Revisit The Walking Dead Issue 100

This was originally posted on my Tumblr back on July 13th, 2012. This will be important to read as context for my upcoming take on The Walking Dead season 6, which should be posted in the next day or so. Interestingly, I didn't read this again until after writing most of the show post. 

Comic of the Week - No Contest

I was always a big fan of Nirvana. One thing Kurt Cobain always talked about in interviews was the “loud quite loud” dynamic in his music which he attributed to the Pixies. Basically, the idea is that by having this dynamic in music, it makes each part stand out and have that much more impact, be it the loud part or the quiet part. The loud makes you listen more closely to the quiet. The quiet lends gravity to the loud. I believe Robert Kirkman has been brilliantly following this dynamic in The Walking Dead and issue 100 was about as loud as it gets.

Sometimes big milestones happen in comics and it turns out to be more hype than anything else. The Walking Dead hit 100 issues this week and it was one of the most tense, gut wrenching, harrowing issues I’ve read of anything in a long, long time (probably since some other issue of The Walking Dead, if I were to really think about it). By now, anyone reading the series knows that it’s not about the zombies or the gore. The horror, the fear, the nauseous feeling you get sometimes when reading this, comes from the humans. And more importantly, it’s as a result of emotional investment in the characters. Just like the events of issue 48 would have had less impact if they happened sooner, the events of issue 100 work because there are 99 issues of build up behind it. In the time this series has existed, people have often complained that nothing was happening for long stretches. But by now, you should be prepared for anything to happen after a long stretch like that. Yes, there’s a formula at play here, but Robert Kirkman uses that formula like a master.

Right off the bat (no pun intended) the issue opens with scenes that imply, somehow, that something horrible is about to go down. Sure, we know this is true because it’s been hyped, but even if we didn’t, and didn’t know that this was a big milestone 100th issue, there is something about the way the scenes are presented that just ooze tension. There’s a threat looming behind each group we see. They are, for the most part, saying they are optimistic about the future, but somehow, you know they’re really not. They feel it and you do, too. Charlie Adlard, through lines on a paper, in black and white, conveys a sense of doubt and apprehension behind the eyes and through posture that rival the best actors. The subtlety is amazing and yet the feeling is impossible to miss, so your stomach starts getting tied into knots as you turn each page. And yet, you’re never really prepared for what happens.

By the time we find out which group is in danger, the scene plays out slowly and horrifically. You know something is going to happen, but you aren’t sure what and once you do know what it is and even to who, you still aren’t sure how much you’re going to see or where it will end. But you see everything, in heartbreaking, agonized detail. And once it’s done, the threat of more stays hanging there. I for one felt just as powerless as the characters I’ve gotten to know for 100 issues. It was like I was right there with them, unable to stop what was happening, witnessing and getting very nauseous. Once I closed the book, I was not entirely sure what to do next. I eventually read the next book in my stack, Batman, and as good as it was, I still couldn’t shake The Walking Dead. I guess that, much like Macho Grande, I’ll never get over The Walking Dead.

Comics - Return to The Walking Dead

I guess I worked myself up into a bit of a thing between listening to the Robert Kirkman episode of WTF and revisiting a comic post from the past. So I started reading The Walking Dead again. I'm a little over a year behind and I'm in no rush to catch up, so I've only read 2 issues so far. I'll probably not read more than two a week and for now, it's just the one series. I'm sure if I'm not careful I'll wind up with a full blown habit again, but for now it's just this one thing. Although, I was looking through some of the indie comics on Comixology and I've already seen a bunch of things I want to check out. At least doing it digitally it means I'm only buying as I read so with time being hard to come by, I won't likely be binging on anything, really.

Ok, I'm back.

Anyway, the last I had read on Walking Dead was the All Out War storyline, so I didn't stop in the middle of anything. And as a matter of fact, it turned out to be a perfect place for a hiatus since the next issue picked up 2 years after the end of the war. The survivors have now built up a sort of civilization and have developed techniques for driving away herds of walkers. The story in the 2 issues so far deals with a new group that they rescue and it's interesting to see the process of developing trust that we've seen repeatedly in the series, only from the other side. It's the newcomers that aren't sure if they should trust these people who have something that appears to good to be true, and therefore probably is And if we know anything about Rick at this point it's that no matter how good his intentions, he can be pretty intense, so seeing him older, slower and seemingly more at ease is suspicious even to me.

