survive the zombie apocalypse long on oceangoing vessels. The First Mate of an oil tanker schools Kirkman with a half-page letter detailing how well prepared commercial boats are for extended time away from shore.

My Two Cents: Yep, this arc is all about Carl’s coming-of-age. A gutsy young man with three teen girls (Anna, Sophia, and now Lydia) fawning over him? Sounds like an authorial stand-in character to me. And how old is Carl? He was seven in issue #5. About a year passed between then and the end of the prison arc in issue #48. Another year or so went by during the “All-Out War” against the Saviors. Then two years in the time jump. That leaves Carl at age eleven now, maybe twelve on the outside. And Lydia is sixteen. Seems like a stretch for dating. Still, it’s a solid character development arc for all the kids.

Even the bully boys arc reinforces the central theme that people will do anything to protect their families. The unnamed parents of the unnamed boys are prepared to commit murder.

rberman
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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Dec 2, 2019 23:43:50 GMT -5

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Post by rberman on Dec 2, 2019 23:43:50 GMT -5

#139-144 “Life and Death” (March-July 2015)

New Characters: Tammy (Claudette? See below) is parent to one of the Hilltop bully boys. Pete (not the abusive, long-dead Pete from Alexandria) works on a fishing boat. Erin and Oscar attend the fair.

The Story: Finally we catch up with Michonne. Two years ago, she vanished into the night, wracked with survivor’s guilt over her dead family. She’s been catching all kinds of fish off the coast of Maryland since then. Rick urges her to return to Ezekiel.

Other character moments: Dwight is tired of leading the Saviors. He wants Rick to choose his replacement. Rick urges Dwight to have the Saviors hold an election. Ezekiel needs some encouragement to try to convince Michonne to leave her seafaring ways and return to him. Rosita announces her pregnancy to Alexandria. Rick gives Andrea a long speech about how important it is for criminals to be imprisoned rather than executed. It legitimizes a community’s claim to be civilized. The scene switches to Maggie overseeing the lynching of Gregory. Guess we’ll see whether Rick’s theory holds water…

Carl makes his presence known to the Whisperers he’s following. They bring him to their camp, which is just a clearing in a forest. He refuses to leave Lydia here to be raped again, but Lydia’s mother Alpha dismisses that as an “unavoidable” fact of life in her animalistic worldview.

In Alexandria, Negan is allowed out of his jail cell to shower. Olivia fails to lock his cell door properly. He could escape but chooses to bide his time, hoping to earn his freedom through good behavior. Rick can’t admit that Negan did something right, but he has no response to the accusation that his behavior toward Negan is less than altruistic.

The fair has begun in Alexandria, with Eugene excited to procure a broken "CB radio." If anyone can fix it, he can!

Alpha comes to the fair too. She lures off a dozen people and kills them: Olivia, Josh, Carson, Tammy, Luke, Erin, Ken, Amber, Oscar, Rosita, and even Ezekiel are among the victims. Their heads are placed on pikes marking the boundary of Whisperer land, as Alpha sees it.

When Rick learns about Lydia, Carl, and the Whisperers, he and Andrea immediately saddle up to bring Carl back. Michonne comes with them, and so does Dante, who has been trying to impress Maggie for many issues now. Whisperers find them and take Rick alone to meet Carl, who still refuses to abandon Lydia. Alpha shows Rick that she has thousands of zombies penned up somehow, ready to release if anyone forces her hand. After an argument with Rick, she agrees that Lydia is safer leaving with Carl than staying with her. It’s not until afterward that Rick discovers the row of his friends heads on pikes.

Lettercol: One reader thinks it would be “cool” if Sophia killed Lydia over Carl. Kirkman reports that against all odds, sales are still increasing, twelve years into the series. Also, there will never be a “zombie-proof” or “cure-carrying” character, because other zombie stories have done that. The only cure zombies get in this story is decapitation. Similarly, no stories about going on a dangerous mission to find medicine. Kirkman says he hopes for 7-8 more years of stories, which would mean another two 48-issue compendia after this one.

My Two Cents: As with Negan’s Savior camp, “Carl goes AWOL” become the point-of-view opportunity for the reader to learn more about the latest threat our heroes face. Alpha gives a speech to Rick that will become important in issues to come, as she assesses the emptiness of pre-zombie society.

Rick tells Alpha that she must protect her daughter Lydia from further rape. At first Alpha pushes back with her “rape is natural” story, but then she gives in, recognizing that she’s built a society on a worldview which has left her incapable of protecting her own daughter. She allows Lydia to leave with Rick and Carl, but to save face she pretends she is casting Lydia out for being weak. But would Alpha have really sent Lydia off with the people who were about to discover a dozen of their friends’ heads on pikes? Lydia may not be as safe as Alpha implies.

This arc ends the third 48 issue section, and thus the third volume of publication as a phone book "compendium.” The first 48 issues ended with the massacre at the prison, including the fridging of Rick’s wife and baby which, dramatically speaking, freed him up for new romances. It was a solid stopping point. The second 48 issues featured a potpourri of threats against Alexandria and ended with Rick promising to help Hilltop against an as-yet unseen Negan, which was not the strongest conclusion.

This third 48 issue stint told a satisfying 30-part story of the war against Negan and the Saviors, and then leapt forward two years for a final 18 issues setting up the conflict with the Whisperers, culminating in a cliffhanger ending. Cliffhangers do make good endings, but I wonder whether Kirkman originally envisioned the “two years later” soft reboot happening in #145 (at the start of the fourth compendium) rather than #127. I suppose if he didn’t have a compelling story to justify it, then he made the right move not stretching things out just for the sake of publication considerations.

Very few characters in this series have last names: Rick Grimes, Maggie Greene, Paul Monroe, and the Doctors (Stevens, Cloyd, Carson). It has worked out pretty well so far, and it symbolizes how different their world is than ours, and how much less populated, that we rarely encounter people with the same first name. In this arc, Kirkman tries to give surnames, and it backfires. The two Hilltop bully boys come from the Harlan and Rose families, and one of the moms is named Tammy, but is she a Harlan or a Rose? Best not to bring up details that generate confusion. Kirkman may be confused too, since he has Maggie call Tammy “Claudette” during the interrogation scene. She’s the middle-aged woman with the splotchy head scarf in these scenes from #135 and #140. She’s also one of the heads on a pike in #144, called “Tammy” again in that scene.

Kirkman and Adlard offer a little misdirection in the final scene. The third panel below shows Rick reacting in shock to a decapitated head with dreadlocks. The hope was that readers would think it is Michonne, then turn the page and see it’s “only” Ezekiel, and then be relieved it wasn’t Michonne, and then feel bad for wanting Ezekiel to be dead instead of Michonne. Did you feel bad?

rberman
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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Dec 4, 2019 7:29:17 GMT -5

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Post by rberman on Dec 4, 2019 7:29:17 GMT -5

#145-150 “No Turning Back” (August 2015-January 2016)

New Characters: Diane and Laura are Saviors. Vincent and Julia are parents of Alpha’s teen victim Joshua. Gus is a Hilltop scout. Morton Rose is father to one of the bullies Carl attacked at Hilltop.

The Story: Michonne is leading the charge to get Rick to attack the Whisperers in vengeance for the death of Ezekiel and the other victims. Many other outraged citizens say the same thing. Rick’s choice to bide his time is highly unpopular, as it was when he appeared to cave in to Negan.

Rick and Maggie get violent over Maggie’s choice to lynch Gregory rather than imprison him. She breaks his ribs, and then they hug and make up.

