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Walking Dead #25
Review posted: 24 Jan 2006
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Charlie Adlard
Letters: Rus Wooton
Colors: Cliff Rathburn
Publisher: Image Comics
4.00 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Matt Yocum
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Having been married only a few months now, I’m reminded of the
joke, “When the groom’s walking out to start the wedding, don’t yell,
‘Dead man walking!’” With an appropriately-named title, Robert
Kirkman’s future apocalyptic zombie-fest has me wondering who the
title refers to more: the thousands of shuffling, rotting zombies or
the living who’ve slowly been so bloodied and beaten, it’s a question
whether they could be counted as living anymore.
The centerpiece of the story is the
relationships among the living as they struggle to survive.
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Kirkman’s quickly expanding zombie tome has introduced so many
people within these twenty-five issues that he offers a score card at
the end of every issue with head shots of each character since the
series began, tallying the living and the dead. It serves as a
character reference, something much needed in a title that’s expanded
far beyond a normal comic’s boundaries. Yet despite the massive
number of characters, it’s really a story about protagonist Rick
Grimes’ journey. He’s moved from small town cop to de facto leader of
a small tribe of surviving humans. Rick as the everyman serves as
anchor of a large and complex story.
This is not a stereotypical zombie book, nor a normal comic.
Kirkman does not feel the need to showcase a fight scene every issue.
The centerpiece of the story is the relationships among the living as
they struggle to survive, now firmly established behind the protected
walls of a prison (which is becoming a tiresome setting, but
interviews with Kirkman, and the end of issue 25, would indicate
things will change soon).
Many things work in The Walking Dead. The use of gray tones
shows a gray world, a world where humans are as much to fear as the
undead. It’s a world where jealousy, sex, greed, and basic survival
coexist. This is a world we’ve never known. When we flip a switch,
the light comes on. When we turn on the faucet, the water comes out.
We’ve never known what it’s like when all the things in life we know
and take for granted are removed (except maybe those in areas affected
by the tsunami or Hurricane Katrina or similar natural disasters).
The dialogue also works. The characters become real people
speaking real dialogue about real problems. Of course, it’s an unreal
world, but I could see this being a group of neighbors who never knew
each other all forced together. It’s believability in an unbelievable
situation.
There are things that don’t work however. I find that with this,
as well as all Kirkman’s series, these are best read from trade
paperbacks in one or maybe a few sittings rather than in single
issues. Of course single issues profit Image and the creators the
most. However I feel the trades allow you to best follow all the
complex story lines, the incredible number of characters, and the full
impact of the emotional journey of each character.
I stumbled into The Walking Dead a few issues after it began
and quickly scooped up the first trade, then the second, and now I’ve
followed it in single issues. I came to it by way of my own
in-progress zombie novel, Devolution, doing research to see what else
is out there. I found this, along with a novel called Risen by J.
Knight, to be among the best the genre has currently to offer. I hope
my novel, while a bit more intimate a setting and much less epic, will
prove equally frightening, intense, and emotional as The Walking
Dead.
My suggestion: buy the first Walking Dead trade and see what
you think. You won’t regret it.
Comments about my comments? Feel free to email me at myocum@comiccritique.com.
p.s. Mr. Kirkman, if you read this, from one Kentuckian to
another, thanks for reading everyone’s letters and remaining a fan at
heart.
—CCdC—
Cover image used without explicit permission in accordance with the "Fair Use" provision of US copyright law.
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