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The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead, Vol. 32: Rest In Peace
The conflict in the Commonwealth hits a fever pitch… could this be the end of civilization as we’ve come to know it? Collects THE WALKING DEAD #187-193.
224 pages, Paperback
First published August 7, 2019
46 people are currently reading
1698 people want to read
About the author
Robert Kirkman
2,741 books6,939 followersRobert 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 733 reviews
June 23, 2019
I’m speechless.
May 27, 2025
So this is it. Sixteen year run! Over. I like the whole idea of the nature of the series finle coming as a surprise to go alongside the way the series best worked! Thank you Kirkman and co. for Rick and Carl, for Andrea, for Glenn, for Dexter, for the prison, for Michonne, for the Governor, for Abe, Rosita and Eugene, for the church, for the hunters, for Eugene's lies, for Aaron and Alexandria, for Hilltop, for saving Alexandria from the Herd, for Negan and The Saviors, and The Kingdom and the tiger, for All Out War, for The Whisperers, for the Commonwealth. This is, was, peak reality building with completely character lead stories during a zombie apocalypse, Four Stars. 9 out of 12. Next stop the TV shows :)
2019 read
2019 read
August 9, 2019
It’s… over?
Wha… no foolin’!? Sweet zombie jesus!
Yup, the series that became like the rotting, shambling corpses featured in its pages has finally come to a long overdue end. I kinda feel like Kent Brockman – why now, why not five years ago??
So after years of saying he’d end The Walking Dead at 300 issues, Robert Kirkman surprised long-suffering readers last month byanswering their prayers pulling the plug early with issue #193, the various reasons for which he talks about in his lengthy afterword (basically he ran out of material).
So how is the final book? Like the last few volumes have been: not good! Rick clashes with the Hillary Clinton leader of the Commonwealth and her Joffrey-esque son, bringing a merciful end to that tedious storyline.
One of the funniest moments in the series for me was a speech Rick gave a while ago which ends with a double splash page where he looks at the reader and says “WE are the walking dead!” in an eye-rolling no shit Sherlock moment. The Commonwealth storyline builds up to Rick giving what’s meant to be a moving, emotional speech that ends with a reference to that earlier speech with Rick saying in a similar double splash “We are NOT the walking dead!”, totally undercutting the serious tone it was shooting for and reducing what should’ve been a powerful moment into laughter!
About the only notable thing to happen is a certain main character dying – and if you know this is the last book, you know the only character it could be - which I guess was kinda moving but also expected.
The twenty years later jump (it doesn’t say exactly how many years but it seems like a fair chunk of time) as an extended epilogue was interesting – briefly. It was sweet seeing who ended up marrying who and what the surviving characters did with their lives. And then it overstays its welcome. I mean, did we really need to have the story of Carl and Hershel’s court case over zombies as property (that’s just my phrasing – Kirkman got through the whole series without once mentioning the word “zombie”, so kudos for that!)? I guess it’s sort of amusing to see how the perceptions of the zombies have shifted because life has gotten that safe, but it just went on and on, seemingly only so we could see familiar characters older, and in new roles.
But I didn’t like the twenty years later world. It was essentially just the old west cowboys’n’injuns world – very unimaginative. The final image of the series is cute but the words preceding it are way too long-winded and dull to convincingly be read as a children’s book.
Overall there was an absolute shit-ton more exposition than usual, none of which I found especially compelling, and the forced action scenes with the zombies were rubbish – the zombies are too easily defeated now so there’s zero excitement seeing the characters fight them. I believe Kirkman when he says he ran out of material because I was yawning the whole time throughout this one. It’s a bit of a disappointing end to what was a decent series.
The Walking Dead definitely had its moments. About half of the books are really good, like the ones featuring The Governor and Negan. The series hit its peaks when it had strong villains for Rick and co. to battle against, that weren’t zombies, and they were both terrific bad guys. Speaking of, I wanted to see what became of Negan in the epilogue but, beyond a page hinting at his continued existence, we didn’t get anything more, which was a shame.
Then again, I’m sure that’s deliberate and Kirkman will return at some point to tell Negan’s story in full. Because even if Volume 32 is “the end”, it’s really only the end of this story arc. Let’s be real: the series is way too popular and profitable to never revisit again. I’m sure in five or ten years when Kirkman’s got more ideas, or HBO’s demanding more stories for a new TV show because nostalgia SELLS, he and Charlie Adlard will be back for more. Particularly as there are so many possibilities to explore. Besides Negan’s story they could tell the story of what happened in the interval between, or what happened in other areas of the world during this time, or even jump ahead of the time jump and see what the world beyond the new old west looks like.
Rest in peace? Bitch, please. This is comics – nobody ever stays deaded, not least a series about the undead!
Wha… no foolin’!? Sweet zombie jesus!
Yup, the series that became like the rotting, shambling corpses featured in its pages has finally come to a long overdue end. I kinda feel like Kent Brockman – why now, why not five years ago??
So after years of saying he’d end The Walking Dead at 300 issues, Robert Kirkman surprised long-suffering readers last month by
So how is the final book? Like the last few volumes have been: not good! Rick clashes with the Hillary Clinton leader of the Commonwealth and her Joffrey-esque son, bringing a merciful end to that tedious storyline.
One of the funniest moments in the series for me was a speech Rick gave a while ago which ends with a double splash page where he looks at the reader and says “WE are the walking dead!” in an eye-rolling no shit Sherlock moment. The Commonwealth storyline builds up to Rick giving what’s meant to be a moving, emotional speech that ends with a reference to that earlier speech with Rick saying in a similar double splash “We are NOT the walking dead!”, totally undercutting the serious tone it was shooting for and reducing what should’ve been a powerful moment into laughter!
About the only notable thing to happen is a certain main character dying – and if you know this is the last book, you know the only character it could be - which I guess was kinda moving but also expected.
The twenty years later jump (it doesn’t say exactly how many years but it seems like a fair chunk of time) as an extended epilogue was interesting – briefly. It was sweet seeing who ended up marrying who and what the surviving characters did with their lives. And then it overstays its welcome. I mean, did we really need to have the story of Carl and Hershel’s court case over zombies as property (that’s just my phrasing – Kirkman got through the whole series without once mentioning the word “zombie”, so kudos for that!)? I guess it’s sort of amusing to see how the perceptions of the zombies have shifted because life has gotten that safe, but it just went on and on, seemingly only so we could see familiar characters older, and in new roles.
But I didn’t like the twenty years later world. It was essentially just the old west cowboys’n’injuns world – very unimaginative. The final image of the series is cute but the words preceding it are way too long-winded and dull to convincingly be read as a children’s book.
Overall there was an absolute shit-ton more exposition than usual, none of which I found especially compelling, and the forced action scenes with the zombies were rubbish – the zombies are too easily defeated now so there’s zero excitement seeing the characters fight them. I believe Kirkman when he says he ran out of material because I was yawning the whole time throughout this one. It’s a bit of a disappointing end to what was a decent series.
The Walking Dead definitely had its moments. About half of the books are really good, like the ones featuring The Governor and Negan. The series hit its peaks when it had strong villains for Rick and co. to battle against, that weren’t zombies, and they were both terrific bad guys. Speaking of, I wanted to see what became of Negan in the epilogue but, beyond a page hinting at his continued existence, we didn’t get anything more, which was a shame.