Eugene knows that a plan is needed, and he has a ruthless and ill-conceived one: Threaten to murder Lydia in hopes that Alpha cares about her daughter. Rick is appalled but realizes that others will have the same idea, so he sends Lydia and Carl to Hilltop with Andrea. Lydia has a momentary freak-out, fearing she’s being returned to the Whisperers, but Carl gets her to put her gun away… by pulling his own gun on his girlfriend. That night at Hilltop, Andrea sees them having sex but doesn’t intrude.

A brawl breaks out in Alexandria over how to respond to the Whisperers. Things are tense. Uncertain what to do, Rick turns to Negan for counsel. Negan counsels Rick to whip up anti-Whisperer hysteria as a way to boost his standing in the community.

Alpha kills a Whisperer who catches her crying over Lydia. It’s all we see of the Whisperers in this arc.

Dwight is in a blue funk over his wife Sherry not returning to him even after she's freed from Negan's harem. He doesn’t respond to advances from his lieutenant Laura. Instead, he grabs Negan’s bat Lucille and sets out for Alexandria. Laura joins him.

At night, Vincent and Morton ambush Rick and beat him severely. Rick survives by tearing into Morton’s neck like a zombie. (He did the same to that rapist in issue #57.)

Vincent flees; Michonne chases him down and brings him back. Rick, deliberately leaving himself bloody from the attack, assembles the town, shows Vincent clemency, and declares the need to train a militia against the Whisperers. The town shouts Rick’s name. Negan hears the roar from his basement cell, and smirks…

Lettercol: Everybody wants backstory on Jesus and Negan. Kirkman is not enthusiastic about Father Gabriel and hasn’t given him much to do in a long time, but readers keep asking for more of him. Kirkman apologizes for fake cliffhangers and hopes they don’t seem as portentous in collected editions.

My Two Cents: This arc felt a bit light. The most interesting part was the potential for Negan to become Rick’s personal Wormtongue, poisoning his leadership while Andrea is away.

There’s some confusion about Dwight’s wife’s name. I used to think she was the harem member Sherry. But on the road from the fair back to Sanctuary, Dwight calls her “Debbie.” Then later Laura calls her “Diane.” Confusing! Maybe Dwight is talking about a different girlfriend he's had during the two years of story we missed?

Rick comforts Michonne over the death of Ezekiel, with whom she never reconciled before his death. As with Maggie, hugs are given, but no kisses. Is Kirkman setting up a love triangle? It's at least a fake-out romance since Michonne and Rick are a couple on the TV show.

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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Dec 5, 2019 19:44:18 GMT -5 Roquefort Raider likes this

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Post by rberman on Dec 5, 2019 19:44:18 GMT -5

#151-156 “Call to Arms” (February-July 2016)

New Characters: Beta is a Whisperer. Stephanie is on the other end of a radio, probably. One of the Hilltop bullies now has a name: Brandon Rose.

The Story: Dwight trains the Alexandria militia against zombies; Rick realizes his litany of old and new injuries make him a liability in the field. Father Gabriel wants to pull his weight and joins the training.

Eugene gets the radio working and, to his surprise, makes contact with another colony. Both he and his interlocutor are cagey, not wanting to give much information to a stranger. But eventually they trade names: Eugene, meet Stephanie. They eventually trade locations as well; Stephanie says she is in Ohio.

Teen bully Brandon Rose catches Rick alone and beats him in vengeance for the death of Brandon’s father, but Rick wins the fight. Tough old coot! Brandon busts Negan out of jail, and they head for Whisperer territory. Negan kills Brandon and crosses into
Whisperer land alone.

Negan meets a Whisperer patrol led by Alpha’s imposing lieutenant Beta. Negan’s typically brash speechifying wins him a place in Whisperer society, provisionally at least.

Rick correctly assumes Negan’s destination and sends Michonne and Aaron after Negan. Aaron gets stabbed in the gut by Beta. Michonne would get skewered too, if Dwight didn’t arrive with five firearm-equipped friends. The Whisperers flee. With Aaron severely wounded, Michonne gives up her pursuit of Negan. This incursion into Whisperer Land by Alexandrian forces will surely have consequences.

Rick has followed Negan’s advice to talk up the Whisperers as a threat. When Andrea returns from Hilltop, she’s disturbed at all the propaganda art Rick has commissioned. Anti-Whisperer paranoia backfires on Rick somewhat when Paul the guard shoots Marco, mistaking him for a spy.

Negan bows the knee to Alpha and finds his place in Whisperer society, chatting up Alpha. Beta has been friendzoned by Alpha and has all sorts of reasons for resenting flippant-yet-competent Negan.

One night, Negan gets to see the rape culture that Alpha permits in her society. His well-known hatred for sexual violence kicks in, and he intervenes. Beta beats him for it, but the mood is broken, and the woman is saved.

Later that night, Alpha comes to Negan privately; she’s attracted to him and wants to justify her way of life to him, or else determine that he must be cast out. Negan gives a convincing speech against rape culture that leaves Alpha in tears. When she moves in for a hug, Negan slashes her throat and then decapitates her. Woah, didn’t see that coming!

Lettercol: A reader points out that after Lori and the baby were killed, Rick got lonely and started talking to an imaginary friend on the phone. Maybe Eugene is doing the same thing on the radio after the death of pregnant Rosita? Kirkman says he hadn’t even thought of that parallel.

My Two Cents: I have to hand it to Kirkman. I totally fell for his misdirection and thought (like Rick) that Negan would rise to the top of Whisper society, form a power couple with Alpha, and return to wreak unholy vengeance on Alexandria for imprisoning him for two years. It never occurred to me that he would kill her, or that his motive for doing so would not be supplanting her.

This shows two things about Negan. One is that just as he’s tried to influence Rick, Rick has also influenced him back. Negan, the most magnetic personality in the series, wants to please Rick, to show he’s worthy of standing beside Rick. That’s what has motivated his whole escape to Whisper-land. It’s a nice psychological twist, somewhat like Grant Morrison and Joss Whedon exploring the notion that Wolverine wants to be Cyclops, and Cyclops wants to be Wolverine.

Second, Negan has adopted Rick’s techniques. The whole “Negan persuades Alpha to change the basis of her society, and then slashes her throat” sequence is a virtual replay of what Rick did to Negan back in issue #126. Nice symmetry, and the similarity invites us to appreciate the significant differences between grim paladin Rick and vulgar rogue Negan as well.

At the end of the arc, Beta has returned to Alpha after his fight with Michonne and Dwight’s squad. Surely he told her about this assault, but we don’t see her response, and now we’ll never know what she was going to do. Apparently she didn’t do anything immediately, since we see a montage of Negan hanging out with the Whisperers for days.

Dwight’s radio was said by its seller to be a “CB radio.” The “CB” (citizen’s band) of channels is around 27 MHz and has a range of up to 20 miles on flat terrain. Not nearly far enough for this conversation with Ohio. We’ll assume the seller was using “CB” colloquially for an amateur radio with a longer range. Or assume Kirkman didn’t research the topic, which would have been quite simple to do in 2016. Either way.

As part of Whisperer society, Negan participates in a boar hunt. As best I can tell, this is only four years after the collapse of American society. How many wild boar are going to be running around the forests of Northern Virginia? Seems a little premature for that.

