Life only gets worse for Rick as he’s put through quite the grinder here with the Governor.
What They Say:
As the survivors settle into their prison home something has drawn them out into the open… out of the prison… out of their sanctuary. This is a major turning point for the overall story of The Walking Dead, setting the stage for years to come.
The Review:
With much of the prison now cleaned out and everyone feeling like things have settled someone, especially after the madness of the last volume, The Walking Dead is at an interesting place. There’s now a group running things, they’ve discovered a way to bring some power back to the prison if they can get enough gas to power it and there’s also a cache of weapons and body armor from some of the guards. But even though things have settled, there’s some unease about them as the Dead continue to come towards the prison since the weather has gotten better and it’s easier for them to get around. Luckily for them, Glenn is pretty crafty and he’s figured out a way for a couple of them to suit up in the armor, nice and protected, and head out into the crowd of Dead in order to start thinning the heard so they can do some other things when necessary.
What throws things into disarray and starts the series down another dark path is the sudden arrival of a helicopter near the prison. It certainly excites the few that see it, but when it ends up crashing down, it puts them into a panic as they want to find out what happened and what they may know. While Rick and Glenn are ready to roll quickly, they’re surprised at how fast Michonne reacted as she’s suddenly there with her blade and poncho and intent on going with them. It’s a bad journey that begins as we see the state of the countryside, which is about a fifty miles or so from Atlanta, as there are lots of the Dead just walking around there. They’re cautious in their approach with them, but they have to get into the thick of it in order to get close to the crash. Unfortunately, if anyone survived, they were taken as Rick notes the sheer number of footsteps in the muck around it. With the potential for even more people to be alive, they set off to a little town called Woodbury.
And you can tell they wish they hadn’t. We’ve seen some awful things going on since Rick woke up with how people are surviving, but Woodbury brings us a very different town. It’s ruled by a man known as the Governor and he’s managed to hold the place together well, barricading a small section of it overall and providing those that live there with entertainment and fer in order to maintain control. The fear comes from the outside, but also inside through the entertainment as they essentially have a sporting field where they cage various Dead and feed them strangers that they find. Strangers like this from the helicopter or Rick and his friends. But they get a lot out of them first and derive a lot of pleasure from torturing them. The series has been brutal from the start, and we’ve seen plenty of people we’ve been invested in die, but this is an area where again we see that the darkest villain is their fellow living men.
There are dark secrets in this town and the people there have gone through a lot like most everyone else that’s survived. It doesn’t excuse what they’re doing, such as when we see more of what the Governor has in his home that explains part of what he’s doing, but it certainly makes their reasoning clearer. Violence, sexual abuse and torture are the names of the games here and the Governor approves all of it. As the book goes on and as all three of them suffer in different ways, you find yourself wincing and cringing with each new revelation that has you wondering how it will impact things long and short term. And it’s a rare book that really makes you think these things as characters do go through severe psychological and physical changes that force it into the forefront.
Digital Notes:
This graphic novel compilation contains issues twenty-five through thirty of the series in one file that has a total of a hundred and thirty-five pages with no extras, alternate covers or anything else.
In Summary:
The book focuses heavily on just a few characters for the main storyline as one of the big bads of the series is introduced, and it’s great material all around that keeps you very engaged. But it also works a lot of things with the rest of the cast as they cope with the fallout from the previous book with those that died, the madness that hit and with Carol in particular as she tries to glom onto Lori to become a part of her family with Rick. It doesn’t help that Lori is getting more hormonal at this stage of her pregnancy on top of all the other stresses so it just makes things worse. The cast has really come together well here and having these background stories add a different kind of tension really adds a lot to the series. It’s small and incremental changes for the most part as the relationships fray and strengthen in different ways, especially as you can’t be sure how the relationship configurations will change at any given time based one emotions, needs and fear. There’s a lot to like here and it really does demand that you come back for more right away to see exactly what it is the Governor will do next and if Rick is capable of slowing him down, never mind stopping him.
Grade: A-
im waiting for issue 100 so i can get the 2nd omnibus edition :)) Cant wait for october to see season 2