Then again, I’m sure that’s deliberate and Kirkman will return at some point to tell Negan’s story in full. Because even if Volume 32 is “the end”, it’s really only the end of this story arc. Let’s be real: the series is way too popular and profitable to never revisit again. I’m sure in five or ten years when Kirkman’s got more ideas, or HBO’s demanding more stories for a new TV show because nostalgia SELLS, he and Charlie Adlard will be back for more. Particularly as there are so many possibilities to explore. Besides Negan’s story they could tell the story of what happened in the interval between, or what happened in other areas of the world during this time, or even jump ahead of the time jump and see what the world beyond the new old west looks like.
Rest in peace? Bitch, please. This is comics – nobody ever stays deaded, not least a series about the undead!
January 10, 2024
Wow, 13 years later and a fairly clean, closed ending. This was an excellent episode and nearly the perfect close to this extraordinary run for Kirkman and Adelard. Almost anything I could say about the plot would be a spoiler, so let me just summarize by saying that there are great payoffs to reading the comic book series end to end. There is lots of gore, but also lots of humanity (good and bad), but overall it is, unbelievably enough, a hopeful saga.
Bravo to the team behind The Walking Dead!
Bravo to the team behind The Walking Dead!
November 5, 2019
UPDATE 11/5/2019: This is my write in selection for the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards in the category of Graphic Novels & Comics.
That’s it . . . it’s over!
The afterward to this volume mentions that there was not a lot of fanfare leading up to the final volume and that was the way the author wanted it. He figured if there was an announcement that issue 193 would be the last there would be a lot of expectation leading up to it. Instead it went out quietly – and, I must admit, I was surprised after this volume was released to discover that it was the last one.
It was definitely time for the series to end. As much as I have loved the journey along the way, it has felt for a long time like things needed to wrap up. Some of the storylines felt repetitive. Some of the character tropes were getting a bit stale. I didn’t want to have what was a great series meander off into mediocrity.
I am pleased to say that this volume did a great job wrapping things up. The ending was not necessarily happy. Not all loose ends were necessarily tied up. But, I feel like there was a satisfactory wrap up for fans of the series along with enough hints of places where things are still not perfect to leave the reader imagining what the future could possibly hold; a story that leaves a little for the reader to think on is a great story!
The art throughout the series has remained steady. The first few issues were a different artist, but over 90% has been the same and I have enjoyed all the artwork along the way. The fact that it was black and white for every issue has been awesome. While I do enjoy when graphic novels are in color, I think that black and white is my favorite.
Time for the dead to shamble on to other stories and other graphic novels. Their time here is done and it has been a great ride from start to finish. Congratulations to Robert Kirkman and all others involved in this journey – may they all have many more successes in the future!
That’s it . . . it’s over!
The afterward to this volume mentions that there was not a lot of fanfare leading up to the final volume and that was the way the author wanted it. He figured if there was an announcement that issue 193 would be the last there would be a lot of expectation leading up to it. Instead it went out quietly – and, I must admit, I was surprised after this volume was released to discover that it was the last one.
It was definitely time for the series to end. As much as I have loved the journey along the way, it has felt for a long time like things needed to wrap up. Some of the storylines felt repetitive. Some of the character tropes were getting a bit stale. I didn’t want to have what was a great series meander off into mediocrity.
I am pleased to say that this volume did a great job wrapping things up. The ending was not necessarily happy. Not all loose ends were necessarily tied up. But, I feel like there was a satisfactory wrap up for fans of the series along with enough hints of places where things are still not perfect to leave the reader imagining what the future could possibly hold; a story that leaves a little for the reader to think on is a great story!
The art throughout the series has remained steady. The first few issues were a different artist, but over 90% has been the same and I have enjoyed all the artwork along the way. The fact that it was black and white for every issue has been awesome. While I do enjoy when graphic novels are in color, I think that black and white is my favorite.
Time for the dead to shamble on to other stories and other graphic novels. Their time here is done and it has been a great ride from start to finish. Congratulations to Robert Kirkman and all others involved in this journey – may they all have many more successes in the future!
December 15, 2025
A civil war within the Commonwealth, well that sounds interesting. So far the wars were always outside from each fraction but now inside the own system? That sounds actually promising. It's like a revolution!
Lets liberate the people of the Commonwealth. Rick always the leader, Rick always the best!
Rick's end speech is inspiring and so hopeful. Missed these encouraging speeches from him. It's one of the reasons why the ending was satisfying to me in some way.
The way Carl said ‘Ta-Ta’ immediately reminded me of Negan. Seems like they're more similar than I thought when raged.
The ending of the television series and the comic series is totally different. I thought it would end with a solely leader but now it's completely different and I think I liked the comic ending even more. Was definitely more sad, but also more inspiring and hopeful. It made me wonder if one truly can built a civilisation like that without any downsides. There are probably some, but they are probably also outweighed. If this balance actually works I would like to experience it one day too. Just to know how it feels like.
I felt a bit detached from the characters compared to the television series. Perhaps the main factor for that is the fact that I already know all the plot lines and so the characters might seem less interesting too, but I don't really think that this is the true reason behind that. I complained a lot about certain decisions that were made in the comics but not enforced in the television series (thankfully). An example for that is that Rick lost his arm or how Shane was killed off so early. These seamlessly small details can ruin and/or alter whole relationships completely. I wish I could have felt connected to the characters as much as I was to the story line. With that being said, I don't plan to re-read this. It wasn't completely bad, but it wasn't as good as initially hoped for it to be. It's a mix of disappointments but also positive surprises.
StoryGraph review
Lets liberate the people of the Commonwealth. Rick always the leader, Rick always the best!
Lead these people the way you lead your people.
Rick's end speech is inspiring and so hopeful. Missed these encouraging speeches from him. It's one of the reasons why the ending was satisfying to me in some way.
I can see our future ahead of us and it is bright. We no longer live surrounded by the dead. We're not among them; Not living on borrowed time. We do not live minute to minute, in minutes stolen from the dead. We can be happy. We can be content. We can have peace. We can live again. We are not the walking dead!
The way Carl said ‘Ta-Ta’ immediately reminded me of Negan. Seems like they're more similar than I thought when raged.
The ending of the television series and the comic series is totally different. I thought it would end with a solely leader but now it's completely different and I think I liked the comic ending even more. Was definitely more sad, but also more inspiring and hopeful. It made me wonder if one truly can built a civilisation like that without any downsides. There are probably some, but they are probably also outweighed. If this balance actually works I would like to experience it one day too. Just to know how it feels like.
I felt a bit detached from the characters compared to the television series. Perhaps the main factor for that is the fact that I already know all the plot lines and so the characters might seem less interesting too, but I don't really think that this is the true reason behind that. I complained a lot about certain decisions that were made in the comics but not enforced in the television series (thankfully). An example for that is that Rick lost his arm or how Shane was killed off so early. These seamlessly small details can ruin and/or alter whole relationships completely. I wish I could have felt connected to the characters as much as I was to the story line. With that being said, I don't plan to re-read this. It wasn't completely bad, but it wasn't as good as initially hoped for it to be. It's a mix of disappointments but also positive surprises.
StoryGraph review
September 3, 2019
Wow, it's done. Finito. Kirkman had one last surprise for us, ending the series without telling anyone. Even going so far as to create fake solicitations in Previews. I thought he'd ride that money train to the end of the line. But even Kirkman saw it was time to end the series.
I like how Kirkman ends the Commonwealth storyline. Not with violence, but with reason. The series has been a diatribe about modern society for a long time. So Rick puts his money where his mouth is and talks everyone into resolving their disputes with the Commonwealth without war. I think anyone reading this story from the beginning knew how it would end and that's exactly what happens. I did enjoy the epilogue, several years later. We get to see how all our friends turned out. Yes, I've been following these characters for 193 issues, they are certainly my friends at this point. Thanks to Kirkman, Adlard and the rest of the creative team for entertaining me for the last 16 years.
