Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Walking Dead #103Walking Dead #103
Image Comics
Kirkman, Adlard & Rathburn

Negan comes to town. This issue of the Walking Dead is a very light one. There isn't a lot of action and there really isn't a lot of drama. Basically, we get a little fight between Rick and his new love interest, Andrea, and we get Negan taking his "half". I can't say this is one of the better issues of the series, but it is still as entertaining and engaging of a read as anything else I pick up. I would define this as an average Walking Dead issue.

The best aspect of this issue is that we get a little bit more of Negan's personality. He no longer has revenge on his mind and is no longer in battle mode. He shows up, barks out some orders, but doesn't really show Rick up or anyone else (except Carl) for that matter. He comes across as someone who is just a little brash and difficult to deal with rather than someone of the Governor's ilk.

I was disappointed at the general setup of the issue. This issue really gave the community no reason to either a) fear Negan or b) show restraint. Typically Kirkman will pour over these kinds of details over the course of multiple issues, in here, we seen to have everything glossed over and I found it disappointing.

I found it surprising that no one would try to put a gun on Negan or anything more dangerous than holding a gun on one of his men over some medicine. After all, with Negan strolling through the community, unarmed, seemed so odd that no one would be on a rooftop with a weapon trained on him. The reader isn't really presented with anything convincing as to why someone wouldn't take a shot at the character. This felt really lazy to me.

The other aspect I wasn't sold on was how friendly Negan was. I sort of expected him to take the food and firearms but all made off with was some beds and medicine. Again, these scenes were zipped through so fast it really was hard to tell what they actually took with them.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsAdlard is the perfect artist for the book. He's got Negan's look down to a science. The man is all attitude and presents the perfect amount of confidence on every single panel. Rick gives his usually tough guy visuals, which works well, but isn't overly resistant to Negan. I find Adlard creates the perfect tone for the book each and every month.

Walking Dead is at its best when the drama is built up over several issues and then everything falls apart at some point. This is in the beginning stages of the build up. It's a good read, a fast read, but the script isn't on par with many of the issues immediately preceding it. Negan is going to be a great villain and it looks like he will have more depth than I originally thought. It also appears he has some level of charisma to him. This was a good but far from great read.

3 out of 5 Geek Goggles