The Walking Dead #89

[sherkahn]

The Walking Dead will premiere their second season this month, and in honor, we look at the current situation with the survivors of the Zombie Apocalypse.

The "No Way Out" story arc has concluded, and for those who survived, the blame and the tension is overwhelming.




"No Way Out" occurred because the local community's defenses weren't reinforced or redundant (if one failed, another was in place to keep people safe and give them time to reinforce). Good people died, and people got hurt. Among them was Rick's son, Carl, who took a bullet in the eye and survived.

Rick hides away to finally let the emotions that he's been holding back flow, and he confesses to Andrea what's bothering him.

I'll type in the text, since it will be beyond the page limit.

"It's Carl (Ricks injured son)... he remembers some tings, some things he doesn't. I've reminded him of other things... he knows his mother is dead... and he doesn't seem to miss her. He's moved on.

It's like he's too strong to grieve... and God help me...

... I am starting to hate him for it."





And some of the members of the original community who let Rick in blame him for their current suffering (they are building moats and other barriers) and for the loss of their own. A plot to overthrow "the king" is agreed upon, but not before walks in and hears the whole thing.

The chase is on through the community to silence Glen, before he warns Rick about the bloody coup that will kill him.





Don't mess with Rick. He's a bad, bad man.

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

wow... i really need to start reading this series... it seems like an excellent study in character development....

also adrea and michonne... the very defintion of badass...

[arxh]

Jesus this is the only book that consistently makes me nervous about characters dying, mostly cause I know that the next panel could very well be that gun accidentally going off and shooting glen in then face...

[rainspirit]

Not to mention that one time Glen spontaneously blurted out that he wasn't going to survive. He just "knew it."

[newnumber6]

I was sure Glenn was going to die this issue, just because it was the one time he was staying inside to be 'safe', because his wife requested Rick bench him. I mean, if he got killed for stumbling onto that conversation, it would have been mucho angst for Maggie.

But everybody showing up at the end sort of negates that option... not that he couldn't still die, but it wouldn't be the same edged point because if Glen had gone out scavenging he'd be back with the rest of the group by this point anyway.

[tpsreports]

What we become.

[thatnickguy]

It's extraordinary just how unlikeable a character Rick has become over the course of the series. I say unlikeable, but that doesn't mean he's become uninteresting.

This is the sort of thing one would expect as people continue to strive for survival. They need to make hard, questionable decisions. They do things they regret. And those questionable things become easier and easier as they continue on. Heck, Rick himself here talks about how he's lost his son, who's changed so much.

I'll admit that the stories in the comic got a little repetative at points (find new place, try to make a life there, disaster strikes and lotsa people die, move on, repeat), but the characterization has always been top notch.

[sherkahn]

This is the sort of thing one would expect as people continue to strive for survival. They need to make hard, questionable decisions. They do things they regret. And those questionable things become easier and easier as they continue on. Heck, Rick himself here talks about how he's lost his son, who's changed so much.

Excellent point. They just stopped a mutiny/coup. What do you do with the betrayers?

[filthysize]

I think the key is that Kirkman knows very well that Rick's become a humongous asshole and acknowledges it in certain ways. What's usually unbearable is when characters become unlikable dicks due to circumstance, but the writer just keeps pushing them as the heroic voice of reason. With this, both Kirkman and the readers seem to be on the same page with Rick's state of mind, which is just good character development.

[proteus_lives]

I keep wondering what the endgame for this series is.

[twospirit.blogspot.com]

I love this comic - it's literally the only comic that I pre-order the trades on. No one is good or bad (except the Governor,) just shades of ever-darkening gray.

(On an unrelated note, I just watched Season 1 of The Walking Dead. It was great until Andrea turned into a weeping pile of useless. Where's my butt-kicking beauty?)

[stolisomancer]

Andrea didn't start off as a badass. She developed gradually into the role over the course of the first few volumes of the series. I believe Darabont and Kirkman are on record as saying that the TV version of Andrea will have a similar narrative arc.

[twospirit.blogspot.com]

I know, I know...character development takes time. Just...I find her really annoying right now. And she's my favorite character in the comic. :S