Meanwhile, the decision to keep Negan alive and in prison is bound to bite him in the ass. Carl goes to talk to Negan often, and apparently secretly, but still wants to kill him, supposedly. Still there's a certain mentoring going on there. I'm sure he sees some of his dad's old self there. Some of what he admired. I don't know. No matter how peaceful and boring this might seem, with everyone being excited about the success of learning to make bread and all, it's bound to go to shit soon. It always does. And then they rebuild again, stronger, until the next, even greater challenge comes along. So I'm back!

Podcatching: WTF - Robert Kirkman

On the Robert Kirkman episode of Marc Maron's WTF Podcast, Marc talked about being late to the party and it was like listening to myself. He was talking about comics, but it's a mentality I've had for some time. Hipsters are always bragging about being into things "before they were cool." I've been that guy. There's something to be said for that. But I'm also the guy that famously said to a friend once, just a couple of years ago, that I thought I was finally ready to get into Outcast now that the hype had died down. But then again I'm not the type that will like something just because it's cool or just because it's not cool. Not just because I'm old enough to not give a fuck, either. I've always been pretty fine with liking what I like. But still, the whole thing about hype is that it can sometimes ruin a good thing for me if everyone is constantly going on about how great it is or it's something that becomes unavoidable in the mass culture, like Outcast was for a while. So, yeah, Marc talks about how it's better to be late to the party because if it's still going on, then it was probably a good party. Truth.

Kirkman with his agent and manger.

So then Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead comes on and reminds me I haven't been reading the comic in far too long. I need to get back into it. I just have to find the time. I've heard and seen interviews with him before so I know he's funny, humble and amazingly down to earth. This interview demonstrated that in full force. I was surprised to learn that he didn't grow up watching horror movies and really only did so when he was in his 20s, which is what lead to his creating The Walking Dead. I guess I always figured he was a huge horror buff, but now that I think of it, it kind of makes sense, since his approach to explore the humanity more than the "horror" aspects.

But it was really near the end of his interview that it really hit me why these are two guys that every kid that wants to be an artist of any kind needs to listen to. They talked about how Kirkman, when he was struggling to get his career going, would just lay on the ground and shake because he was so deep in debt and had no way to get out. He had made a decision at some point to pursue this dream of being a writer. And yeah, he finally made it and it more than just "worked out" for him. But he also very clearly said that if he had to do it again he probably would not and would just go work in a bank or whatever. That he really truly just got lucky and it didn't have to go that way at all. And Marc seconded that. That message is so refreshing.

They're not walking now!

Our culture is obsessed with romanticizing struggle. We love the myth of the starving artist paying dues and emerging because of perseverance and talent. But the reality is that shit is crazy and for every success story you can think of there are thousands and thousands that were maybe more talented and also never gave up, but still got nowhere. Yet if someone were to stop and go the more conventional way in life, they'd be labeled a quitter or whatever. That's not even remotely fair. Sometimes you just have to know when enough is enough and that choice is up to the individual. There should be no shame in one or glory in the other. The glory for Robert Kirkman isn't that he struggled, it's that he's damn good. It's that he has something to say. Whether he struggled to get there or had it handed to him wouldn't change that one bit. Stop glorifying struggle is all I'm saying. Then again, isn't that what The Walking Dead is all about?  What the fuck. (See what I did there?)

Comic of the Week - Thief of Thieves

Keeping it really short this week, but here goes.

I've always loved heist movies. This is probably common and I think it's because we all like the idea of being able to get away with something and feeling like we're not just smart, but smarter than everyone else. Heist movies let us vicariously do this on a grand scale as we all dream of being the mastermind behind a great scheme. So when I heard Robert Kirkman and Nick Spencer were putting out a book called Thief of Thieves about a master thief, I knew I had to try it. Not only did the book meet my expectations, it completely subverted them as well. The story is about Conrad Paulson, the best thief in the world, and we get all the things we've come to expect from this sort of character and story. He is suave. He is respected. He teaches a novice thief. All of these are standard to the heist genre. And by the end of this first issue, we're thrown a curve ball that I actually did not completely see coming. More than anything, this issue sets up the tone, characters and world so that the next issue can really begin the exploration. The dialogue is right on target with the right amount of snap you'd expect. It would be easy to compare this to the Ocean's films and picture George Clooney delivering some of the lines here, but it's not as if that's the intention. They aren't imitating anything specific. The comic just has a cinematic flow to it. Shawn Martinbrough's art is well choreographed and edited like a good heist film should. The look of this book is as clean and effortless as you'd expect a master thief to be. This looks to be a very promising series.

