This volume of The Walking Dead opens with a stunning revelation about the past, and doesn't let up with the twists and turns until the very last page. I've talked about all of these issues individually, but what I've said bears repeating, and in addition, the book reads somewhat differently as a collection. Some of the problems I had in single issues remain, such as a feeling that the cast grew a bit bloated for a couple issues there, but the relationships fall into place a little more smoothly when you see them all at once, and I'm surprised at how well this all reads together as one story. Not that I expected it to be weaker, really, but given that Kirkman has a real talent for the last page cliffhanger, I hadn't noticed in the single issues how well those cliffhangers transition into the follow-up conversation or action, and how aside from the occasional pull back of the "camera" for a splash on those moments, it's really easy to lose track of where the issue breaks are. What I'm saying is, whether you're buying in individual issues or in trade paperback, this is most certainly a book you should be buying. It represents some of the best of what comics has to offer.
While zombie scares are important to this book, what really makes it shine is the human characters and how they interact. There are any number of small moments that play out in this volume which are interesting taken on their own but, when you view them as a whole, really give a sense of how much the world has changed. Having one of his characters point out that the kids won't even remember a world without zombies was a sobering moment. There are any number of interesting moments throughout where we see the strain on the characters showing. Some are subtle, like the worrying signs toward being a "gunslinger" that Rick's son Carl sometimes shows, or the staring that Glen does at Carol, and they don't always lead in the sinister direction that you think. Others are more powerful outbursts of stress, from Rick's near-homicide after Carl is attacked to the festering hostility between Allen and Andrea to the incredibly tense relationship that develops between Rick and Hershel in the latter half of the book.
One of the really cool things about doing a post-apocalypse ensemble book is that no one is safe. You can kill off or alter whoever you want, and introduce new characters to keep the mix fresh. Kirkman adds not one but two new groups to the main characters we've known in this issue. One is smaller, and comes with my new favorite character, Tyreese, a former football player, car salesman and dad, and one is larger, a big family on a farm headed by an unusual man named Hershel. It's interesting in hindsight to realize that Tyreese and Hershel are both interesting foils for the leadership position that Rick takes on in the first part of this graphic novel. Tyreese is a help, someone who understands the responsibility that Rick feels but who can see him as something other than a hero cop, who can relate to him as a friend. Hershel is a little trickier to define, as he shows a different route than the one Rick had gone, a form of leadership that is a tad more selfish but arguably safer for those he's chosen to protect. There is a point in this book when the cast of the book gets a little too large. When we meet Hershel's large family and we're still getting acquainted with Tyreese, Chris and Julie, the amount of maneuvering room for the characters gets remarkably small. Fortunately, Kirkman and company thin the group out pretty quickly after that, and things are down to a more manageable number by the time this volume reaches its conclusion.
Which brings me to the zombie quotient of the book. The human drama is at the heart of The Walking Dead, seeing how people react to living in a world full of zombies, explored in more depth than probably anyone has managed before, since the genre has been more or less explored in the more short-form world of film. But they're still living in a world of zombies, which means that we're going to get cool zombie moments. There are two big zombie attacks in this issue, and both of them show an understanding of what makes zombies dangerous: their numbers. Sure, they're slow and stupid and anyone with a baseball bat and a good right arm can take one out, but when there are suddenly hundreds of them everywhere and they don't care if they die taking their fatal bite out of you, you're pretty much screwed. The staging on the zombie attacks always reinforces the numbers and the chaos, that they are suddenly everywhere and there doesn't seem to be any way out. What's worse is that both of the attacks are ultimately down to a certain amount of complacency, something impossible to avoid in a world overrun by zombies. The characters let their guard down for just a second, just a little bit, and people die. That message is driven home quite clearly.
This trade brings a change in artists, and honestly, my initial reaction to Tony Moore leaving was that Walking Dead would suffer for it. However, while I still really appreciate Moore's work on the book, I think Charlie Adlard is a more-than-capable replacement. 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. He is especially good at the zombie attacks, and the visual effects of those. The way the zombies suddenly come out of the woodwork, and everything goes from totally relaxed to totally surrounded, is a beautiful example of pacing. In addition, the way the news sort of trickles down, and the attack interrupts more normal moments or shatters a moment of peace, really gives the sense of how unsafe these characters are, and starts the reader wondering if they'll ever be safe enough to rest. Adlard's characters are also wonderfully expressive and very real, and that grounded appearance is a real strength for the book. Little details, like the shot of Carl reaching for his gun or the tears of frustration on Lori's face during the final confrontation with Hershel, show off some of the subtext of what's going on, and reward longtime readers who know what Carl has had to do before or the stresses that Lori is really dealing with.
The book closes out with an afterword by Simon Pegg, the other guy upholding the legacy of George Romero, only he's doing it in film and in a particularly excellent episode of his all-too-short-lived TV show Spaced. After Shaun of the Dead and Spaced, Pegg is a personal hero of mine anyway, but my respect only grew with his short but sweet afterword, where he neatly analyzes what makes The Walking Dead so special (and using far less words and space than I have in my reviews) and even closes off with a clever little quip for the zombie fans. It's the only extra in the book, which is a shame as I would have loved some Adlard character sketches or script excerpts or something along those lines, but it's a nice finale to another excellent outing of zombie comic goodness. 9/10