I like how Kirkman ends the Commonwealth storyline. Not with violence, but with reason. The series has been a diatribe about modern society for a long time. So Rick puts his money where his mouth is and talks everyone into resolving their disputes with the Commonwealth without war. I think anyone reading this story from the beginning knew how it would end and that's exactly what happens. I did enjoy the epilogue, several years later. We get to see how all our friends turned out. Yes, I've been following these characters for 193 issues, they are certainly my friends at this point. Thanks to Kirkman, Adlard and the rest of the creative team for entertaining me for the last 16 years.
May 26, 2021
This is the last installment of the long running series. In this one, things are about to explode both literally and figuratively at the Commonwealth and once again Rick is in the middle of things.
My rating is probably a little high and it probably has to do with sentimentality. That being said I did think they stuck the landing. It wasn't perfect but what finale actually is. The story with the Commonwealth wasn't my favorite and I was glad to see that it wasn't a repeat of other story lines. It was nice to see that these writers do have other resolutions that they can imagine. With the conclusion of this plot we get the shocking twist that made me gasp. I would have never imagined that event happening in the fashion that it did. After this plot is finished we have one more issue where we have a time jump. I thought this issue was perfect and a fantastic way to end this series. I liked seeing how the characters fare in the future and who ends with who. The Walking Dead has always been an allegory of society and I loved how it continues that trend in the very last issue. I thought the artwork was strong too as we see Carl as an adult and you can see him having Rick's genes. It was a nice touch.
This is the end and it was far from perfect. That being said it did give me "the feels" and is probably the reason why I rated this high. I can see why some readers will not like the ending but I thought it was an amazing sendoff to a series about characters surviving and living in the zombie apocalypse. Zombies will never truly go away but life does go on.
My rating is probably a little high and it probably has to do with sentimentality. That being said I did think they stuck the landing. It wasn't perfect but what finale actually is. The story with the Commonwealth wasn't my favorite and I was glad to see that it wasn't a repeat of other story lines. It was nice to see that these writers do have other resolutions that they can imagine. With the conclusion of this plot we get the shocking twist that made me gasp. I would have never imagined that event happening in the fashion that it did. After this plot is finished we have one more issue where we have a time jump. I thought this issue was perfect and a fantastic way to end this series. I liked seeing how the characters fare in the future and who ends with who. The Walking Dead has always been an allegory of society and I loved how it continues that trend in the very last issue. I thought the artwork was strong too as we see Carl as an adult and you can see him having Rick's genes. It was a nice touch.
This is the end and it was far from perfect. That being said it did give me "the feels" and is probably the reason why I rated this high. I can see why some readers will not like the ending but I thought it was an amazing sendoff to a series about characters surviving and living in the zombie apocalypse. Zombies will never truly go away but life does go on.
October 22, 2021
Honestly... it sucked, the ending I mean, in fact, the entire Commonwealth storyline was extremely uninspired and anti-climatic, Kirkman clearly pulled the plug sooner than he had initially planned to.
Everyone was acting way out of character, and I really didn't want to see more of these routine character kills and far-fetched conflicts in the last volume, let alone a whole new debate on social inequality and power abuse, and what's with that final story, Carl Grimes ending up on trial for killing a zombie in self-defense, really? That doesn't make sense whatsoever.
Here's how I would have end it... I would have reduced these last three books into one, the gang meet the Commonwealth, they become part of the Western Alliance, the end, they had enough, next couple of pages we see the characters twenty years in the future as hardened survivors, celebrating the day of Rick Grimes or something, building modern society.
This last storyline felt forced and unnecessary and gave me no feeling of closure whatsoever, if everyone ended up dead or lived up to become a douchebag, why should I care?
Everyone was acting way out of character, and I really didn't want to see more of these routine character kills and far-fetched conflicts in the last volume, let alone a whole new debate on social inequality and power abuse, and what's with that final story, Carl Grimes ending up on trial for killing a zombie in self-defense, really? That doesn't make sense whatsoever.
Here's how I would have end it... I would have reduced these last three books into one, the gang meet the Commonwealth, they become part of the Western Alliance, the end, they had enough, next couple of pages we see the characters twenty years in the future as hardened survivors, celebrating the day of Rick Grimes or something, building modern society.
This last storyline felt forced and unnecessary and gave me no feeling of closure whatsoever, if everyone ended up dead or lived up to become a douchebag, why should I care?
December 17, 2019
Maybe more a four stars read, but I just loved how Kirkman ended the Commonwealth storyline and the comic-book series that I most enjoyed reading in the last 15 years, with its characters adapting to the apocalypse and learning or not from their errors, with great development and lots of sometimes very brutal demises.
Last one was not unexpected at all, but still made me cry, and that epilogue was just fitting and a perfect ending for me.
It was a great ride and I loved almost every moment of it. Just one of best comics ever.
October 10, 2019
After 15 years of reading, this is not an ending I can love, but it is all certainly fitting. The cast has become too sprawling to give everyone a decent send-off, so the focus of the final chapters has to be Rick and Carl...and has anyone ever really liked Carl enough to want him to be the focus of anything?
I really appreciated Kirkman sharing the warts and all rationalization of ending the series at this point in his afterword.
I really appreciated Kirkman sharing the warts and all rationalization of ending the series at this point in his afterword.
September 3, 2019
What a great ending to one of the best comic series ever. As much as I want the series to keep going, it ends at a great point. It's such a disappointment how far the show has fallen while the comic remained so entertaining. Long live Rick Grimes.
November 4, 2019
5 Stars
No need to explain.... *cries*
No need to explain.... *cries*
May 29, 2024
I got the ending that I've been hoping for over years of emotional attachment to these characters. This volume brought the tears, and as always, the shocks and anxiety. Thank you, Mr. Kirkman.
September 3, 2019
Wow.
that is all I can say without spoiling everything.
These are true spoilers. Do not read them if you have not finished this vol.
that is all I can say without spoiling everything.
These are true spoilers. Do not read them if you have not finished this vol.
September 23, 2019
This is it, folks. It's the end of The Walking Dead -- at least, it's the end of the comic series. It's a pretty safe bet that the TV series will continue on for years... or even decades.
Rest in Peace is a fitting, satisfying ending to a series that has had ups and down over the years. Despite being unable to avoid spoilers for the biggest event here , I hadn't been spoiled about how and why it unfolded. Did I shed a tear? Maybe so.
I also wasn't prepared for the volume to conclude as it did, and found it really touching. And while I'm sad that this is the end, I can't complain about how the story wrapped up.
Rest in Peace is a fitting, satisfying ending to a series that has had ups and down over the years. Despite being unable to avoid spoilers for the biggest event here , I hadn't been spoiled about how and why it unfolded. Did I shed a tear? Maybe so.
I also wasn't prepared for the volume to conclude as it did, and found it really touching. And while I'm sad that this is the end, I can't complain about how the story wrapped up.
August 17, 2019
I know a lot of people like to spend their time complaining when a series doesn't end they way they think it should, but I'm usually not one of those people. Don't get me wrong, if an ending is obviously phoned in or just makes no sense on what's come before, I can understand a sense of frustration. But just like real life, stories don't always end "the right way." While there were things I didn't like about this ending, I would put it in the "good ending" column.
I hate the idea that Negan outlived Rick. Just seems wrong, but when they let Negan live I never agreed with anything Negan related after that anyway. As far as how Rick died, I think we'd have liked to see him sacrifice himself in a big battle and save the world again rather than die in bed killed by a snot nosed little brat. But then again, I don't think any of us wanted to see Rick die in ANY way, so whatever. Speaking of snot nosed little brats, I wasn't happy with how Maggie's son Hershel turned out, but once again, things don't always turn out the way we'd like. I wasn't real happy with how Maggie herself turned out either, but, well, you know.
