The good news is the zombies are on the outside. The bad news is the citizens of The Community are in the inside.
THE WALKING DEAD #80
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Charlie Adlard
Gray Tones: Cliff Rathburn
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Editor: Sina Grace
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Previously in The Walking Dead: THE DEAD LIVE! THE DEAD LIVE! And after a recent round of loud noises the dead have begun to swarm around the erected fences surrounding The Community, a collection of people who have gathered in the only place that even resembles home.
COLD WEATHER AND ZOMBIES MEANS SOMEONE’S GOING TO GET SOME ACTION TONIGHT
The situation is rather grim for the citizens of The Community, but with Rick in charge, they at least have the makings of a plan to make sure they are doing everything possible to keep the zombies on the outside of the fence. But if it were that simple, there would be no drama, no action, and the issue would be rather boring. Considering we’ve seen this story before (remember The Prison?) we already know all hell is going to break loose, in an issue or two because A) someone is going to do something stupid, or B) someone is going to crack and do something stupid leading to zombies getting in, civilization falling and Rick and his son on their own once again.
Once again, Kirkman is able to serve up convincing dialogue and creates relationships between some of the central characters we’ve met over the last year – that’s what he does and he does it extremely well. But once again, I find it all rather boring. There’s never a sense that a huge revelation is going to occur that would give the survivors something to strive for. Since the beginning the story has been about survival, but it has never progressed beyond that. It’s like Maslow is stuck at step two and can’t move forward.
ADLARD SHINES AGAIN
While Kirkman is the master of conversation, Adlard is equally as awesome with his art. He’s been doing this so long that it goes without saying. Likewise Cliff Rathburn serves up the grey tones that give depth to an image that would otherwise be completely flat. The highlight of this issue (beyond the brain bashing, and desperate people attempting one last fling, is the snow effects that play out across the outdoor scenes.
BOTTOM LINE: MORE OF THE SAME
If you are hooked on The Walking Dead, there’s a good chance you can’t put the series down, but at the same time the continued win/fail/win/fail storyline has reached the crescendo, and if there aren’t more marks in the win pile soon, consider me gone. Everything Kirkman and Adlard do in the book is fantastic, but in the end it is nothing we haven’t seen play out before. I’ll give it a slightly above average score of 3 out of 5 Stars.
