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THE WALKING DEAD #7
Highly Recommended (10/10)
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Image Comics
Writer/Letters: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Charlie Adlard
Gray Tones: Cliff Rathburn
Price: $2.95 US/$3.95 CAN |
Once you have read and fallen in love with The Walking Dead trade, which is out this week, you can also pick up #7, which picks up right where the story left off, albeit with a new artist. Or, if you've been following the story and worried that losing Tony Moore would derail the book, I'm here to tell you, you don't have to worry. The same humanistic core is there, the same mixture of characterization, plot development and zombie scares is there, and the craft on the book is as high as ever. Kirkman takes advantage of the deaths of a couple of his initial characters to add a few more to the mix this issue, a welcome change of pace, and he also takes the status quo of the book and shakes it up a little by putting the characters on the move, not to mention throwing in one hell of a cliffhanger surprise. It just sounds kind of funny to call this the best zombie comics ever written, so I'll go a little further and say it's one of the best comics on the stands, period.
Kirkman's star is clearly on the rise, and he's already Image's golden boy, with an arc on Captain America and future work leading me to believe he might follow in Bendis's impressive footsteps as far as his career goes. However, in many ways, I think The Walking Dead is going to be his signature book. I'm surprised at how much I've got invested in these characters at this point, and how Kirkman has turned cliches like "the old man" or "the former sheriff" or even "the kid" into nuanced, interesting characters. There are any number of interesting, subtle moments here where we see the strain on Rick's son showing through, or the tension between Rick and his wife increasing, or the changing of the guard in the camp that leads to Rick being put in charge. Sure, the focus on all this is Rick, who has been protagonist number one since day one of the comic, but the cast surrounding him is no less interesting or well-fleshed out.
This goes for our newcomers as well, who come complete with their own tale of how they got here and an anecdote that shows just how the world has changed, not just for the simple fact that zombies are in it but how the survivors are dealing with it. The fresh blood introduced into the group is good for the book as well, and I love that Kirkman has already indicated a bit of a spark between one of the newcomers and one of the other characters, showing dynamics shifting and potential problems arising from that. Combine that with the flashback which has surprising consequences revealed in this issue and you've got realistic, character-driven politics that put reality TV like Survivor to shame.
Then there's Charlie Adlard. I'm not going to lie to you folks, I thought Moore was pretty much perfect for this book, and had a moment of genuine worry when I heard he was leaving. Fortunately, I've always liked Charlie Adlard, and he doesn't disappoint here. Is his work different from Moore's? Sure. There's a darker tone to his work, and he makes characters like Shane look overtly sinister, or Lori's clouded mind more visible in her shadowed features, taking away some of the more subtle horror, but he brings the same detail and realism that Moore brought, and his zombies, though grotesque in a different way, are still pretty damn impressive. Adlard isn't as perfect for this book as Moore was, but he and Rathburn are still turning in a top line art performance that matches perfectly with the tone of Kirkman's scripts.
It's a good time to be a zombie fan. The remake of the Dawn of the Dead turned out to be a major hit and, for most of us, a pretty good flick, and there's been a resulting increase in an already rising interest in horror genre comics. Then there's The Walking Dead, which is a terrific horror comic and character study, which is going strong and proving that black-and-white comics off-the-beaten path (read: not superheroes) can still survive and thrive in today's market. Given how hostile the market is these days, The Walking Dead is sort of surrounded by the metaphorical zombies of decaying corporate properties, but like its heroes, the book is keeping the undead hordes at bay. (Yeah, that's sort of a tongue-in-cheek analogy... but sue me, I like it.)
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