Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Walking Dead #58
Image Comics
Kirkman, Adlard & Rathburn

This issue is NOT what you might think based on a) the cover and b) the teaser (solicitation). If fact, I’d say for the most part this issue takes a bit of a breather and fills in some gaps and manages to recap nearly the entire run of this series to date. Between what happened last issue and what I was expecting from the cover I kind of think this issue was a bit of a letdown. It’s still solid but it is not on par with last issue.

One thing that stands out immediately with this issue is the full paragraph recap on the inside of the cover. I cant remember seeing this much of a recap before. I kind of like it and I think it can only help newer readers or forgetful ones.

Rick and Abraham swap stories about what happened in their lives. Abraham’s story is heart wrenching. His family wasn’t just killed off or turned into zombies. They left him because they thought he was nuts. The problem with the story he tells is its hard to feel the attachment to his family without seeing them or even knowing their ages or anything about them. Were they little kids or were they more like young adults? It’s tough to get emotional wrapped up in his story. What I found odd was when Rick began telling his story Abraham asks him why he’s telling it to him. Um, maybe because they are in a sharing moment?

In the interaction and story telling we also get a pretty comprehensive recap of the entire series. Carl also gets some character development as we learn what’s going on in his head a little bit.

The issue also contains more of Dale and Andrea pondering leaving the main group to just live in one spot. This feels like ground we’ve already covered. The comic ends with Rick and company finding themselves in Rick’s hometown. There’s a bit of déjà vu when Rick meets up with his old neighbor. The ending has a familiar taste as we’ve seen some similar actions with other parents in this series with regard to their kids.

You can’t hit a home run every single time. This comic has some very good things in it, like Abraham’s story, Carl’s feelings and the reintroduction of an old character. However, the ground covered with the decisions of a parent and the Dale and Andrea dilemma helps to keep the comic back from being one of the great ones. That, and, based on the cover, I was kind of expecting some horrific moment or some killing off of a main character.

This might be the best issue to jump on with that I’ve read in a long time. Between the recap at the beginning and the origin stories throughout, I’d say this comic has all the material of a starter for a new reader. Still, I’d like to see if Abraham and Rick have buried the hatchet. I think it’s safe to say Abraham is a candidate to totally snap at some point, especially based on his back story. Hey, Kirkman set the bar excessively high, so it’s his fault this issue seems to be a slower one than usual.

3.5 out of 5 geek goggles