Shocking, as usual!
This review will be short and sweet.
First, I LOVE this comic series, and these books are of PHENOMENAL quality!
I hope this series NEVER ends...it's simply the best zombie tale I've ever read, and I've read quite a few zombie novels, and seen many a zombie movie.
This is the best.
Each of the books, by the time I finish it, I think, "Wow, I can't believe they killed off that character!", or "How are they going to top this next volume?".
And each book continues to amaze me.
Well, this book not only is no exception to this, it actually made my jaw drop to the floor.
I honestly cannot wait until the next volume to find out what the hell is going to happen next, and to whom.
I won't spoil any of this, but be prepared for tons of violence, gore, and action.
This may be the best yet (except the first was a great volume for introducing the series), but honestly I can't pick a favorite.
The entire series is 5 stars.
DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS READ THIS if they are young.
This is NOT a kids' comic series.
Anyway, in closing, if you like the series, you will NOT be disappointed by this volume. The only negative is that it ends, and we have to wait for the next one...whenever that is.
BUY THIS and enjoy.
A bridge too far?
This is an exceptionally hard book to review. I think Kirkman is extremely talented and I think Walking Dead is one of the best comics on the market these days (it's by far Image's best, for sure). And Kirkman is certainly bold - he never shies away from doing what he thinks needs to be done, even if that means some pretty horrific or gut-wrenching action. That kind of thing has generally served him very well on Walking Dead.
But I wonder if there's a bridge too far, if perhaps there comes a point where what you do is only done for the sheer shock value of it. I'm honestly not sure, which is what makes this so difficult for me, and it's made more difficult by the fact that explaining the plot clearly would utterly ruin the experience. It's enough to say that the status quo is changed pretty dramatically by the end.
Now, I can see an argument for the literary necessity of the closing issues of this collection - the pure barbarity of the non-zombie cast members (which, of course, is what zombie stories are really about) is stripped about as bare as it can be here, and the results are certainly devastating - but there's also something deeply unsatisfying about it. Kirkman treads close to extreme caricature here; maybe he even hits it. And I can't help but feel like, four years in, he got bored of the direction he was headed and just hit the reset button.
I think, judging this as the fourth installation of a continuing story, it comes off as basically incoherent. Kirkman doesn't make an attempt to compromise the boldness and unflinching honesty of his vision, but as a story it doesn't really work. It ends where we began four years ago. What have we done in the interim and what has it meant? There's a literary argument in there too, but it's too nihilistic for Kirkman and, since this isn't the end, he isn't making it anyway. Instead it almost seems like an easy way out.
Compelling and devestating
Collecting the "The Calm Before" and "Made to Suffer" storyarcs, this fourth hardcover volume of Robert Kirkman's ongoing apocalyptic zombie masterpiece The Walking Dead is by far the most compelling, and brutally devestating, part of the series yet. "The Calm Before" is just that, as Rick's wife Lori begins going into labor while the rest of the crew enjoy what time they have left, preparing themselves for the onslaught they know is coming. And it does in "Made to Suffer", as the mutilated, revenge driven Governor comes attacking in full force. This is where Kirkman really pulls no punches, as we witness characters who have been in these pages since the beginning of the series meet some shocking, and grisly, demises. Not to mention the surprisingly emotional impact that echoes throughout these pages, as the book comes to a close and a new direction is set. All in all, Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead continues to be a spectacular story of survival horror, and like the best zombie flicks before it, is worth going back to again and again.
(3 reviews)
