Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Walking Dead #68Walking Dead #68
Image Comics
Kirkman, Adlard & Rathburn

Rick and company meet a new character and have some trust issues as you might imagine. This comic is the beginning of a change for the core cast of characters. It seems they are at the crossroads and this issue tackles that notion very well. The comic doesn't contain anything Earth-shattering, but it deconstructs the thought process as members of the group begin to let down their guards. It's surprising to see them drop their boundaries, but once the story unfolds the idea is pushed across in a believable and concise way.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe comic begins as you might expect when a stranger approaches Rick and Abraham. Rick punches the guy out and ties him up. It's at this point that we begin to see a split in the main group about how they feel about the newcomer.

The new guy, Aaron, is a scout for a town full of about forty people. He's looking for others to join their group. His reasoning is everyone could potentially provide some level of value and add to the town's overall standard of living. He provides a sound argument. However, it's not that straight forward with this group, especially with Rick.

Rick isn't jumping into anything because of what's happened in the past with this crew. I mean, this Aaron character admitted to spying on them for days. This sounds just like the group that eventually captured and began eating Dale in the previous arc. Plus when you consider all that happened with the Governor some thirty issues ago or so, how can he be trusted?

The answer is simple: starvation. Rick and his group have almost no food left. They are directionless finding out that they've been traveling to DC for absolutely no reason at all. What else are they doing out in the wilderness? They need food and security. Why not risk their lives to potentially have these things in Aaron's town? It's a compelling argument.

This issue also introduces the zombies again. They are only on a few pages but they do remind us that they are still a threat and a danger. Actually the zombies are where the art excels.

As usual the art in the comic is centered on the emotions in the character's faces. We get a lot of details in the up close moments, but the slicing and dicing scene with the zombies gets the art back to its stunning and most powerful roots. Either way you look at the comic offers a lot in terms of a visual story.

This is a turning point in the series. The group is about to enter into a community. We've seen this before, like in the prison or in that early housing development, but this time it's different. The trust issues run deep and usually when something seems too good to be true the floor drops out on this group. It will be enjoyable watching how things eventually fall apart.

4 out of 5 Geek Goggles