Wednesday, January 12, 2011

THE WALKING DEAD #80


The new AMC series of this comic book is a big hit. It got bigger ratings than Mad Men, AMC's perennial favorite. The show is good not great, and lately that's how the book has been. It started out good and then got exceptional with The Governor storyline then fell to just being a good, readable book. Will it ever be as raw and exciting as it was during that ten to twenty issue arc? Honestly, I doubt it. The book has settled into the “Community” storyline, which has Rick and the gang living behind walls in an idyllic neighborhood. The problem is that a herd of zombies has shown up at the gate. When the gate comes crashing down then all hell will break loose, right? The gate is still intact, and the soap opera storylines burst and bloom here. Rick gets kissed by Jessie at the end of this issue. If you forget, Jessie's husband was beating her, Rick stepped in, and eventually Jessie's husband was shot and killed. A lot of people complained about the TV show because of its soap opera plots, but that's been the heart of the series since its inception. Certainly, the best parts of the comic and the show have been the zombie action, but the human element pays off when someone dies and you actually feel remorse. The art, by Charlie Adlard, is as good and efficient as ever. This isn't a great book, but it's definitely a good read. **1/2

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