I did like that final ending with a flash forward of the future though, as this was as close to a happy ending we were gonna get in such a bleak themed book. I mean, let's be honest, if the ending had been TOO happy people would have been even more upset.
So overall I think The Walking Dead was a very good comic series, even if we can all find our own flaws in it. Sadly to me the TV show has really taken a nose dive with the past couple of seasons, so I hope it finds its way back soon.
Now, if this is REALLY the end of the Walking Dead in comic form, I'll be surprised. I'm fairly certain Robert Kirman is the only writer to ever write an issue of the comic, and I'm sure there are tons of comic writers out there that have stories to tell. Maybe we can see an anthology series showcasing different characters at different points in time. Or maybe not. Either way, I'm pretty happy with what we have.
Rick Grimes, and The Walking Dead comic, R.I.P.
I hate the idea that Negan outlived Rick. Just seems wrong, but when they let Negan live I never agreed with anything Negan related after that anyway. As far as how Rick died, I think we'd have liked to see him sacrifice himself in a big battle and save the world again rather than die in bed killed by a snot nosed little brat. But then again, I don't think any of us wanted to see Rick die in ANY way, so whatever. Speaking of snot nosed little brats, I wasn't happy with how Maggie's son Hershel turned out, but once again, things don't always turn out the way we'd like. I wasn't real happy with how Maggie herself turned out either, but, well, you know.
I did like that final ending with a flash forward of the future though, as this was as close to a happy ending we were gonna get in such a bleak themed book. I mean, let's be honest, if the ending had been TOO happy people would have been even more upset.
So overall I think The Walking Dead was a very good comic series, even if we can all find our own flaws in it. Sadly to me the TV show has really taken a nose dive with the past couple of seasons, so I hope it finds its way back soon.
Now, if this is REALLY the end of the Walking Dead in comic form, I'll be surprised. I'm fairly certain Robert Kirman is the only writer to ever write an issue of the comic, and I'm sure there are tons of comic writers out there that have stories to tell. Maybe we can see an anthology series showcasing different characters at different points in time. Or maybe not. Either way, I'm pretty happy with what we have.
Rick Grimes, and The Walking Dead comic, R.I.P.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2019
And there you have it. The end of an era. 15 years, 193 issues later, and The Walking Dead is over.
Is it a good ending? I'd argue that it is, yeah. It feels like the end of the story, and the majority of everything we needed to know is answered in the epic-sized final issue. The story of The Walking Dead, the story of Rick Grimes, is over, and it definitely feels like the right place to end. The final issue itself deserves five stars alone, as an issue and as an ending.
The thing I take issue with more is the abruptness of it. The massive time jump between the penultimate and final issues feels like there were more stories to tell here. I do like how the story of the Commonwealth finally ended, in a pretty unexpected way for TWD, but I'm not sure if just cutting it so cleanly and then jumping forward was the right move.
The Walking Dead as a phenomenon will live on long after the series is over, but for now, it's time to say goodbye to this incarnation of these characters.
Is it a good ending? I'd argue that it is, yeah. It feels like the end of the story, and the majority of everything we needed to know is answered in the epic-sized final issue. The story of The Walking Dead, the story of Rick Grimes, is over, and it definitely feels like the right place to end. The final issue itself deserves five stars alone, as an issue and as an ending.
The thing I take issue with more is the abruptness of it. The massive time jump between the penultimate and final issues feels like there were more stories to tell here. I do like how the story of the Commonwealth finally ended, in a pretty unexpected way for TWD, but I'm not sure if just cutting it so cleanly and then jumping forward was the right move.
The Walking Dead as a phenomenon will live on long after the series is over, but for now, it's time to say goodbye to this incarnation of these characters.
August 25, 2019
Well I’m glad it’s done. I’ve felt for a while that the series was stagnating and going round in circles.
I’m not going to say too much as I don’t want to spoil things but I enjoyed the ending which is even sweeter as I know the tv show can never end in the same way (so that’ll be another surprise)!
I’m not going to say too much as I don’t want to spoil things but I enjoyed the ending which is even sweeter as I know the tv show can never end in the same way (so that’ll be another surprise)!
September 1, 2019
Surprise! Kirkman unexpectedly brought TWD to a close in this volume after fifteen years of zombie madness! *Spoilers ahead*
I had enjoyed the story arc in the last few volumes of Rick and compony meeting survivors of the Commonwealth in Ohio that was 50K strong, led by a governor, Pamela. This large group has based their new society on a class system built upon what you did before the outbreak. While the city seems to be thriving, there is an underlying issue of the haves vs the have nots, and tensions arise as this new group sees how Alexandria residents are governed. As we moved away from the zombie outbreak there were fewer attacks, thus civilization could rebuild, and this was opening up new storylines but Kirkman was actually drawing the story to a close.
The pressure brewing between the two factions comes to a head, with important members of the Commonwealth, planning a coup when a large zombie herd puts everyone in danger. Maggie, Carl and others join Rick in fighting them back, and in the aftermath, Pamela publicity loses the support of her people. As the Commonwealth stands on the brink of democracy instead of a monarchy, Pamela's son Sebastian is furious at his loss of power and comes after Rick. The fallout of his actions are huge, and the storyline seems poised to go in a new direction. But it was all a fake-out as Kirkman followed up with a concluding issue with a significant time jump.
Twenty plus years have passed since Rick's death at the hands of Sebastian, and the story shows us a grown-up Carl married to Sophia with a daughter of their own. The zombies are almost completely eradicated with a younger generation having no experience of having to fight for their very survival as older generations had to. Carl travels around the territory and we get to peek in at the lives of many of our favorite characters and see how Rick's vision led to a better and safer world for them all. In fact, Rick is viewed as a savior with shrines to his memory.
When this sort of epic story concludes, there is no way to make all fans happy and as such, there were a few quibbles I had with some character's final developments in the future. Negan, Juanita, Michonne, Jesus, Aaron, Eugene plus others are shown with adequate concluding cameos; but Maggie as President was turned into a leader who could not mother her son adequately because of her commitments, which was an ignoble end for her and Hershel. But my major issue was that Carl ended up with Sophia. He was allowed to sex it up with Lydia, while virginal Sophia had to wait for him until he sowed his wild oats. Lydia in the future was shown poorly as a morally questionable woman as she had dared to be sexually active as a teen with Carl. What a double standard for females and I really resented those angles.
Yet, overall, I was pleased with this concluding volume. Fifteen years is an amazing run, and Kirkman brought it to an end on his own terms and on a timetable that allowed him to go out while on top. I also would be remiss in not mentioning the talented artists- Adlard, Gaudiano and Rathburn- who gave us amazing artwork that brought the story to life. Kirkman's concluding message to readers was a treat and explained it from his perspective. I will miss TWD, as it was a groundbreaking story that changed comics forever, but I am glad that it ended on such a strong note.
I had enjoyed the story arc in the last few volumes of Rick and compony meeting survivors of the Commonwealth in Ohio that was 50K strong, led by a governor, Pamela. This large group has based their new society on a class system built upon what you did before the outbreak. While the city seems to be thriving, there is an underlying issue of the haves vs the have nots, and tensions arise as this new group sees how Alexandria residents are governed. As we moved away from the zombie outbreak there were fewer attacks, thus civilization could rebuild, and this was opening up new storylines but Kirkman was actually drawing the story to a close.