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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Dec 5, 2019 20:13:40 GMT -5 rberman likes this

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Post by Roquefort Raider on Dec 5, 2019 20:13:40 GMT -5

Dec 2, 2019 23:43:50 GMT -5 rberman said:

#139-144 “Life and Death” (March-July 2015)

Kirkman and Adlard offer a little misdirection in the final scene. The third panel below shows Rick reacting in shock to a decapitated head with dreadlocks. The hope was that readers would think it is Michonne, then turn the page and see it’s “only” Ezekiel, and then be relieved it wasn’t Michonne, and then feel bad for wanting Ezekiel to be dead instead of Michonne. Did you feel bad?

That whole scene was at a Red Wedding level of feeling bad!!!

It also concluded the third Walking Dead compendium. Talk about ending with a bang!!!

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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Dec 5, 2019 20:18:14 GMT -5 rberman likes this

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Post by Roquefort Raider on Dec 5, 2019 20:18:14 GMT -5

Concerning wild pigs: this wildlife site calls them a “reproductive machine that makes rabbits jealous”. So it might be plausible, after all, that they would be common in the wild four years after the zombie apocalypse. Lucky for the survivors who know can hunt, I guess!

Last Edit: Dec 5, 2019 20:18:29 GMT -5 by Roquefort Raider

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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Dec 6, 2019 0:06:25 GMT -5 Roquefort Raider likes this

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Post by rberman on Dec 6, 2019 0:06:25 GMT -5

#157-162 “The Whisperer War” (August 2016-January 2017)

New Characters: William and Zachary lead The Kingdom now. John (not Eugene’s assistant John) is a black Savior with a missing right eye.

The Story: Negan cheerfully returns to Alexandria with Alpha’s head. Rick reluctantly agrees that Negan has earned his release from prison, but he’ll have to live outside the walls of Alexandria. Dwight wanted to shoot Negan on sight, but Laura wouldn’t do it.

There’s some intrigue afoot in The Kingdom, as Ezekiel’s successors William and Zachary argue whether to help Alexandria against the Whisperers. William feels obliged to ambush Zachary at home to make clear his intention to protect the Kingdom by protecting Alexandria. Good call. It seems like Kirkman is setting up a future story about The Kingdom, but it never appears.

At Sanctuary, Tara is in charge now. She refuses to send any Saviors. In fact, they confiscate Vincent’s horse when he comes to ask for aid for Alexandria against the coming Whisperer attack. Tara and Sherry are plotting to let the Whisperers weaken Alexandria, and then attack Alexandria themselves.

Hilltop sends troops to help Alexandria face the coming Whisperer horde of zombies. Through bad luck, Beta kills Father Gabriel, Alexandria’s lookout, and catches them more off guard than they hoped, but still fairly prepared. In a massive battle, Alexandria fends off hundreds of zombies, and Negan reclaims Lucille for a climactic duel against Beta. Woe of woes, Negan breaks Lucille across Beta’s back!

Beta gets away, and finally the Alexandrian army prevails against this wave of zombies, but another wave is coming. The Whisperers embedded among them are a particular problem. Dwight hits upon the clever idea of himself and Michonne disguising themselves with the masks of dead whisperers, slipping in among the zombies, and shivving the Whisperers one by one. Dangerous but effective. The second wave is wiped out; Connie’s left hand requires amputation due to zombie bite.

Yet another zombie horde attacks Hilltop, backed by Whisperer archers. Flaming arrows set fire to the Hilltop mansion, and zombies push down the perimeter fence and invade the campus. Alpha's daughter Lydia refuses to accept rescue by the Whisperers, casting her lot with Hilltop. Big fight! Carl is trapped inside the burning mansion, rescued by Aaron, and resuscitated by Doctor Carson.

The mansion burns to the ground, but Hilltop’s citizens prevail against the Whisperers and their horde. Maggie organizes an evacuation to Alexandria but swears to return and rebuild Tara, I mean Hilltop.

Dwight mocks Negan for being attached to a baseball bat. When Negan buries the bat, we learn it’s a stand-in for his dead wife. Awww….

Dwight is delighted to tell Rick that his forces killed hundreds of zombies. Rick is sad to tell Dwight that the Whisperer’s horde contained many thousands of zombies which can only be stopped by redirection, not extermination. That horde is clearly still on its way. It might have been nice for Rick to make that point explicitly clear before now!

Lettercol: A fan correctly points out that all the abandoned bicycles of America sure would be handy for transportation, especially when faced with walking dead. Good joke, but also a good point. Why do they not use bikes? Kirman says he knows at all times what the next 100 issues are generally about, and specifically how the plot unfolds in the next 25 issues. One of those statements proves to be a lie. In fact, there's a lot of misinformation in upcoming lettercols.

My Two Cents: How do the Whisperers direct their zombie hordes? Their m.o. is to hide amongst them; they don’t use horses. Maybe they get at the front of the horde to get them going in a certain direction, and then blend into the middle and slip away discreetly.

On this arc, Adlard adopts a different art style based on a sixteen panel grid for each page. Lots of four panel vignettes. This allows the action to flow more quickly and is suited to low-dialogue situations. More plot per issue.

Art Adams provided some alternate covers for this arc, including one multi-cover image.

Soap opera continues to play a major role in the story. Maggie breaks bad news to Dante, who has been wooing her for many issues. This is Kirkman making room for all types of personalities, including ones who don’t need romance in their lives. Or at least who are using “It’s not you, it’s me” as an excuse so they don’t have to say, “I’m just not into you.”

Lydia on the other hand has no problem telling Carl that they have no future together, because of him.

And on the other other hand, romance blooms between Jesus and Aaron. Michonne breaks the fourth wall, saying this will “make so many people happy,” referring to the readers who have been ‘shipping Jesus and Aaron in the Lettercol.

Eugene continues to earn his MVP award. He works for days on end at the munitions plant, then brings the ammo to Alexandria, falling off his horse in exhaustion. He consistently sees the big picture, considering the Cause much more important than his own well-being. Rick has to continually remind Eugene that his special skill set makes him too valuable to risk. Kirkman has said that Eugene has mild autism (“He’s on the spectrum”), and I can’t help but think how much brilliant, capable, conscientious, short-bearded, chubby Eugene looks like Robert Kirkman.

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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Dec 7, 2019 0:08:24 GMT -5

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Post by rberman on Dec 7, 2019 0:08:24 GMT -5

#163-168 “A Certain Doom” (February-June 2017)

New Characters: None

The Story: Thousands of zombies lurch toward Alexandria. Jesus, Andrea, Dwight, and Eugene form a task force to try to lead the horde into the ocean. Their success is decidedly limited, but they keep working with the small zombie groups they can fission from the greater host. The Hilltop refugees arrive, and Maggie joins Jesus’ team.

The press of zombies brings down the gate of Alexandria. Paula dies. Negan rescues Rick and is still eagerly hoping to win his approval. They flee into a house which is quickly surrounded, leaving time for one of those TV bottle episodes where two people who hate each other are forced to share a room all day, and they spend the time hashing out their differences, with no resolution but some good dialogue.

Siddiq and Annie take refuge in Eugene’s house (Eugene is still out herding zombies). They find his CB radio active and hear Stephanie’s voice coming over the air, calling for Eugene by name. Who is this woman on the radio?

With Maggie busy, young Carl steps up to the plate and commands the Hilltop refugees to help thin the zombie horde further, as Lydia finds new admiration for him.

Finally the zombie horde is drawn to the sound of the ocean and plunges off a cliff. Do zombies die underwater? Let’s hope so!

