Robert Kirkman is an American comic book writer best known for his work on The Walking Dead, Invincible for Image Comics, as well as Ultimate X-Men and Marvel Zombies for Marvel Comics. He has also collaborated with Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane on the series Haunt. He is one of the five partners of Image Comics, and the only one of the five who was not one of the original co-founders of that publisher.
Robert Kirkman's first comic books were self-published under his own Funk-o-Tron label. Along with childhood friend Tony Moore, Kirkman created Battle Pope which was published in late 2001. Battle Pope ran for over 2 years along with other Funk-o-Tron published books such as InkPunks and Double Take.
In July of 2002, Robert's first work for another company began, with a 4-part SuperPatriot series for Image, along with Battle Pope backup story artist Cory Walker. Robert's creator-owned projects followed shortly thereafter, including Tech Jacket, Invincible and Walking Dead.
Rick Grimes is a strong-willed deputy who missed the end of the world because he was in a coma for a month after getting shot in the line of duty. Shaken, starving and confused, Rick escapes the horror of the abandoned hospital only to be met with something far more terrible. Not only has the world ended, but the dead have learned to walk and to kill without mercy. After learning that his wife and son have fled to Atlanta from a single survivor and his son, Rick goes on a journey to reunite with his family and search for more survivors.
Rick quickly has to come to terms with the fact that the world has ended and only a select few survived. The dead have risen from their graves and they prey on the living. In a world where every minute feels like hours, where there's no such thing as law and order, where finding a small meal is a tremendous task, the walking dead are quite possibly the least threatening thing for the survivors to have on their breaking minds. Humanity is pushed to the brink of destruction, forcing them to embrace their cruel and primal nature in order to survive. Sometimes you have to be more concerned about who you let into your community so they don't kill you in your sleep and steal everything you once cared about. Rick has no choice but to abandon the ways of law and order that he's upheld as an officer for so long in order to protect the few loved ones he has left. He has to become a monster to protect his crew or risk being devoured by those who became more monstrous than him and even the walking dead.
Despite zombies running the world and having the series named after them, what really sets this series apart from the average zombie apocalypse tale is the focus on realism and the daily struggles, flaws and depth of the characters. There's plenty of badass zombie killing action, but the action often takes a back seat to give the characters plenty of times to share their extremely tragic yet endearing stories, grow through mutual suffering and learn to adapt to a world that has left them to die. Even after the world has ended, many people still can't see eye to eye. They turn on each other and kill each other when they should come together. Others form alliances in spite of their differences and try to rebuild over the corpse of everything that was lost. The daily human drama and conflict is more intense than any monster apocalypse could hope to be.
We watch Rick struggle to balance his old moral code with the many necessary evils he has to commit in order to survive and make the world a better place for the ones he holds close. We watch people like Glen, Dale and Maggie attempt to find love in spite of having every reason to be filled with fear, hate and self-loathing. Characters like Michonne have to learn how to forgive themselves and convince themselves they deserve to be loved despite all the blood on their hands. We watch the weak like Carl and Andrea become strong and sometimes the strong become evil like The Governor. Even monsters like the wicked yet oddly lovable Negan are given the chance to find new ways of redeeming themselves by struggling alongside the other survivors that have all been changed by the horrors of the fallen world.
The pacing is extremely slow and I can understand why that may be a turnoff for a lot of people, but I eventually learned to enjoy watching the characters grow, overcome their trauma, find meaning in life and learn to love again. The characters are forced to do many terrible things to survive and it haunts them every waking moment. The ways they overcome these regrets is very realistic, human and hopeful. The slow pacing really gives the feeling that we're living beside these people. The way every tiny detail of their lives and who they are is explored makes them feel very real and believable.
When I first started reading the series, I wasn't expecting it to have such an uplifting ending. It seemed so bleak and nihilistic for a long time and things would go horribly wrong even when they seemed to be going so well, but the finale channels all the pain, suffering and betrayal of the previous volumes and tops it off with a very touching and inspiring finish. This was never a story about hopelessness. It's about learning to appreciate the little things, learning to forgive yourself and learning to move on even when it's hard. When everything seems lost there's always more to be found, even when we believe otherwise because we convince ourselves that we don't deserve to be happy ever again. Instead of dwelling on what was lost, strive to try and make things better than they were before.
I've never been a huge fan of zombie apocalypse stories, but The Walking Dead had enough heart and strong social commentary to make me stick by the characters until the end and I enjoyed every moment of their long trial.
Lydia starts this one off laying waste to her former people The Whisperers.Carl performs a heroic deed to save the life of others but at great cost to himself.Rick senses that another potential war could be brewing before this The Whisperer War is even finished and lastly we see that Negan is still deeply affected by the death of Lucille.