The pressure brewing between the two factions comes to a head, with important members of the Commonwealth, planning a coup when a large zombie herd puts everyone in danger. Maggie, Carl and others join Rick in fighting them back, and in the aftermath, Pamela publicity loses the support of her people. As the Commonwealth stands on the brink of democracy instead of a monarchy, Pamela's son Sebastian is furious at his loss of power and comes after Rick. The fallout of his actions are huge, and the storyline seems poised to go in a new direction. But it was all a fake-out as Kirkman followed up with a concluding issue with a significant time jump.
Twenty plus years have passed since Rick's death at the hands of Sebastian, and the story shows us a grown-up Carl married to Sophia with a daughter of their own. The zombies are almost completely eradicated with a younger generation having no experience of having to fight for their very survival as older generations had to. Carl travels around the territory and we get to peek in at the lives of many of our favorite characters and see how Rick's vision led to a better and safer world for them all. In fact, Rick is viewed as a savior with shrines to his memory.
When this sort of epic story concludes, there is no way to make all fans happy and as such, there were a few quibbles I had with some character's final developments in the future. Negan, Juanita, Michonne, Jesus, Aaron, Eugene plus others are shown with adequate concluding cameos; but Maggie as President was turned into a leader who could not mother her son adequately because of her commitments, which was an ignoble end for her and Hershel. But my major issue was that Carl ended up with Sophia. He was allowed to sex it up with Lydia, while virginal Sophia had to wait for him until he sowed his wild oats. Lydia in the future was shown poorly as a morally questionable woman as she had dared to be sexually active as a teen with Carl. What a double standard for females and I really resented those angles.
Yet, overall, I was pleased with this concluding volume. Fifteen years is an amazing run, and Kirkman brought it to an end on his own terms and on a timetable that allowed him to go out while on top. I also would be remiss in not mentioning the talented artists- Adlard, Gaudiano and Rathburn- who gave us amazing artwork that brought the story to life. Kirkman's concluding message to readers was a treat and explained it from his perspective. I will miss TWD, as it was a groundbreaking story that changed comics forever, but I am glad that it ended on such a strong note.
April 25, 2020
Over the years, this soap opera with zombies has both bored and entertained me, but I never once considered quitting the series. I was fairly satisfied with the ending to the tale, and enjoyed that final little personality conflict slipped into the last section of the book. If nothing else, the series serves to remind us that zombies are pussycats . . . the real hell is other (living) people.
July 20, 2024
Want to know how The Walking Dead ends for all time? What the mindblowing alternative ending entailed? Keep reading. If you don't want spoilers, here's your stop!
What a bittersweet feeling. Thirty-two volumes later, and The Walking Dead universe has come to a close. I do, fortunately, have one more standalone volume to read for one of my favorite characters (Here's Negan), but the main story is done. I started reading through these novels before Halloween, so we've been together for a while now. RIP, TWD. RIP. Which is funny because...you know. That's the title of this volume. Almost like Kirkman planned that or something.
Anyways. Definitely do not keep reading if you don't want spoilers. Not just book spoilers. At this point this would spoil the entire show ending for anyone who hasn't read the novels. So continue at your own peril.
.
.
.
And heeere weee go...different fandom.
Governor Milton and Rick address The Commonwealth together and inform them of Dwight's assassination attempt on Milton's life. She gives Rick the credit for saving her life.
Back at the ranch, Magna asks Siddiq to return to The Commonwealth and find out what's holding Rick up for so long.
Princess tells Mercer she's leaving. He asks for an explanation, and she shares the story of her painful life, revealing to him this is why she has a tendency to isolate. Sidenote, I love these two characters. I am so bummed that they didn't happen on the scene so much earlier in the books; they're entertaining to read and intriguing. You root for their success.
Carl gets angsty and dramatic with Lydia; she gets hurt and dramatically leaves the room in angsty fashion.
Laura and Mercer plot in the shadows.
Carl and Lydia kiss and make up in an angsty way.
Siddiq leaves for The Commonwealth with an entourage comprised of Aaron, Jesus, Dante, and Carl. Maggie questions her decision not to go with them.
Mercer tries to secretly rally the troops against the Upperclass. As it so happens, they are being watched and Mercer is arrested.
The group traveling towards The Commonwealth runs into Princess leaving The Commonwealth. A horde of zombies congregates on them, and Princess shows the group a place to hide while a couple members of said group lead the horde away, sending them in another direction.
Laura stirs up dissension in The Commonwealth, feeling out who is sympathetic to Mercer and will help free him from jail.
Eugene and Stephanie are trapped in the train engine by the same horde Siddiq's group inadvertently sent in their direction.
BIG, BAD explosion! Mercer is busted outta jail.
Rick tries to help Milton and her family escape. Her son, Sebastian, continues his role as The Armpit of Humanity throughout this story.
Eugene and Stephanie escape their iron horse prison by throwing an active fire extinguisher into the horde to distract them.
Rick smuggles the Milton family out of The Commonwealth when he bumps into his group arriving, just in the nick of time. After they leave, Mercer tries to convince Rick to take over leadership. Meanwhile, Maggie shows up with a huge militia of people as the horde that has now moved on from Eugene and Stephanie shows up at The Commonwealth as a result of the explosion at the jail.
They draw the horde away from the city.
Rick tries to convince Mercer to talk to Milton once more and convince her to see things differently. He promises that, should Milton choose not to see the light, her choice of being leader will be taken away from her. And BOOM. Milton is there, angry and assuming that Rick was plotting to overthrow her by sending her away from the city and bringing in his own army. Also, she brought an army along with her from Greenville which she now orders to attack. They disregard her orders. Rick gives a sappy speech about FREEEEEEEDOM and Milton is arrested and taken to the jail, ironically by Mercer who was put there by her not so long ago.
Rick later comes to the jail and tells Milton she can go home. He gives a biiiiiit of a cop-out story on how he didn't realize she wouldn't have been arrested and it's probably good that she was thriwn in jail because people were angry and may have attacked her in the open.
That night, Sebastian breaks into Rick's room and shoots him. Deadshot.
That morning, Carl walks into Rick's room and shoots him. Headshot...because he's a zombie.
Sebastian is locked away for life. We get a cathartic scene in which Carl gloats to him and paints a picture of the misery he will deal with for the rest of his life. Mic drop. Carl walks away.
Rick's body is taken back to Alexandria accompanied by a huge group of people, going to pay their respects at his burial. Carl breaks down to Michonne on the way back.
The timeline jumps ahead years down the road. A much older Carl kills a zombie in his front yard, a farm house he lives in with his young, school-aged daughter (Andrea) and his wife...Sophia. Didn't see that one coming! By the couples' response, the reader can see that it's all but unheard of for anyone to see a zombie anymore. Turns out Hershel, Maggie's son, has a traveling freak show where he displays zombies for people to look at who have never had to deal with them in their own natural habitat.
Carl is put on trial for destroying personal property (aka- Hershel's zombie). Maggie waltzes into the courtroom during the hearing and interferes. That is to say, Carl has to go find Hershel a replacement zombie. As it turns out, Hershel has turned into a raging, spoiled brat, and it seems Maggie has a tendency to swoop in and save his 'lil heiny. Oh. Also Maggie's the president or something. No big deal.
Carl says screw all of you and your little zombies, too, and kills Hershel's traveling freak show on his way out of town. Turns out, Carl's business is Zombie Apocolypse Pony Express. He travels across the eastern part of the country and connects major areas, delivering news and equipment, bringing back needed items. He meets up with Lydia and they make the trip together.