Comics of the Week - For Better or Worse

Sometimes, I can't be so positive about what I read. Two books this week were not to my liking and I think one is getting cut off my list. But I guess that's balanced out by the fact that most of the other books I read were outstanding.

I'll get the bad out of the way, first. I loved the first couple of issues of Action Comics after the reboot. It really felt to me like Morrison was making Superman relevant by going back to the Golden Age version of the character. It was a down to earth Superman who wasn't the big hero and still learning the ropes. However, the series slowly started getting into areas that were losing me. So the last few issues, I've just been giving them a chance because, well, it's Morrison, and I know you usually have to give him time to cook. But I think I've completely lost interest in the meal at this point. I don't know whether or not I can say this was a bad issue. I'm sure for fans of the Legion this wasn't as convoluted as it seemed to me. It's not even that I had a hard time following what was happening, as much as that I just wasn't engaged enough to care. Although, the concept of having Superman's enemies create a tesseract inside Superman's brain so they can hide where he'd never find them is not only pure Morrison, it's just awesome. But crazy concepts aren't enough to keep me reading, so I think I'm out.

I've sung many praises about Rick Remender on Uncanny X-Force. And I will likely sing many more. But the current arc will likely not be included in those ballads. Interestingly, this arc is also focused on some crazy concepts, this time involving Otherworld, which I guess is an in between dimension in which the Captain Britain Corps police reality? That's the thing. I think the success of the previous issues is that Remender was able to use existing history and ideas without alienating readers who may not be familiar with them. But this time, it's distancing. I know there's a lot of fighting going on, but I'm not entirely sure who's who. Not helping in this case, is the art by Greg Tocchini. I can get behind non-traditional comic art, but maybe because it's combined with a story that isn't working for me, in this case, the art made the story that much harder to follow. It's interesting to read comments on the Internets on this issue because Tocchini's art is clearly a love it or hate it deal. As usual, I can't land on either side of an extreme like or dislike of it, but I do know it's not working for me on this book. What kept me reading, though, was the characterizations by Remender. He knows how to write these characters and that is why I will stick around. They can't all be winners.

A few months ago, I was considering dropping Invincible. Not because it was bad. I just thought maybe I had read all I needed to read about Mark and company. I could always come back to it and catch up in a few years, instead of reading month to month. But then, last month, Kirkman pulled me back in. This issue went further and now I'm hooked all over again. One thing about Kirkman's books is that nothing is ever to be taken for granted. Not in Walking Dead and not in Invincible. The stakes are always high because anything can happen. Hell, he disintegrated Las Vegas a few issues back, with no fanfare. It was just something that happened in an issue. Something like that happens over at DC or Marvel and it's a two year event with 600 issues of everyone's point of view. But anyway, here we have Allen the Alien coming to wipe out the Viltrumites in hiding on Earth with a virus that may or may not kill all the humans as well. The stand off leads to unexpected alliances and a confrontation that leads to a possible deadly fate for Mark. I could've been more vague, I guess. As usual, Ryan Ottley makes all of this seem like it's being born on the page, all by itself, in beautifully intricate lines. I'm not going anywhere, Invincible. How could I?

Some quick hits:

Animal Man brought us an issue that took a break from the main story without coming off like fill in. We get to watch Tights, the independent movie Buddy Baker stared in a few years ago. Well, we get to see most of it before the batteries on Cliff's phone run out. I was sucked into the movie and hope Lemire comes back to it at some point.

The last issue of Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Harman's Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes was right on. It really served to set up and expand on the world and characters of the original movies, right before Taylor crashes back to Earth. I am more than a little excited for their next Apes mini-series and wonder if it will pick up from here or if it will be a new story. In either case, more, please.

I've been enjoying Swamp Thing, but this is by far, the best issue yet. The action was ramped up here and it really feels like we are now in the middle of some high stakes stuff. Snyder does his usual great work with Marco Rudy on art for this issue. As in past issues, I love that the layouts are part of the tone of the story, working like vines and sort of winding into each other.

Comic of the Week - Invincible #79

Invincible has grown up. This was a fun issue that also managed to hold tension before getting heavy at the end. And all along, it made sense. It didn't feel at all like the tone shifted out of nowhere. Rather, it just came accross as real life with ups and downs and truths revealed. I won't say more, since it really wouldn't be fair to spoil anything.