I really hope that Lydia knows what she's doing. She's surrounded by a ton of walkers.I liked the scene with Maggie, Sophia, Carl and little Hershel. I'm glad that Carl stepped up to help, so that Maggie and the others could get away.
I love that Carl went back to help as many people as he could. I don't like that he got caught in the fire and possibly knocked out. Hopefully he'll regain consciousness or someone will find him and help him to get out of the fire, too.
Sophia's pretty awesome with that gun. I'm glad that she's trying to protect Maggie, Hershel and some of the others. I just hope that they can make it past both the Whisperers and the actual zombies that are currently surrounding them.
As for Lydia, I'm glad that she's helping take out some walkers and Whisperers. As for the woman that spoke up, when Lydia asked about Carl, I hope the woman's wrong, and that Carl ends up being okay.
YES! Go Aaron! I'm cheering you on! I'm glad that you were able to find and save Carl from the fire and from the Whisperers and the walkers. Too bad about the stitches, though. It's a good thing the doc can fix you up again.
I can't tell who the woman on the ground is, or who's giving the woman CPR. Hopefully we'll have that explained soon.
I wonder who that is, that's holding the sword and talking about the archers and taking them out.
I like seeing a large group of them taking out as many walkers and Whisperers as possible, and working together and all of that good stuff.
Maggie's one of the best ones. She's all like, "Die motherfucker's!" She had me cheering her and Lydia on the whole time, which is pretty great, given that I'm not a fan of the Lydia character. Yay. We won. She's probably exhausted.
Oh man. It looks like Beta made it back to the other Whisperers, and I know damn well that they're up to no good. I can't help but kinda hope that one of the Whisperers will end up turning on the other's, and help Rick and crew take them out.
It looks like Rick's chat with Vincent isn't going so well. I wonder what he's going to say and do next. It's not like there's too much that he can do if the others just don't want to help them out.
I can't remember where William and Martin and the rest of them are. But whatever community they're with, they're in deep shit as it looks like a herd of walkers is coming their way. Wonder if it's the Whisperers.
As for the other people, was that Magna that said she'd kill that woman, since the husband or boyfriend said that he couldn't do it? Well, nevermind, it doesn't look like she was going to have to kill the woman, but she did chop off the woman's hand.
Well, hopefully by chopping off the hand at the wrist, it will keep the effects of the bite from spreading and killing the woman. But we'll see. It doesn't always work that way. Sometimes it's just too late.
I kind of like it when Dwight talks shit to Negan. I hope he puts that asshole in his place soon, or pops a cap in his ass. Negan more than deserves it. I really do agree with Dwight when he called Negan a lunatic. The guy's right. Who gives a shit about a bat, when that woman just lost her hand?
Oh, Beta. You never learn. You and the other Whisperers might be bat shit crazy, but Rick is crazier than you assholes. Looks like you and the rest of your people are just going to have to learn the hard way. That's okay with me.
I loved Eugene's conversation with that guy. I'm really starting to like him more and more. Hopefully he'll keep being fucking awesome. And I agree with everything he said about the bullets and getting them to where they need to go.
As for Rick, I like the conversation that he and Andrea had. I'm glad that he made sure to tell her to keep a watch out in the tower not just for the Whisperers, but for those Saviors, too. You never know when they're going to attack.
Oh shit, that woman is fucking crazy. I can't remember what her damn name is, but that woman just needs to be shot in the head. Actually, she needs a double tap to make sure that she never comes back.
In this issue which is 5 of 6 of this arc we see the war at hilltop and how the hilltop fares while it burns all around them. It's no wonder The Walking Dead is a legendary series, it truly deserves all the praise it can get. I love The Walking Dead and it's style. It's wonderful and I love the journey taken with Rick and the group as they roam the wasteland in search of life and stability.
I have always loved comics, and I hope that I will always love them. Even though I grew up reading local Indian comics like Raj Comics or Diamond Comics or even Manoj Comics, now's the time to catch up on the international and classic comics and Graphic novels. I am on my quest to read as many comics as I can. I Love comics to bit, may comics never leave my side. I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.
Decently paced, wrapping things up for the end of the Whisperer War next issue. After reading Negan's backstory couldn't help but feel bad for how busted up he is about Lucille.
One small victory, but the Hilltop is burnt to a crisp, Negan is sulking, The Saviors are plotting and Beta is up to something big. Only one more issue for the Whisperer War, but how will it end??
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
(4.5)** I almost forgot about Rick. With the Whisperers war coming to end.. I'm wondering how this will end. This issue also made me remember that Rick can't catch a break.