Some notable points of interest: they drop off food at a house we learn belongs to Negan. Maybe? No one has seen him in years, but the food always disappears off the porch. They also meet up with someone on the bank of the river where we see a working ferry boat in the background. They get on a train and go west. At the end of the line, they run into Eugene who is overseeing the railroad construction. He tells Carl and Lydia that they are so close to intersecting with another railway coming from the west which will join the ends of the country. Carl runs into Laura, who is working security. Besides looking like she smokes two packs a day and drowns her sorrows in a fifth a night, she disrespects Rick (let's not forget he blew her boyfriend's head off; some bitterness seems to be forgiveable). Not so! Carl responds with anger and tells her everyone owes their lives to the angel that was Rick.
No sooner does Carl get home than he is arrested and wisked off to the high court. He is tried for destruction of private property, but also Hershel is accusing him of putting his life in danger or some such nonsense. Glen would be ashamed of that boy. Carl goes before the Honorable Judge Hawthorne to be tried in High Court. Michonne. Her Honor is Michonne. She outlaws the display of zombies. Badabing-badaboom.
The book closes on Carl reading a children's book to his daughter, Andrea, which tells the story of Rick's life. While he's reading, we see panels of many characters throughout the series and how their lives resolved. Including: Eugene living to see the tracks connect, fresh flowers on Lucille's grave, Aaron and Jesus watching the ferry go by on the river, Princess and Mercer together and happy, Sebastian an old man in a jail cell and his mother outside the cell in a wheelchair, Maggie and Hershel talking, and a statue of Rick in The Commonwealth giving his final rousing speech. Carl tells Andrea that the man in the story is her grandfather, his father, Rick. She says she knows. He tells her every time. And then asks him to read it again.
Fin.
Over the course of the books, I grew especially attached to Jesus, Negan, and Princess. Honorable mentions are Mercer and Book Carl. On the show, I liked Darryl, Negan, and Jesus the most (so far). So it was impressive how well the characters from the books translated to the screen. I'm excited to see if, and how, Princess's character comes to fruition. I will be super bummed if she isn't. Hear me, Show Writers!? Just super bummed. Make this happen! I'm also really curious to see what happens with resolving the show because so many of the key players for the end of the books are dead or MIA in the show right now.
The other thing I really enjoyed in this last volume was Robert Kirkman's note to the reader at the end. The love for his creation and characters is so evident. And he shared some interesting insider information with the readers regarding his original ending he scrapped. Apparently, his plan was to end the series with Rick's speech in Alexandria. The panel would have showed a close-up of his face. And then another close-up of his face, but the consequent pictures would have all pulled back to reveal Rick's face--> Rick's face as a statue--> the statue old and cracked and covered in vines showing we jumped far ahead in time--> the statue a small part of Alexandria, now old and dilapidated with no people in it--> Alexandria surrounded by hordes of zombies, showing the reader that the zombies had won after all and humanity was gone. *scratching record* Wait, WHAT?! I can't get over this. Like...this is boggling my mind and thinking this is both genius, but also we, the fans, would have been livid and burned Kirkman's house down whilst clutching our torches, pearls, and pitchforks. This was definitely the right call on Kirkman's part (to finish on a high note), but dang, man. I'm wounded just thinking about this.
Anyways. This series has been a phenomenally fun read. And even though I stick to my guns that Rick was unnecessarily placed on a savior-like pedestal by everyone around him, and sometimes, things just got a tad soap-opera-y, dang. This was a good time. I'm excited to see how the show resolves now...and feel just slightly smug that I know what will (likely) happen next while the general internet population goes nuts with stress, wondering what happens to their favorite characters.
But then again, with the massive diversions from the novels, maybe I'm still as out of the loop as everyone.
I'd rate this book an R for swearing, violence and gore, and other adult themes.
Original review posted March 24, 2020.
What a bittersweet feeling. Thirty-two volumes later, and The Walking Dead universe has come to a close. I do, fortunately, have one more standalone volume to read for one of my favorite characters (Here's Negan), but the main story is done. I started reading through these novels before Halloween, so we've been together for a while now. RIP, TWD. RIP. Which is funny because...you know. That's the title of this volume. Almost like Kirkman planned that or something.
Anyways. Definitely do not keep reading if you don't want spoilers. Not just book spoilers. At this point this would spoil the entire show ending for anyone who hasn't read the novels. So continue at your own peril.
.
.
.
And heeere weee go...different fandom.
Governor Milton and Rick address The Commonwealth together and inform them of Dwight's assassination attempt on Milton's life. She gives Rick the credit for saving her life.
Back at the ranch, Magna asks Siddiq to return to The Commonwealth and find out what's holding Rick up for so long.
Princess tells Mercer she's leaving. He asks for an explanation, and she shares the story of her painful life, revealing to him this is why she has a tendency to isolate. Sidenote, I love these two characters. I am so bummed that they didn't happen on the scene so much earlier in the books; they're entertaining to read and intriguing. You root for their success.
Carl gets angsty and dramatic with Lydia; she gets hurt and dramatically leaves the room in angsty fashion.
Laura and Mercer plot in the shadows.
Carl and Lydia kiss and make up in an angsty way.
Siddiq leaves for The Commonwealth with an entourage comprised of Aaron, Jesus, Dante, and Carl. Maggie questions her decision not to go with them.
Mercer tries to secretly rally the troops against the Upperclass. As it so happens, they are being watched and Mercer is arrested.
The group traveling towards The Commonwealth runs into Princess leaving The Commonwealth. A horde of zombies congregates on them, and Princess shows the group a place to hide while a couple members of said group lead the horde away, sending them in another direction.
Laura stirs up dissension in The Commonwealth, feeling out who is sympathetic to Mercer and will help free him from jail.
Eugene and Stephanie are trapped in the train engine by the same horde Siddiq's group inadvertently sent in their direction.
BIG, BAD explosion! Mercer is busted outta jail.
Rick tries to help Milton and her family escape. Her son, Sebastian, continues his role as The Armpit of Humanity throughout this story.
Eugene and Stephanie escape their iron horse prison by throwing an active fire extinguisher into the horde to distract them.
Rick smuggles the Milton family out of The Commonwealth when he bumps into his group arriving, just in the nick of time. After they leave, Mercer tries to convince Rick to take over leadership. Meanwhile, Maggie shows up with a huge militia of people as the horde that has now moved on from Eugene and Stephanie shows up at The Commonwealth as a result of the explosion at the jail.
They draw the horde away from the city.
Rick tries to convince Mercer to talk to Milton once more and convince her to see things differently. He promises that, should Milton choose not to see the light, her choice of being leader will be taken away from her. And BOOM. Milton is there, angry and assuming that Rick was plotting to overthrow her by sending her away from the city and bringing in his own army. Also, she brought an army along with her from Greenville which she now orders to attack. They disregard her orders. Rick gives a sappy speech about FREEEEEEEDOM and Milton is arrested and taken to the jail, ironically by Mercer who was put there by her not so long ago.
Rick later comes to the jail and tells Milton she can go home. He gives a biiiiiit of a cop-out story on how he didn't realize she wouldn't have been arrested and it's probably good that she was thriwn in jail because people were angry and may have attacked her in the open.
That night, Sebastian breaks into Rick's room and shoots him. Deadshot.
That morning, Carl walks into Rick's room and shoots him. Headshot...because he's a zombie.
Sebastian is locked away for life. We get a cathartic scene in which Carl gloats to him and paints a picture of the misery he will deal with for the rest of his life. Mic drop. Carl walks away.
Rick's body is taken back to Alexandria accompanied by a huge group of people, going to pay their respects at his burial. Carl breaks down to Michonne on the way back.
