Tuesday 17 March 2015

The Walking Dead #120 - Image Comics

THE WALKING DEAD No. 120, January 2014
Whilst far from the “five-minute read” earlier chapters in this twelve-issue story-arc have been criticised for being, this sixth instalment of “All Out War” still arguably just provides the illusion of an exciting action-packed comic book. For although the storyline concentrates exclusively upon Negan and his men surrounding and subsequently attacking the Alexandria Safe-Zone, not a great deal of death and destruction actually takes place… and with the exception of an extremely short-lived biter rampage by a zombified Holly, there isn’t much attention paid to the living dead either.

Indeed as sieges go, the entire operation appears to be a half-hearted seemingly lack-lustre effort by the Saviours’ leader, as he orders his subordinates to just stand outside the settlement’s perimeter and throw grenades over the enclosure’s fence. Admittedly such a tactic catches Rick Grimes’ people momentarily off-guard, costing former supply-runner Heath a limb and knocking Carl senseless. But other than that, casualties are actually few and far between until the beleaguered community starts fighting back, greatly assisted by both the betrayal of Dwight and the arrival of Maggie Greene and some heavily armed survivors from the Hilltop Colony.

Even then, so swift is Negan’s ‘retreat’ back towards The Sanctuary that there is little opportunity for much more to happen before the book’s conclusion; and a real head-scratcher of a cliff-hanger Robert Kirkman has penned as well. For despite having suffered some presumably significant losses as a result of Maggie’s involvement towards the tail end of the ‘battle’, and his seemingly ineffective attempt to ‘blow’ Rick Grimes’ community to pieces, the psychopathic tyrant still seems utterly convinced that the settlement is finished and his adversary defeated. Clearly the neighbourhood has been damaged by the explosions, and is aflame as a result. But it is hardly the definitive end Negan claims it to be. 

The American writer’s removal of Carl to the infirmary is equally as illogical, bearing in mind it is currently being managed by an infected Denise Cloyd. Initially providing the dazed child with a bed there may well seem like a reasonable course of action but the former police officer knows his son’s carer could be about to turn into a zombie. So why when the youngster is hurt and vulnerable would you leave him groggy and defenceless with such a person… unless you were clumsily trying to cause the reader to be concerned that the general practitioner might try and bite Grimes’ boy in a future plot twist?

Visually Charlie Adred provides some solid competent pencilling to all these happenings, with inker Stefano Gaudiano and Cliff Rathburn on gray tones really adding some extra depth and life to the drawings. The British comic book artist genuinely excels at depicting action, and as a result his illustrations of Dwight mercilessly gunning down his fellow Saviours and the Hilltop colonists’ arrival ‘guns a blazing’ are both vivid and energetic, even if somewhat gory.
Writer: Robert Kirkman, Penciller: Charlie Adlard, and Inker: Stefano Gaudiano

6 comments:

  1. As always a fair and unbiased review. I do wonder, however, if you'd enjoy this series more if you read the graphic novels. With them you get to read 6, 12 or 24 issues in one sitting if you feel so inclined and thus don't have to wait a month between issues. Reading the story in bigger chunks lessens the impact of not much happening in the story. To be fair to you, if I was reading this series as you do on a monthly basis I'd feel the same way as you do. Yes, I do realise this is a comic review blog and not a graphic novel review.

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    1. Many thanks Bryan. You raise a very good point and indeed it is the one many fans of the comic seem to constantly take issue with Kirkland's writing over. He does seem to look as his stories in the longer term such as graphic novels or binge-reading. Indeed I've rarely seen such criticism of so highly-selling a comic title (except perhaps Dan Slott's current run on "The Amazing Spider-Man"). I actually have the "All Out War" run (and a few more afterwards) and simply read one then review it, then another etc, so I have a backlog of reviews to post. I tend to read an issue of this every week or so, and it does pale when compared to the likes of "'68 Jungle Jim' or even 'Zombies v Robots' imho. Of course, reading these did make me travel to London this past weekend to see Charlie Adlard and my #120 has been autographed :-)

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    2. Lucky man getting to meet Charlie Adlard... and getting your comic signed. Colour me jealous! :)

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    3. To be honest Bryan, that was one of the highlights of an otherwise underwhelming show. Though I did also pick up a "Moon Knight" poster which the artist Bill Sienkiewicz signed for me too. I did note that "Dynamite Entertainment" have released a new "Vampirella" one-shot under their "Altered States" title and having bought and read it I'll be posting a review up of it in the next couple of days ;-)

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  2. I know this isn't a graphic novel blog but I think I'm with Bryan on this. My current '68 obsession is far more enjoyable in trade paperback form. I just think it's a slightly better way to view a comic, no waiting for the next issue and it's not over in two minutes. Just my personal opinion.

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    1. Bob, I do 'binge-read' my mini-series and story-arcs when I can, otherwise I'd never keep up with what is going on. But I do write each review straight afterwards before I read another so my thoughts are fresh in my mind. I wholly agree that for some titles the graphic novel format is a better way of reading it. "The Walking Dead" being a very good example of this. I think I prefer comics though as I enjoy the cliffhangers and I thought "'68 Jungle Jim" #1 provided a cracker. I like the anticipation and eagerness of waiting for the next issue, even if that wait is just the time it takes me to write a review (such as with "Nameless"). Yes sometime I get disappointed and demoralised (such as with "The Walking Dead"). But other times I get enthused for the hobby and tap back into that childish excitement as an adult I miss, where I'm eagerly awaiting the next 'episode' and have to wait until it arrives ;-)

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