Two bad things happen then. First, Sherry and her Saviors make their move, menacing Dwight and his zombie herders.

The standoff gets even tenser when the Saviors arrive at Alexandria and find Negan free. Rick diffuses the situation, inviting Sherry inside to parley. But Sherry gets mad and pulls a knife, and in the ensuing struggle, Rick snaps her neck. They were alone, so this looks pretty bad. Dwight for one is silently seething over the death of his (estranged) wife.

Sure enough, the Saviors are enraged by news of Sherry’s death. Into the breach steps Negan, giving an eight page speech about how the Saviors are idiots to try to break away, things are clearly much better under Rick than they were under Negan, etc. When Negan makes a facetious offer to lead Sanctuary again and Mark wants to take him up on it, Negan has to smack Mark around. Finally the Saviors depart peacefully.

Oh yeah, the second bad thing that happened. Eugene almost gets caught in the zombie herd. He’s rescued by Andrea… but she suffers a bite on the neck. Nooooo! Her death scene is a double-sized issue long. Everyone comes to say goodbye. She gives Rick one last pep talk before dying and turning zombie. He finally stabs her in the head, ending it. That night, Rick lies down to sleep in an empty grave.

Kirkman then gives a whole page with his thoughts about this character that he’s been writing for fourteen years.

Lettercol: Kirkman apologizes to a reader for not having an ongoing lesbian character and promises to fix the situation immediately. He praise Charlie Adlard to high heaven for allowing the “Andrea’s Death” issue to be twice as long as usual, in addition to churning out 64 extra pages this year for “Here’s Negan.”

Kirkman reasons that death-by-random-zombie should be relatively rare at this point, both because zombie populations are gradually shrinking and because the humans who survived are now “the cream of the crop” and “tempered steel.” Makes sense. But those hardened warriors would also still be plenty dangerous to each other.

My Two Cents: Andrea’s death is the big news here, the longest-standing character besides Rick and Carl. Kirkman wrings plenty of pathos from the situation. The other character emphasis is Negan’s continued attempts to ingratiate himself to Rick. It doesn’t seem like a ploy. But then again, Negan seemed genuine in his interest for Alpha—right up to the point he chopped off her head. Kirkman leaves us constantly second-guessing Negan’s actions.

Issue #163 was designed as an intro issue in the sense that its cover price is twenty-five cents. Local Comics Stores ordered a stunning 750,000 copies of it, numbers recalling the heyday of the early 90s speculative bubble. This low cost came at Kirkman’s expense since a comic book costs more than a quarter just for materials.

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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Dec 7, 2019 10:44:15 GMT -5

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Post by tarkintino on Dec 7, 2019 10:44:15 GMT -5

Nov 27, 2019 19:43:39 GMT -5 rberman said:

#103-108 “What Comes After” (October 2012-March 2013)

New Characters: Tara, Molly, Mark, and Carson (Not the Dr. Carson at Hilltop; this one wears glasses. Kirkman later says they are brothers.) are Savior soldiers. Sherry, Diane, and Amber are among Negan’s harem. Erin is the first new Alexandria citizen we’ve met in a while; she looks like a strict schoolmarm.

Differences from the TV Series:

TV-Tara was introduced during TWD's fourth season as a survivor staying with her older sister Lilly, niece Meghan and father David. They became part of the final Governor arc, with Tara being the only survivor (she threw down her rifle during the battle--a point Rick will mention to her in season 5, as she was apprehensive about her place among the heroes after what The Governor did to them).

The Story: Andrea is enraged that Rick would pay tribute to Negan. She’s about to move out, so he’s obliged to let him in on his real plan to bide time, scope out Negan’s base, and strike. But Rick can’t tell anyone else, so he has to live with looking weak in the eyes of the Alexandria citizens who trust him.

Differences from the TV Series:

In the early episodes of the Negan arc, Rick truly is weak. He's emotionally beaten down after losing Glenn & Abraham, and nearly forced to chop off Carl's arm. He's actually afraid of what might happen next. Although Michonne understands what he's going through, Maggie and Sasha are not so forgiving and believe Rick capitulating is all he's capable of doing.

Jesus gets captured while trailing Dwight back to the Saviors’ base. But he escapes, and Dwight is afraid to tell Negan about it, or about the Alexandrian counter-offensive plan it presumably implies. Negan’s base is "Sanctuary," an old factory with a chain link fence guarded by chained zombies. Smart.

Negan comes with a large show of force. He doesn’t claim any food, but his version of “taking half the supplies” includes taking the valuable half of the medicine and leaving the lesser drugs. Both sides behave themselves, except Carl seems prepared to live up to the “serial killer” label with which Negan tagged him in #100.

Differences from the TV Series:

Monroe manages to reach the Sanctuary, but is never captured. Simultaneously, Daryl--a captive in a dark, windowless cell--is subjected to psychological torture, from Polaroids of Glenn and Abraham's crushed heads, eating dog food on bread to an unending loop of this horrible song:

While Dwight takes Daryl to be treated by Dr. Carson, he runs into Sherry, who is told she is not pregnant (since Negan has unprotected sex with all of his "wives"). Sherry is instantly sympathetic to Daryl. which irritates her (forced) ex-husband Dwight. Sherry decides to help Daryl escape by unlocking his cell, and leaving a key to one of the exits. Eventually, he escapes, but beats one of the Saviors to death Negan-style, just as he runs into Monroe. Together, they steal a motorcycle and head to the Hilltop.

Earlier...

Carl stows away in Negan’s supply truck. When the truck is being unloaded at Savior HQ, Carl starts shooting up Negan’s men with Abraham’s huge assault rifle and almost gets Negan, but he’s captured. Negan’s complexity comes out. He’s proud to give Carl a tour of his base, fascinated by his gaping eye socket, genuinely apologetic for hurting Carl’s feelings about his wound. He returns Carl to Rick unharmed but keeps the assault rifle. How did Negan's followers feel about Carl murdering some of their friends?

While this plays close to the TV version, including somewhat breaking Carl down by making his expose his wound, Carl's killing some of the Saviors is never addressed by the survivors at all.

Negan brands the face of his follower Mark for sleeping with Amber, a member of Negan’s harem.

Close enough.

Jesus takes Rick to another settlement, The Kingdom, ruled by a weirdo who calls himself King Ezekiel and keeps a pet tiger named Shiva. Think about how much food that takes in a food-strapped world. Ezekiel is enthusiastic for an alliance with Alexandria and Hilltop to throw off Negan’s yoke.

Differences from the TV Series:

Okay, much happens on the TV series that is more carefully thought out. One, Morgan (who saved Carol from the Saviors on the road) is discovered by Kingdom guards and the two are escorted t the Kingdom where they are introduced to Ezekiel and see how the community operates. Morgan--who is going through a period where he believes an "all life is precious" philosophy--is impressed by the peaceful nature of the Kingdom, while Carol is completely dismissive of it, believing they are living in a fantasy world. She plots to escape, and runs into Ezekiel, who tries to reach/flirt with her. Carol is in such a dark mood that she rejects him out of hand, choosing to leave. Concerned for her, but respecting her desire to be left alone, he takes her to a nearby house, with a good number of domestic comforts within. Despite Carol being adamant about wanting solitude, the Kingdom delivers food to her.