One thing we always get in Invincible is a clear line between actions and consequences. Everything that happens affects something else. And just when you think it was forgotten, it comes back and the consequences are real. It's been that way since issue one and it continues to be that way. It's what makes this series stand out. Nothing is forgotten and nothing is irrelevant. For a book that covers so much ground, that's quite an impressive feat. And as the series goes on, and the characters we met as kids grow up (which is also rare in comics, where nobody ages) the stakes get bigger and bigger in real ways. It's one thing to save the world or the universe itself, but it's the every day, human situations that will break you down.

Manga for the Comics Guy - Gantz Volume 10

When reading a long form story, told by the same author, there's a critical point that will eventually come along that will determine how you really feel about the story and the author himself. At that critical moment, you have to decide whether or not you are invested in the material and, more importantly, whether or not you trust the author. How soon this inevitable moment comes in the story depends on the author's mastery of his material. If it's too early, there may not have been enough time to build the relationship with the reader to suddenly do something that changes the script. However, if you wait too long, you risk having bored the reader with the status quo. Story may be about surprising the reader, but long form storytelling is also about making the reader comfortable. There must be balance that is appropriate to the story.

This volume Gantz was a great test of trust and one that I think is successful. We pick up right where Volume 9 left off, in the middle of the stand off with the alien in the real world. Once Kei kills the alien, things get a little weird. Kei has a new girlfriend, who looks a little young to me, and their relationship gets a little strange. But the strangest part of this volume is that it goes into a whole other story about another kid, seemingly unrelated to the Gantz world. Although, because the trust has been built, I am sure it will all make sense down the line.

This other kid has been bullied (bullied is an understatement, if this is what bullies do in Japan) and attempted to kill himself, when a mysterious stranger reached out to him and taught him how to unlock some strange powers. At this point, I don't know how this will come back to the Gantz story. Eventually, the bullied kid kills his bullies with his new found powers and then we suddenly switch gears again. Now, we are following this bizarre, fighter looking guy who is traveling between different schools asking for the strongest fighters so he can defeat them. Just as you think this is completely out of left field, he arrives at a school where he's told Kei is the strongest fighter. Kei defeats him, thanks to the Gantz suit, and then you get a hint that all is not what it seems.

Interestingly, the issue of trust is reflected in the story itself, which brings me to believe that Hiroya Oku is aware of the fact that he is testing his reader's trust. This makes the whole thing that much better, in that now you have a piece of literature that is commenting on what it's doing as it does it. He's basically acknowledging that he's throwing us for a loop right now, but to hold on and trust him.

So is his girlfriend real? Did anything we saw in the last few chapters actually happen? Is he in the Gantz world? Is the Gantz world re-writing the real world? It's all up in the air and that's a good thing.  Hiroya Oku has my trust, much like Robert Kirkman has it. And out today is Invincible #79, which also happens to be a big turning point. So this will be a good week.

Walking Dead: Anything Can Happen

When a comic makes you shout "Oh shit!!" as you read it, you pretty much have to blog about it. The problem is, I don't want to spoil it and it's almost impossible to talk about it without spoiling it. But I'll try. There will however, be spoilers of things that have happened before this issue, so be warned.

Just when you think nothing more can shock you in this book or that Kirkman is going to stop torturing Rick, you turn a page and any semblance of safety you had goes out the window. Way back, during the prison escape, it was clear that this book was something different. I remember the shock of seeing Rick's wife and baby killed. Up until that point characters had come and gone, but you just didn't expect for the family to be hit. They were the core of the book. But it happened and it wasn't just for shock value. It drove the development of the characters forward. It also took the tension that had already been established and amped it up, because the danger was real and no one was safe. In many ways, that moment leads directly to this issue. It's because of that moment, more than anything, that Rick is so focused on the survival of his son above anything else. He will literally do ANYTHING to ensure that survival. That is reality. So once that idea is driven home, what happens next is at once unexpected (to say the least) and if we trust een Kirkman as a writer who knows what he's doing (he absolutely does), then it's actually what needs to happen. Story is, after all, about conflict. You set up a character and then you challenge that character. Rick has had more than his share of these "challenges," and that's what makes the book move forward. But what makes the book great, beyond just being well crafted storytelling, is that Kirkman is also a master of character. Invincible is the same way. The characters are so clear they are real. You know each one. There's no mistaking who these people are. Their actions are always true. To do that consistently, for 83 issues, while at the same time developing them further, is really genius.