Today marks the release date of issue #100 of The Walking Dead, a comic where seemingly no one is safe, save for protagonist Rick Grimes. As friends, family and relationships are left in pools of blood, guts and zombie germs, the continued survival of Kentucky’s most resourceful cop gets more and more statistically unlikely. A full review of the issue’s rather shocking events is forthcoming, but it got me thinking about the “never-ending zombie movie” and what future issues hold for Rick and his crew.
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) thinks a chopper looks cool, but isn’t practical for zombie escapes, asking: Is EVERY character equally at risk for a horrible demise, or would The Walking Dead not survive the loss of P.O.V. character Rick?
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My recollection of zombie movies is that, at the very end, when you think you have finally made it, it all falls apart. Likewise, whenever walking dead is ready to close and lower the curtain for the last time, we will see Rick in a perfect, safe situation. And then we will either see a zombie around the corner, he will be killed by a friend, or die in a tragic accident. That is how the zombie trope is built. Just when you think its over, that is when you are about to die. Whether he is killed on panel, off panel, or pulls a Shane, the logical conclusion, based on the genre, is that walking dead will end with Rick. A bit of a cop out answer, but relevant to the trope.
I think the comic would survive…and be better… if Rick died or it no longer focuses on him. I dropped the book a while back because it just started to grind me a bit. Find a safe place..stuff gets bad…have to run away….find a place…stuff gets bad…ect. Most ppl I know that dropped the book said the same thing to me. I feel following someone new would be a good thing. Follow a Military guy/girl as they search for answers. Tell the story of the guy that helped get ppl out of Town ABC when it hit the fan. If you are new to the book then odds are you would not mind. If you dropped the book then you may pick it back up. All in all I think it would be worth a gamble. Worst case…after a story arc of following someone else you go back to Rick.
I think the future of the series could be around an adult Carl leading a group of survivors while remembering what he learned from his deceased father.
I think as a serialized work goes on, the chances of its principle character dying off for real decreases inverse to how long they’re the protagonist. Especially if the work attempts to go on into perpetuity. I cite Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure as a series that went with the model of telling one protagonist’s story, then having them die or retire so the next generation can tell theirs. And it started this relatively early on in its run.
One hundred issues though? Not so certain. If they were going to kill off the main character of Walking Dead, they would need to do it now, and even this could be past the prime opportunity. It also depends on how timeless the story is. Someone like Barry Allan, the Silver Age Flash, died and got replaced (admittedly by his longtime sidekick) decades after his introduction. Yet he’s a comic book superhero, so his fans weren’t necessarily all people who followed him for that long. He had an iconic status quo, unlike Walking Dead which is a more structured story that changes over time. As such, fans might not be receptive if the lead changes after so long getting invested in him.