Daryl has a tearful, brotherly reunion with Rick (very effective). Monroe takes Rick and the others to the Kingdom, but Ezekiel argues that the Kingdom has a maintained "peace" with the Saviors and is not interested in mounting an offensive against Negan. Rosita--no fan of Morgan's worldview--barks at him after Rick informs Morgan of the murders of Glenn & Abraham, as if that would shake him from his beliefs. Daryl finds Carol and asks her why she left. The two are so close that Carol senses something is not quite right; when she askes if everyone is okay, Daryl lies, and eventually leaves...

Even more surprising, Dwight shows up, eager to betray Negan so he can reclaim his wife Sherry from the harem. Is it promising… or too good to be true?

Dwight takes some time before "man-ing up".

Negan is amazingly indulgent of Carl and even allows Rick to get away with bloodying his (Negan's) nose. Negan thinks he’s rebuilding civilization, albeit in a version that lets him be the only one with a harem.

Differences from the TV Series:

Rick never attacks Negan at this stage. The TV series slowly and effectively builds Rick as needing to endure too many abuses before he ever even thinks of plotting against Negan.

Negan refers to O. Henry’s famed short story “The Gift of the Magi” in which a woman sells her hair to buy her husband a watch chain, while her husband sells the watch to buy his woman a comb. Thoughtful gifts, but sacrifice makes fools of them both. I’m not quite sure how it applies to this story, except to show that Negan is surprisingly literate. I don’t think this trait recurs though. Mostly Negan is just astonishingly vulgar.

It seems Kirkman was trying to sell readers on the idea that he's aware of more than just his zombie story or comic books, but the story is entirely inapplicable to TWD's sub-plots.

Negan also works his magic on Carl, treating him like a badass and showering him with praise and attention. At Negan’s urging that it makes him intimidating, Carl stops covering his empty eye socket, even when he’s returned to his father’s care. It’s not hard to imagine Negan molding Carl into his image if given the opportunity.

Negan thinks he's influencing Carl, but the boy is utterly defiant and covers his wound with bandages.

Negan left the Alexandrians with all their food (since they had so little) and took their good medicine. But what about taking half their weapons? He confiscated Abraham’s assault rifle from Carl, but Alexandria has a whole arsenal, while apparently the Saviors are all out of bullets. Didn’t he want half their guns and bullets, both as “tribute” and to make them less of a threat?

Differences from the TV Series:

Kirkman is not big on logical character motivation, or wartime strategy. One of the first thing Negan does is take the guns. One gun is one gun too many and provides an endless series of opportunities for assassination. How Kirkman failed to understand that is anyone's guess.

Nov 28, 2019 9:02:25 GMT -5 rberman said:

#109-114 “March to War” (April-September 2013)

The Story: Maggie’s new friend Brianna warns her that Gregory is a lech who will hit on her. Sure enough, Gregory finds pretext to intrude upon Maggie’s prenatal medical exam. She doesn’t correct him when he calls her “Molly.” Gregory is not at all thrilled with the prospect of joining Alexandria and The Kingdom in an attack on Negan.

Differences from the TV Series:

Gregory is lecherous, but does not barge in on Meggie's exam. Unlike the comic, TV-Gregory insists on calling her "Margaret," but she corrects him with a threatening air in the way she delivers that.

Eugene has his bullet-making shop up and running. It never occurred to him that there might be targets other than zombies. He works through his moral qualms a few issues later.

Differences from the TV Series:

Aside from Rosita demanding he constructs one bullet, it would not be until Negan snatched Eugene away that the latter would start producing bullets.

Rick takes a team back to The Kingdom. Michonne is annoyed with Ezekiel’s regal formalisms, but when they get a moment alone, he drops the act and pitches woo. He was a zookeeper once, and Shiva the tiger has proven a useful myth-building trope for him. Somebody’s gotta be in charge, right? But he doesn’t appear to be abusing his position.

There's no mutual romantic interest between Michonne and Ezekiel on the show. In the current season, he tries to make a move, but she rejects him, as her heart is still clearly loyal to a man she believes died five, in-universe years earlier (Rick).

While Rick is gone, Negan visits Alexandria “asking” for more supplies. Spencer takes the opportunity to suggest that Negan help him depose Rick and install Spencer as viceroy of Alexandria. Once more Negan’s curious code of honor comes into play. Negan respects Rick’s tenacity, while Spencer’s intrigue doesn’t sit well with him, so he murders Spencer.

Differences from the TV Series:

This plays close to the series; Spencer has an open disrespect/hatred for Rick as he blames him for the loss of his entire family, and Negan's victims. In fact, the young fool even challenges Rick, telling him he should have made a deal (presumably with Simon on the road to Alexandria in the season 6 finale, "The Last Day on Earth"), which leads Rick to coldly threaten Spencer. As a result, Spenser sees an opening by kissing Negan's butt, which the villain does not respect at all, leading to his ripping Spencer's intestines out with his knife.

Rick returns and sees an opportunity to assassinate Negan. But Negan is a step ahead of Rick once again and has a large hidden force backing up his smaller obvious team. Why didn’t he come in the full show of force in the first place? I guess I wanted to see whether Rick would try to kill him. Lots of quick action follows. Carl shoots at Negan and instead hits Negan’s beloved baseball bat Lucille.

Differences from the TV Series:

Rosita--feeling worthless in the wake of the murders--plots to kill Negan, and does not care if she's kiled. Father Gabriel emphatically argues in favor of her value, but she is headstrong and reckless. After demanding Eugene make her a single bullet, she is the one who fires at Negan immediately after Spencer is killed. Rosita is tackled, with one of Negan's lieutenants--a woman named Arat--giving Rosita a one inch knife slice on her cheek.
To punish the community, Arat shoots Oliva dead (who was standing next to an enraged Carl). As Rick returns, Negan reveals Spenser's plot, and how Carl infiltrated the Sanctuary, killing several of his men, but he did not take his revenge out on the boy. Rick is teary-eyed, but demands Negan leave--but not before the villain threatens more death if the bullet maker does not come forward. A couple of residents claim responsibility, including Rosita, but the cowardly Eugene finally steps up and admits he was the one who made the bullet. Rosita cries out as Eugene--shaking in absolute fear--is hauled off.

Rick sees Spenser reanimate, and angrily kills the creature.

Negan intends to kill Carl to break Rick’s spirit. Would it have that effect?

No, but Negan does not understand this, because he's not a parent, especially one who has fought tooth and nail to protect his child. That's a mentality Negan simply cannot comprehend.

A Savior tough assaults Andrea in her sniper’s nest. After an ugly struggle, she throws him from the belltower, but Rick thinks it’s Andrea that fell.

Differences from the TV Series:

Big difference: on TV, this occurs during a battle (in season 7) and its Michonne--not the long dead Andrea--who is involved. Rick and Carl race to the tower--expecting the worst--but find a battered, but victorious Michonne.

Jesus arrives from Hilltop at a pivotal moment, ninjas his way through Negan’s men, and bests Negan in single combat. Negan and his men are forced to withdraw, but now they know that Alexandria, Hilltop, and The Kingdom are plotting against them.

Again, this all occurs in season seven, only the heroes made the mistake of partnering with the so-named "garbage people" (who live at a trash dump), with their bizarre leader Jadis (who sort of speaks like Yoda) actually selling them out in a deal with the Saviors. Negan, Jadis and their forces are driven off, but as we will see, Jadis's duplicity will come back to haunt her.

Lettercol: Kirkman admits that there ought to be platoons of hardy U.S. military survivors banded together, mowing down zombies left and right. But he doesn’t consider that an entertaining story, so they must be doing their zombie-mowing in some other part of America than the metro Washington D.C. area.

