As with all reviews of The Walking Dead there WILL be spoilers! If you haven’t read this issue or the previous one then it would be a good idea to skip this. (I’d prefer you didn’t but I understand the need to avoid these sort of spoilers!)
THE WALKING DEAD #84
Written by: Robert Kirkman
Art by: Charlie Adlard
Published by: Image
Price: $2.99
NO WAY OUT Continues! After last issue’s shocking moments involving Morgan and Carl, we get a much needed breather; but only barely.
Rick takes the very wounded Carl to get some help and is faced with having to make sure he’s being taken care of while having to draw attention to their position because there is light needed in order to help Carl. Rick, realizes that if he loses Carl, he will have lost everything. In one of those moments that shows what hell a parent will put themselves through for the safety of their child, Rick goes out and single handedly (no pun intended) begins to take out a horde of zombies to protect his son.
Glen, Andrea and the others are now inside the remaining walls and making their way to the center where their friends are.
Rick is taking out zombies left and right, he’s surrounded and as one closes in behind him it’s head gets sliced; announcing Michonne’s involvement in the fight!
While Carl fights for his life and Rick fights to protect him, something big (yet presented in a rather understated way) happens- others, like Abraham and Aaron, who were hiding and hoping for a way to live, see Rick and Michonne fighting a losing battle and realize it’s time to take a stand. Everyone capable of fighting comes out and it becomes a free for all with the Living Vs. The Dead in a fight we haven’t really seen in this book! It’s a great moment and after seeing Carl get shot last month it was nice to see everyone pull together.
The moment really captures what this whole series was about: the living banding together and fighting for their very existence; taking a stand and fighting tooth and nail against a tidal wave of flesh eating zombies. It was almost half of the issue and it really got my blood pumping.
We close this issue with Rick saying some things that have a lot of weight. He seems to have realized what he’s allowed himself to become and how that isn’t going to work. The threat of losing Carl has apparently helped him realize that he needs to have a safe place and this Community is it. He realizes that this is a place that can be made safer and it’s a place that’s more than worth fighting for.
If only Carl survives. That’s the big question on everyone’s mind now.
After the high tension and shocking moments of the last issue it was nice to have some straight up action to help remove us from the heavy drama that we saw. It’s also nice to see Rick have the one thing he hasn’t had much of over the years: Hope.
84 issues in and Robert Kirkman still manages to keep this series fresh and full of surprises. I applaud him and very much look forward to many more issue of The Walking Dead!
