Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Walking Dead #116
Image Comics
Kirkman, Adlard, Gaudiano & Rathburn
The war rolls on in what is an exciting issue of the Walking Dead. The book continues to turn its focus away from character work and focuses on plot elements more carefully. Not everything in the issue makes a ton of sense but for the most part the book is a solid read end to end. This appears to be a fun arc.
Rick and company are at Negan's doorstep ready for battle when Negan pulls out the leader of the Hilltop. The hope is that this lackey can convince much of Rick's army to return home to Hilltop. This doesn't work quite the way Negan hopes. Bullets start flying.
Rick's plan is not just to barge in and take Negan's head. As his plan unfolds Negan begins to realize he is getting trapped in his home. Some tough decisions are made at the end of the book as the cliffhanger comes in heart racing fashion.
The book is a fast read. The book's strength is that the pace matches the action and the flow of the book illustrates the madness of the battle. The book is a fun read and isn't trying to do anything other than open the war and make it dangerous and exciting and it does that very well.
The part that doesn't work well is the positioning of the characters. It appears Negan is up higher when the battle begins but he seems to be on the ground level only a few panels later. It's not a big deal but it made me wonder where the Hilltop leader went when he was kicked down. I found this confusing. One other area that was odd was the sniper fire. When was it authorized? It's hard to imagine Negan had that planned and unspoken.
The artwork is awesome. The double page spread of the buses lined up with the bullets flying is an epic image. The artwork provides a terrific flow to the comic book. There is a lot of tension and a lot of action and book toggles both perfectly. The book doesn't have a lot of dialogue and looking at the artwork it doesn't need it at all.
The war has started and Kirkman makes sure to not disappoint. There is no slow burn to this story. Nothing too bloody happens in this book but the cliffhanger certainly makes for an interesting setup for the next issue. The question is how high the body count is going to go. Great read.
4 out of 5 Geek Goggles
