>

The Walking Dead keeps getting more and more messed up. I feel like I say that every issue with this series, but it’s true. The current arc “Fear The Hunters” has taken another original new direction for a zombie series, one where Rick Grimes and his fellow survivors must escape being hunted not by zombies but by their fellow humans. This “cannibalism arc” is really simple but also ingenious for the Zombie genre. By this point in the zombie apocalypse food rations are near impossible to come by and even Rick’s group is suffering from the constant scavenging for food. Unfortunately, on their quest to Washington DC, Rick and the gang get ambushed by a group that his resorted to cannibalism to survive. The result: Dale gets his legs eaten by the starving humans. In retaliation, Rick orders a counter strike on the hunters, and the group takes a much darker and more aggressive approach to survival.

There has been a lot I’ve liked about the “Fear The Hunters” story, and I think it will hold up with the best Walking Dead stories like the Prison year and the Governor story, but the grittier more aggressive Rick could make the series a lot harder to relate to. Thus far, Rick has been a character that always tried to look out for the greater good of the group and humanity in general. Yet, in recent issues all the characters are hellbent on survival, which has manifested itself in Rick’s once innocent son Carl secretly murdering to help the group survive. At this rate, it is becoming harder and harder to establish the heroic actions in the series from the shocking acts of desperation.

If I had one complaint about the current issue it’s that Charlie Adlard art looks rushed. Some of the eagle-eye view panels and other different perceptive panels look ill conceived and don’t play to the artist’s strengths. He still does a fantastic job with the splash pages and the action sequences, but overall it seems like he has to fit to much dialogue into one single issue.

The next issue will provide the conclusion of “Hunters,” and as of right now it could result in Rick merely gaining a strategic advantage and morale boost for his group, or result in the cast resorting to cannibalism themselves. Walking Dead is so good right now that I really don’t have a clue which way it will go, and I don’t really care. Just as long as it stays so darn interesting I’ll keep reading.

-Jon

---

Both comments and pings are currently closed.