He's sort of a lazy writer, as fans of the TV series asked that same question. However, throughout the series, there was evidence of military presence, such as a flashback where helicopters used Napalm on downtown Atlanta as Lori and Shane watched (this area would be revisited in season 5, as the group mounted a rescue mission of Beth Greene). Then, there was the National Guard group murdered by The Governor and his men (season 3), and the ex-military brothers (and their tank) the Governor uses his second and final attack against the heroes. Not to mention there's military weapons laying around, indicating they occupied an area outside of the ASZ (the town where Abraham found the rocket launchers).

Fun fact: 21% of the characters in The Walking Dead have names from the Bible. Robert Kirkman does not, but he has two very Scottish names. Scots settled Kentucky (whence Kirkman hails) and named their children after Bible characters and Scottish leaders like Robert the Bruce.

He probably grimaced in absolute agony about that, if it was ever brought to his attention.

Nov 29, 2019 0:33:34 GMT -5 rberman said:

#115-120 “All-Out War Part One” (October 2013-January 2014)

New Characters: Richard is security chief of The Kingdom. David is a rape-minded Savior. Davis is a Savior whose attempts to imitate Negan-speech just come off as awkward.

Both appear in the show, and both are the center of some very bad events...

The Story: As Rick leads his combined forces toward Sanctuary, Andrea and Carl stay behind to defend against a counterattack. Carl is being accorded more and more responsibility by everyone since he returned from Negan’s camp.

Differences from the TV Series:

As the war begins, indeed, Carl was growing into a leadership position (he's one of the few kids to have survived this long into the zombie apocalypse, and survived a shot to the face...so he's pretty much a low-key war hero in the making).

Rick’s army arrives at the Savior base. Negan has Gregory on hand to threaten Hilltop residents that if they participate in the attack, they won’t be allowed back in Hilltop. That only causes eight men to desert Rick, which embarrasses Gregory and frustrates Negan. It looks like Negan kicks Gregory off a ledge, but apparently he and his eight deserters take a car back to Hilltop.

Differences from the TV Series:

Close to the series, two faced Gregory makes his speech about being a Hilltop resident, and is pushed over a railing--only the hate-filled Simon is the one to commit this act. None of the heroes abandon Rick's side.

The ensuing battle draws zombies near and far to lurch in front of Negan’s fence. As Rick’s forces withdraw as planned, Holly sacrifices herself to ram a truck through said fence, allowing hundreds of zombies to invade Negan’s base.

Rosita, Daryl and Michonne find one of the Saviors' warehouses containing supplies and weapons; Rosita wants to ram the Sanctuary, and ultimately a horde does make their way into the compound.

Holly has trouble convincing Negan that she isn't Rick’s girlfriend Andrea, but eventually he gets it. Negan executes David, one of his men, for trying to rape captive Holly. Once again Negan shows surprising foresight in the need to treat prisoners well. He’s also said previously that he finds sexual violence particularly loathsome, just another way he is not Governor Philip 2.0.

There's no "Holly" on the show. Her place here is taken by Tyreese's sister Sasha. Backing up a bit, Rosita and Sasha--tension between them between them because Abraham left Rosita for Sasha--believe Rick will not do what it takes, so they plan to break into the compound and assassinate Negan with rifles. They slowly overcome their problems with one another, but fail to kill Negan, as Eugene constantly blocks the shot while a number of Saviors are discussing things outside. That evening, Eugene is in one of the courtyards talking to a guard, when said guard is shot; Rosita and Sasha run to the fence and try to convince Eugene to come with them, but he refuses and disappears back into the building. Sasha distracts Rosita long enough to run into the building, but not before telling Rosita to essentially live a life.

Sasha kills a few men, but is quickly captured and locked in one the same rooms Daryl once occupied. Negan tries to reason with her--that he's not a monster and about what needs to be done. While Negan is away, David tries to rape her, but does not get far when Negan shows up, refuses to accept the man's rattled apology (Negan sees rape as an unpardonable offense) and promptly rams a knife into David's neck, killing him instantly. Negan leaves David's body in Sasha's cell...along with his knife, almost as an act of trust that he's giving her the chance to defend herself. She goes on to kill the reanimated David, and does not play any games about using that knife beyond David.

Maggie is livid when Gregory and his eight deserters arrive at Hilltop. She gives a lengthy speech about how Gregory should be deposed, and Rick should be assisted in the attack on Negan. Apparently her words carry the day.

Differences from the TV Series:

Maggie does allow Gregory back in, but believes he is simply eyes and ears for Negan. Further, she gives a speech to the three communities, which is inspirational. Rick tells her how he knew she was a fighter ever since the days on the Greene farm. TV Maggie and Rick have what might be considered a older brother/younger sister relationship.

Rick’s army splits into teams to destroy the various Savior outposts, with varying degrees of success. Eric, one of the first Alexandrians we met, is a fatality. So are Ezekiel’s aide Richard and his tiger Shiva. Once he’s back at Alexandria, he breaks down, and Michonne has to smack some sense into him. N.B. the sequence pictured below is the first time we’ve seen point-of-view narration in this series.

Differences from the TV Series:

In the series, Eric is Aaron's boyfriend, and he is killed after being shot in battle against the Saviors.

Kingdom guard Richard suffers a far different fate: Richard went behind Ezekiel's back, trying to recruit Carol and Daryl to take on / ambush the Saviors. Carol refuses, as she's had enough
blood on her hands (dating back to her trauma over killing Lizzie in season four's "The Grove"). When Daryl learns of Richard's plan--one where he would essentially allow Carol to be killed, Daryl beats him to the ground, threatening to kill him.

Undaunted, Richard continues to plot. This time, he hides one cantaloupe from the weekly "tribute"/theft with the Saviors as a means to trigger a Savior reaction in the hope that it forces Ezekiel to seek revenge. On the Saviors' end, to punish the Kingdom's meeting group, one the Saviors shoots teenaged Benjamin (who had grown close to Morgan like a surrogate son, and received martial arts training from him). Benjamin is carried off to Carol's house, but he's bled out. After the remaining Kingdom members take Benjamin's body back home, Morgan is filled with rage, almost taking back to the insane murderer he had become after the death of his son (as seen in season four's "Clear").

Morgan discovers the hidden cantaloupe and Richard's responsibility in that disastrous ploy. On the occasion of another "tribute," Morgan shocks both sides by strangling Richard to death, telling the Saviors what Richard had done. Morgan refuses to return the Kingdom, instead wandering over to Carol's house, where she's finally told what happened to Glenn and Abraham. Obviously shocked & heartbroken, she still has the presence of mind to stop Morgan from attempting what would be a suicidal revenge campaign of one, asking him to just stay at her house for awhile.

Rick fails to follow up on the momentum from his early successes, and Negan organizes a counterstrike against Alexandria. That was really dumb, Rick. Negan turns Holly into a zombie, and like a big moron Rick lets her in, whereupon she bites Doctor Cloyd, one of the most important people in Alexandria. That was really really dumb, Rick.

Differences from the TV Series:

Kirkman seems to have a lack of understanding of real human reactions, judging from the plot description above. On TV-TWD, Rick never lets up, hitting Savior outposts and plotting for a final showdown. Moreover, Holly's TV replacement--Sasha--is depressed, as she knows Negan intends to use her against her friends in order to kill three members. Eugene visits her, and truly sympathizes with her plight, leading Sasha to ask Eugene for a means of committing suicide as she cannot bear to be the agent of more of her friends' deaths. Initially, Eugene refused to aid in so dark a request, but he has a change of heart, using various over-the-counter medication formulas to create a single pill that will end Sasha's life.