The timeline jumps ahead years down the road. A much older Carl kills a zombie in his front yard, a farm house he lives in with his young, school-aged daughter (Andrea) and his wife...Sophia. Didn't see that one coming! By the couples' response, the reader can see that it's all but unheard of for anyone to see a zombie anymore. Turns out Hershel, Maggie's son, has a traveling freak show where he displays zombies for people to look at who have never had to deal with them in their own natural habitat.
Carl is put on trial for destroying personal property (aka- Hershel's zombie). Maggie waltzes into the courtroom during the hearing and interferes. That is to say, Carl has to go find Hershel a replacement zombie. As it turns out, Hershel has turned into a raging, spoiled brat, and it seems Maggie has a tendency to swoop in and save his 'lil heiny. Oh. Also Maggie's the president or something. No big deal.
Carl says screw all of you and your little zombies, too, and kills Hershel's traveling freak show on his way out of town. Turns out, Carl's business is Zombie Apocolypse Pony Express. He travels across the eastern part of the country and connects major areas, delivering news and equipment, bringing back needed items. He meets up with Lydia and they make the trip together.
Some notable points of interest: they drop off food at a house we learn belongs to Negan. Maybe? No one has seen him in years, but the food always disappears off the porch. They also meet up with someone on the bank of the river where we see a working ferry boat in the background. They get on a train and go west. At the end of the line, they run into Eugene who is overseeing the railroad construction. He tells Carl and Lydia that they are so close to intersecting with another railway coming from the west which will join the ends of the country. Carl runs into Laura, who is working security. Besides looking like she smokes two packs a day and drowns her sorrows in a fifth a night, she disrespects Rick (let's not forget he blew her boyfriend's head off; some bitterness seems to be forgiveable). Not so! Carl responds with anger and tells her everyone owes their lives to the angel that was Rick.
No sooner does Carl get home than he is arrested and wisked off to the high court. He is tried for destruction of private property, but also Hershel is accusing him of putting his life in danger or some such nonsense. Glen would be ashamed of that boy. Carl goes before the Honorable Judge Hawthorne to be tried in High Court. Michonne. Her Honor is Michonne. She outlaws the display of zombies. Badabing-badaboom.
The book closes on Carl reading a children's book to his daughter, Andrea, which tells the story of Rick's life. While he's reading, we see panels of many characters throughout the series and how their lives resolved. Including: Eugene living to see the tracks connect, fresh flowers on Lucille's grave, Aaron and Jesus watching the ferry go by on the river, Princess and Mercer together and happy, Sebastian an old man in a jail cell and his mother outside the cell in a wheelchair, Maggie and Hershel talking, and a statue of Rick in The Commonwealth giving his final rousing speech. Carl tells Andrea that the man in the story is her grandfather, his father, Rick. She says she knows. He tells her every time. And then asks him to read it again.
Fin.
Over the course of the books, I grew especially attached to Jesus, Negan, and Princess. Honorable mentions are Mercer and Book Carl. On the show, I liked Darryl, Negan, and Jesus the most (so far). So it was impressive how well the characters from the books translated to the screen. I'm excited to see if, and how, Princess's character comes to fruition. I will be super bummed if she isn't. Hear me, Show Writers!? Just super bummed. Make this happen! I'm also really curious to see what happens with resolving the show because so many of the key players for the end of the books are dead or MIA in the show right now.
The other thing I really enjoyed in this last volume was Robert Kirkman's note to the reader at the end. The love for his creation and characters is so evident. And he shared some interesting insider information with the readers regarding his original ending he scrapped. Apparently, his plan was to end the series with Rick's speech in Alexandria. The panel would have showed a close-up of his face. And then another close-up of his face, but the consequent pictures would have all pulled back to reveal Rick's face--> Rick's face as a statue--> the statue old and cracked and covered in vines showing we jumped far ahead in time--> the statue a small part of Alexandria, now old and dilapidated with no people in it--> Alexandria surrounded by hordes of zombies, showing the reader that the zombies had won after all and humanity was gone. *scratching record* Wait, WHAT?! I can't get over this. Like...this is boggling my mind and thinking this is both genius, but also we, the fans, would have been livid and burned Kirkman's house down whilst clutching our torches, pearls, and pitchforks. This was definitely the right call on Kirkman's part (to finish on a high note), but dang, man. I'm wounded just thinking about this.
Anyways. This series has been a phenomenally fun read. And even though I stick to my guns that Rick was unnecessarily placed on a savior-like pedestal by everyone around him, and sometimes, things just got a tad soap-opera-y, dang. This was a good time. I'm excited to see how the show resolves now...and feel just slightly smug that I know what will (likely) happen next while the general internet population goes nuts with stress, wondering what happens to their favorite characters.
But then again, with the massive diversions from the novels, maybe I'm still as out of the loop as everyone.
I'd rate this book an R for swearing, violence and gore, and other adult themes.
Original review posted March 24, 2020.
March 12, 2021
actual rating: 4.5/5 stars
I actually can't believe it's all over and there are no more issues after this one and i feel like i'm still in that shock period of this walking dead series being over.
There was so much that happened in this last issue and rightfully so as it's the final one in the entire series and i'm glad that we got to see the group one last time. Rick is trying to stop the high tensions that have arisen in the commonwealth and i feel like there could have been such a bigger battle but i'm glad that it didn't get as big as i thought it was going to.
I was kind of expecting something to happen to Rick in this issue after all this time but i was still shocked with how it happened and i would have rather him go down fighting rather than how it did happen but it still made and impact on me.
I loved the epilogue and how much detail Robert went into with each character and how they were moving on from the events of passed comics. The remaining group all got a happy ending after all the battles and deaths they all deserve to finally relax and not have to fight anymore.
I'm sad the comic books have come to an end and that there however i still have the television show that is still currently on until it ends next year.
I actually can't believe it's all over and there are no more issues after this one and i feel like i'm still in that shock period of this walking dead series being over.
There was so much that happened in this last issue and rightfully so as it's the final one in the entire series and i'm glad that we got to see the group one last time. Rick is trying to stop the high tensions that have arisen in the commonwealth and i feel like there could have been such a bigger battle but i'm glad that it didn't get as big as i thought it was going to.
I was kind of expecting something to happen to Rick in this issue after all this time but i was still shocked with how it happened and i would have rather him go down fighting rather than how it did happen but it still made and impact on me.
I loved the epilogue and how much detail Robert went into with each character and how they were moving on from the events of passed comics. The remaining group all got a happy ending after all the battles and deaths they all deserve to finally relax and not have to fight anymore.
I'm sad the comic books have come to an end and that there however i still have the television show that is still currently on until it ends next year.
October 24, 2019
Bullet Review:
I first started reading The Walking Dead back in 2013; I wanted to see what everyone was talking about with Darryl Dixon (not knowing that he was in the TV series only and never appears in the comics). So I bought the hefty Volume 1 compendium and started the journey; I would bring that brick to work and that lead me to befriend a fellow comic book (and TWD) fan, who then shared his comics with me to keep up with the myriad of storylines.
This series has been crazy; it's done things (killing Lori and the baby is the one I always think about) that many other series would shy away from. It's been gory and visceral and emotional - and also incredibly bloated and full of itself and stupid. So many of my favorite characters have died (RIP Tyrone and Abraham) and I've wanted to stab Rick and his slimy kid, Carl, more times than I'd care to admit.
So why 4 stars? Well, to be honest, this volume really doesn't deserve it. The series honestly has been treading water the last few volumes. I can see what Kirkman means about running out of ideas - I said that a few volumes ago, before (I believe) I had heard that this series had ended. I am glad that Kirkman didn't succumb to the dollar signs and had the decency to pull the plug now instead of draining the entire life out of the zombie franchise (hurr hurrrrr).