Negan still thinks he's building a chatty vibe with Sasha, but the woman's mind is already thinking ahead to her fate. Gearing up to attack the ASZ, Negan insists that Sasha rides back in a sealed casket. She blows off the morbid scene as though she will get to rest, while Eugene gives her an MP3 player. Sasha selects the late Donny Hathaway's maudlin song, "Someday We'll All Be Free", swallows the poison pill, slowly loses consciousness, then dies. Once the Savior caravan arrives at Alexandria, Negan reveals that Sasha is alive, but the moment he opens the lid, the reanimated Sasha barrels out, knocking Negan from a flatbed and nearly kills him. After a battle (the one where Michonne kills one of the "garbage people"/Scavengers), Maggie and Monroe find and put down the reanimated Sasha. Father Gabriel performs a eulogy at her burial.

Lettercol: There’s now a second Walking Dead TV show in the works! Woah. Kirkman admits that with all the TV shows and video games and novels and lunchboxes and whatnot, quality control has slipped. “Things come up, and nobody’s perfect.” Discussion about Negan saying that Humpty Dumpty was an egg. Lewis Carroll depicted the poem that way, but it’s now thought that Humpty Dumpty was a large cannon. Kirkman hopes 300 issues will be enough to tell the whole story.

My Two Cents: I don’t understand Rick’s plan. The part with zombies invading Negan’s base made perfect sense. The part where they departed to leave Negan against the zombies, not so much. Why give Negan a chance to regroup, so he can do exactly what he did? Why didn’t Andrea have a lookout posted? Dumb dumb dumb. Not Rick’s first time to do something dumb, but nobody calls him on it.

Well, that's Kirkman, Kirkman, Kirkman to blame. His lack of life experience and/or apparent unwillingness to familiarize himself with adult behavior or military strategy is one of the major failings of the comics in that every time a problem of this kind comes up, it takes a reader out of the story.

Also, as a later letter-writer points out, grenades are a fragmentation weapon, not an incendiary weapon. They wouldn’t set Alexandria on fire. Oh well! These are magic incendiary/frag grenades.

Kirkman, Kirkman, Kirkman--I mean dumb, dumb, dumb!

Last Edit: Dec 7, 2019 10:47:30 GMT -5 by tarkintino

rberman
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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Dec 7, 2019 11:59:08 GMT -5

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Post by rberman on Dec 7, 2019 11:59:08 GMT -5

Dec 7, 2019 10:44:15 GMT -5 tarkintino said:

What's Arat spelled backwards... This must be a nod to Tara's role in the comic book as one of Negan's lieutenants.

Likewise Rosita's prominent cheek scar belonged to Andrea in the comic book, from the time she got attacked in the prison by the serial killer. Andrea also is missing her left ear lobe for the same reason, though it's generally hard to notice.

Sasha kills a few men, but is quickly captured and locked in one the same rooms Daryl once occupied. Negan tries to reason with her--that he's not a monster and about what needs to be done. While Negan is away, David tries to rape her, but does not get far when Negan shows up, refuses to accept the man's rattled apology (Negan sees rape as an unpardonable offense) and promptly rams a knife into David's neck, killing him instantly. Negan leaves David's body in Sasha's cell...along with his knife, almost as an act of trust that he's giving her the chance to defend herself. She goes on to kill the reanimated David, and does not play any games about using that knife beyond David...

Negan still thinks he's building a chatty vibe with Sasha, but the woman's mind is already thinking ahead to her fate. Gearing up to attack the ASZ, Negan insists that Sasha rides back in a sealed casket. She blows off the morbid scene as though she will get to rest, while Eugene gives her an MP3 player. Sasha selects the late Donny Hathaway's maudlin song, "Someday We'll All Be Free", swallows the poison pill, slowly loses consciousness, then dies. Once the Savior caravan arrives at Alexandria, Negan reveals that Sasha is alive, but the moment he opens the lid, the reanimated Sasha barrels out, knocking Negan from a flatbed and nearly kills him. After a battle (the one where Michonne kills one of the "garbage people"/Scavengers), Maggie and Monroe find and put down the reanimated Sasha. Father Gabriel performs a eulogy at her burial.

I didn't go into detail about Holly's end the first time around, for the sake of brevity. In the comic book, Negan rescues Holly from rape by David, which turns out to be the last time she's seen alive. When Negan comes calling at Alexandria for the final battle, he brings Holly with a bag over her head. Rick lets her in. Doctor Cloyd removes the bag. Turns out Holly is now a zombie who immediately bites Dr. Cloyd's arm and is then put down. Dr. Cloyd has an opportunity to let her arm be amputated to save her life. But somebody else is severely wounded (Heath IIRC), and instead of tending her own wound, she saves his life, and thus loses the chance to prevent her own death from Holly's bite. This is when Rick should have made the tough call that saving Dr. Cloyd was more important than saving Heath. In his defense, a battle erupts at the same time, so he's a bit busy until it's too late.

In the series, Eric is Aaron's boyfriend, and he is killed after being shot in battle against the Saviors.

That is true in the comic book as well, and it's clear from the moment that Eric and Aaron meet Rick's group on the highway, before even taking them to Alexandria.

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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Dec 8, 2019 7:53:14 GMT -5

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Post by rberman on Dec 8, 2019 7:53:14 GMT -5

#169-174 “Lines We Cross” (July-December 2017)

New Characters: “Princess” Juanita lives alone in Pittsburgh. Joshua and his parents are rescued from Whisperers.

The Story: After two huge combat arcs taking up the last year, Kirkman switches back into soap opera mode. Jesus professes his attraction for Aaron. Siddiq confesses to Eugene that he was Rosita’s lover. Maggie finally kisses Dante. Due to Sherry’s death, Dwight no longer trusts Rick, and the two men have a tense confrontation. Dwight thinks he’s ready to fill Rick’s shoes. Laura keeps throwing herself at Dwight and is indignant that he’s still mooning over Sherry.

Yumiko and Magna are revealed as lovers, fulfilling a promise Kirkman made in a recent lettercol to introduce lesbian characters as soon as possible. His original plan was to have Yumiko’s attraction to Magna be unrequited, but I guess that lettercol tipped him in a different direction.

Siddiq tells Rick about Eugene’s radio contact. Eugene introduces Stephanie to Rick over the radio, and they begin discussing how their communities can make physical contact safely, with mutual trust. Their hard-learned caution seems very reasonable.

The refugees return to Hilltop, accompanied by William bringing a large load of supplies from the Kingdom. Jesus and Aaron travel from Alexandria to Hilltop as well; they are accosted on the way by a straggler group of Whisperers including Beta, who gets one final action sequence against ninja Jesus before he’s dispatched. Removing Beta’s skin mask, they recognize him as a former NBA basketball superstar, which explains his astonishing speed and agility for his size.

The Whisperers have taken in a family of three who are thrilled to get away from them and make common cause with Jesus and Aaron instead.

During the rebuilding of Hilltop, Lydia is jealous of time that Carl spends with his childhood friend Sophia. Carl is suddenly much more interesting when Lydia perceives a rival. Youth relationship drama ahoy!

Rick sends an embassy to Stephanie’s colony in Ohio: Siddiq, Eugene, Jesus, Magna, Yumiko, and Michonne. On the way, they are surprised to find urban Pittsburgh almost devoid of zombies. They meet a zany young Hispanic woman who calls herself “Princess” and accept her into their number.

Negan has adjusted to his solitary exile. He brings fresh flowers to the grave of Lucille and eventually finds another baseball bat to wrap in barbed wire. “I am young again, and I want to live!” he exclaims. But Maggie and Dante come knocking, looking for payback for Glenn’s death in issue #100. Negan begs to be killed, but Maggie surveys his degraded state and decides life is punishment enough. After they leave, Negan burns his new bat. Seems he really is a reformed man, against all expectation. Kirkman has said that his inclination was for Maggie to execute Negan, and Charlie Adlard lobbied for Negan’s survival.

Lettercol: Interesting discussion about the relative contribution of the writer and artist, and shared creative credit. Kirkman points out that these days, the writer’s name is often featured more prominently than the artist on the cover. Marvel and DC have lifted a longstanding moratorium on writer-artists. Apparently that restriction had been a reaction against the formation of Image Comics, and the perception that artists became too powerful in the early 90s, not unlike how writer-artist-editors were frowned upon in the 1980s.

One reader cries patriarchy, irate that Andrea’s tombstone lists her last name as “Grimes.”

Kirkman says he knows exactly what happens in issue #200. Remember that, and also “We’ll see more of Sanctuary eventually.”

My Two Cents: I don’t have digital access to issues #171-2, in case you’re wondering why image quality suddenly degraded. Sorry! I have to use my camera phone for those.

Once again a “cover that lies” for #169; Dwight never points a gun at kneeling Rick. The two men just argue, and Dwight's idea of replacing Rick fades from the story quickly, though it's still informative about Dwight's loose-cannon personality.

Kirkman appears to be retiring Negan in favor of Princess as his “wacky dialogue” favorite. In another fourth-wall breaking moment, Princess congratulates Michonne’s team for its ethnic diversity.

Carl tells Lydia about when he told Andrea about killing Ben. The actual Andra-Carl discussion happened off-panel. Kirkman had intended to depict it following the war against the Saviors, but he never got around to writing it before Andrea’s death, so he just has Carl narrative it in retrospect. Below is one of the rare times that two panels have a nearly identical image during a soliloquy. many modern artists would have used a stat for the second image. But small differences in the art show that at least the inking was done twice, and probably the penciling as well.

Apparently there are no surviving settlements or even roving gangs between Washington D.C. and central Ohio. Few zombies too. I wonder who killed the zombies of Pittsburgh (population: 300,000), if not humans living in that area.

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The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue Dec 9, 2019 7:51:41 GMT -5 Roquefort Raider likes this

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Post by rberman on Dec 9, 2019 7:51:41 GMT -5

#175-180 “New World Order” (January-June 2018)

New Characters: Lots of citizens of the Commonwealth: Lance Hornsby, Samuels, Maxwell Hawkins, Pamela Milton, Mercer, the Fendersons, Elodie, George

The Story: Michonne’s delegation comes to the rendezvous point in Ohio and is taken into custody by a squad of over a dozen guardsmen in white combat armor (see cover). A smarmy functionary named Lance interviews them and takes them under guard to The Commonwealth, a county-sized nation-state. Stephanie races out to meet Eugene on the road and earns a rebuke from Lance. This gives us a little insight into Commonwealth policies that give everyone an “employment assignment” instead of allowing them to do the work they wish to do.

The caste system is made clearer when Michonne (a former lawyer) is asked to speak for Alexandria to Pamela, the governor of the Commonwealth, who thinks her community is perfect

On a happier note, Michonne discovers that her daughter Elodie is alive, working at a bake shop in the Commonwealth. Elodie confesses that she traded sexual favors for protection in the early days of the zombie apocalypse, then killed her protectors. Michonne’s other daughter Colette did not survive those early days. The sex-crazed Michonne we first met back at the prison is a distant memory.

Out in the countryside, Pamela’s adult son Sebastian is trying to make love to his girlfriend Kayla when a dozen zombies intervene and must be destroyed by Commonwealth security chief Mercer, who looks like Mr T. Sebastian is a real snot who yells at Mercer for spoiling his kissy-face instead of thanking him for saving his life. More evidence that the Commonwealth has some problems.

Siddiq overhears Mercer and another guard named George complaining about Pamela’s rule. Maybe they should just let a zombie attack take her out next time? Mercer tells Siddiq he didn’t mean anything by it and was just “blowing off steam,” but the undercurrent of resentment toward Pamela is clear.

Sebastian cements his “problem child” status by sexually harassing Yumiko then shoving Magna. He thinks his family deserves credit for the Commonwealth being so great. Things escalate into a melee between Princess and Sebastian’s bodyguards. Mercer intervenes to calm things down, sort of, but Sebastian’s pride is wounded. You haven’t heard the last of this!

Pamela travels with a large entourage to see Alexandria. She’s amused by Dwight’s rag-tag attempt to put together an intimidating military welcome, since her own soldiers are so much better equipped, albeit much less battle-hardened.

Rick and Pamela have a friendly enough chat. But their political differences become clear when she sees that Rick is content with the same standard of living that everyone else in Alexandria has, despite being the leader. Is rapprochement possible between two communities with such different structures?

Michonne stays behind in the Commonwealth, accepting a job as a lawyer. She’s perturbed at the swanky condo they give her, clearly much better than the average in the community. Is it right to live in luxury when others are just getting by? (I wonder how Kirkman answers this question in his own life.)

Meanwhile back at Hilltop, soap opera continues as Sophia gets mad at her foster mom Maggie over Maggie's new boyfriend Dante. Sophia calls Maggie a “whore” but then apologizes. Maggie gives her the “worry about your own love life” speech.

Lettercol: Kirkman reports that worldwide, only 1.6 million humans survive, including “ten in Montana. Canon.” Then in another issue Kirkman groans when someone starts crunching those numbers and figures out that the Commonwealth’s population (50,000) is too high, unless it contains all the survivors of the whole United States. Another reader points out that Elodie couldn’t make a chocolate cake, because cocoa beans require international trade. Some of the character names come from emails in his spam folder.

My Two Cents: A long time back, I reflected on the similarity between The Walking Dead and Watership Down, both of which involve a crew of refugees who encounter societies with different structures as they try to find their place in the world. The Commonwealth is a planned community like Soviet Russia, with job assignments determined from the top rather than from the grassroots. Does it work in the short term? Is it sensible for the long term? We haven’t yet seen a community which holds formal and periodic elections. Sebastian obviously feels entitled to retain his princely position when and if his mother dies.

To hammer home the “civilization” aspect of the Commonwealth, people there use actual surnames, like “Maxwell Hawkins.” This is partly a practical matter, since a civilization of 50,000 people is going to need more detailed identifiers; there will be more than one Maxwell, etc. But it partly symbolizes a return to previous norms. The Whisperers represent one extreme, completely throwing off humanity for wolf pack living. The Commonwealth are the other extreme, trying to live as “business as usual” even though the environment has completely changed.

Magna and Rick are the voices of revolution, arguing that class structures are inherently evil and always screw the people at the bottom of the pyramid. It’s interesting political ground to tread, and I don’t know that Kirkman is qualified to show us an alternative that really works, but I respect him for broaching the issue.

Bill Sienkiewicz was commissioned to provide a series of twelve variant covers to celebrate the series’ 15th anniversary. His art technique has achieved photorealism.

Last Edit: Dec 9, 2019 16:57:19 GMT -5 by rberman

The Walking Dead, Issue by Issue

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