That said, there are so many amazing memories and feelings to be had finally reading the final volume of this long-standing series. I'm half robot these days, but my heart strings were tugged and pulled at The Death. It was touching to see how things turned out in the end - I am glad at the happy ending, to see our remaining favorites standing strong at rebuilding society. Let's face it - I'm giving it 4 stars for the nostalgia.
For the last 6 years, TWD has been a routine part of my comic reading; it's going to be sad not to look forward to the latest crazy antics from Rick "Marty Stu" Grimes (as much as I at times despised the man) and his merry band of sycophants. But I am pleased with this ending in all honesty; hell, I never thought I would say this, but I may even have to reread this series at one point.
I first started reading The Walking Dead back in 2013; I wanted to see what everyone was talking about with Darryl Dixon (not knowing that he was in the TV series only and never appears in the comics). So I bought the hefty Volume 1 compendium and started the journey; I would bring that brick to work and that lead me to befriend a fellow comic book (and TWD) fan, who then shared his comics with me to keep up with the myriad of storylines.
This series has been crazy; it's done things (killing Lori and the baby is the one I always think about) that many other series would shy away from. It's been gory and visceral and emotional - and also incredibly bloated and full of itself and stupid. So many of my favorite characters have died (RIP Tyrone and Abraham) and I've wanted to stab Rick and his slimy kid, Carl, more times than I'd care to admit.
So why 4 stars? Well, to be honest, this volume really doesn't deserve it. The series honestly has been treading water the last few volumes. I can see what Kirkman means about running out of ideas - I said that a few volumes ago, before (I believe) I had heard that this series had ended. I am glad that Kirkman didn't succumb to the dollar signs and had the decency to pull the plug now instead of draining the entire life out of the zombie franchise (hurr hurrrrr).
That said, there are so many amazing memories and feelings to be had finally reading the final volume of this long-standing series. I'm half robot these days, but my heart strings were tugged and pulled at The Death. It was touching to see how things turned out in the end - I am glad at the happy ending, to see our remaining favorites standing strong at rebuilding society. Let's face it - I'm giving it 4 stars for the nostalgia.
For the last 6 years, TWD has been a routine part of my comic reading; it's going to be sad not to look forward to the latest crazy antics from Rick "Marty Stu" Grimes (as much as I at times despised the man) and his merry band of sycophants. But I am pleased with this ending in all honesty; hell, I never thought I would say this, but I may even have to reread this series at one point.
September 19, 2019
This is it! The FINAL volume of The Walking Dead. This series is officially OVER! This volume collects issue numbers 187-193 so this one is a bit thicker than previous volumes as it has to squeeze the last of the story in.
Lest time, we saw tensions rising high in the Commonwealth, and the politics and choices of their leadership have been brought into question. Rick and his people step in to try and make peace, but they have seen corrupt power before. Rick will do anything to keep that from happening again. Governor Pamela's son has something else to say about the way Rick is changing things.
Considering this is the last volume, I do not want to say too much on the story as to avoid spoilers, but I must say, I am satisfied with this ending. It's not what I expected, though I'm not sure I had any definite expectation to begin with anyway. How many different endings can there be for a zombie apocalypse? I like how we get a glimpse of the future, of the lives the surviving characters are living, of the way the world turns out in the end. As we know, Negan is my favorite character. There are maybe two panels hinting at him in this entire volume, and I love those two short moments. But the best part is reading the afterward. You get to see some of Kirkman's thoughts as he progressed the series, as well as being left with a simple note: Negan lives! This excites me more than anything because that means there is potential for more. Yes, Negan does have his own short graphic novel called Here's Negan that features more about the character, but this also opens up potential for a short side series about his life after the end of the series. Hey, one can hope.
All in all, I hope you enjoyed reading this series as much as I did and that you love the ending just as much!
Lest time, we saw tensions rising high in the Commonwealth, and the politics and choices of their leadership have been brought into question. Rick and his people step in to try and make peace, but they have seen corrupt power before. Rick will do anything to keep that from happening again. Governor Pamela's son has something else to say about the way Rick is changing things.
Considering this is the last volume, I do not want to say too much on the story as to avoid spoilers, but I must say, I am satisfied with this ending. It's not what I expected, though I'm not sure I had any definite expectation to begin with anyway. How many different endings can there be for a zombie apocalypse? I like how we get a glimpse of the future, of the lives the surviving characters are living, of the way the world turns out in the end. As we know, Negan is my favorite character. There are maybe two panels hinting at him in this entire volume, and I love those two short moments. But the best part is reading the afterward. You get to see some of Kirkman's thoughts as he progressed the series, as well as being left with a simple note: Negan lives! This excites me more than anything because that means there is potential for more. Yes, Negan does have his own short graphic novel called Here's Negan that features more about the character, but this also opens up potential for a short side series about his life after the end of the series. Hey, one can hope.
All in all, I hope you enjoyed reading this series as much as I did and that you love the ending just as much!
August 26, 2019
I absolutely love the Comic book series . At this point in time the TV show is Meh. It's hard to believe that the Series is Finished. It was with a heavy heart that I said goodbye to the Characters. Much Love to Kirkman and the Creators
December 11, 2019
OH MY GOD IT'S FINALLY OVER!!! I had no idea when I got this from the library that it was the LAST volume of the series. I don't exactly have my ear to the ground about such matters, and per the afterword by Kirkman he kept it on the down-low that the series was ending, so I don't feel too oblivious. Rather, I am RELIEVED; I picked this up thinking, "Ugh, another volume, will it ever end?" Yes, it will. Now. It ends now.
There were some decent moments, but the stuttering pacing that has plagued the series persists in the first half of this collection. Aside from one big moment (you will know it if you read it), the whole affair with the Commonwealth was underwhelming. I am not enamored with the post-script either; it failed to give me a warm fuzzy like most such story endings would. It's still a decent ending, but I was ready for it to happen many issues ago.
The art... man, those people look weird, with their too-big eyes.
There were some decent moments, but the stuttering pacing that has plagued the series persists in the first half of this collection. Aside from one big moment (you will know it if you read it), the whole affair with the Commonwealth was underwhelming. I am not enamored with the post-script either; it failed to give me a warm fuzzy like most such story endings would. It's still a decent ending, but I was ready for it to happen many issues ago.
The art... man, those people look weird, with their too-big eyes.
August 18, 2019
Finally the end. A series that have been stretch for too long in my opinion and this one was again mostly the same. I enjoy the last 30-40 pages where we really felt the end and Kirkman did a good job at closing it all and provide an interesting ending.
December 25, 2019
Wow. I have completed TWD, which I've been reading for about a decade. This volume had me feeling all the feelings. I really like the way the story wrapped up. It felt very satisfying and bittersweet in all the right ways.
June 22, 2021
So the volume pretty much opens with a political intrigue as people are rallying against the mayor and forces are conspiring against her and some people behind the scenes to make it happen and we have Rick stopping it ultimately and emerging the hero and it was great to see that. Rick still in that position but then when it all seemed so peaceful, he gets gunned down and what should have been the biggest shocker of the series comes down to being one of the worst and there are no emotional moments by other and finally a story in the future with the way things are and a story about Carl and his daughter and the legend of Rick Grimes. Ummmm.
Yeah the start was good but this was the worst ending possible and what should come off a solid ending and emotional point is just rushed off to being to finish off and its super disappointing but then again I liked the series overall and great moments of survival. Overall okayish series TWD.
Yeah the start was good but this was the worst ending possible and what should come off a solid ending and emotional point is just rushed off to being to finish off and its super disappointing but then again I liked the series overall and great moments of survival. Overall okayish series TWD.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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