**SPOILER CITY**
so much blood……
What can I say, Robert Kirkman has left an unsettling feeling in my gut and I just want it to be over with already. I mean with all the crap the group has been involved in over the last nine years you would think there would be ice cream cake and unicorns by now. But with a name like The Walking Dead you can expect nothing but pure raw violent storytelling.
At this point Rick has made some unwanted friends and/or enemies that eventually will lead him to a not-so nice man named Negan. Now when Rick and Negan first meet it isn’t on good terms. Rick had killed a bunch of his men and Negan is super pissed. Rick and company have been captured by his men and Negan is seeking revenge for what Rick has done.
At this point every panel just seems like an eternity and you just want to close your eyes and get it over with. Negan is filled with rage with what the gang has done and decides to play a little game of eeny, meeny, miny, moe with everyone to decide who will pay for the gang’s actions. Sadly Glen is the unlucky one. Here is where Negan truly shines; we get to see the pure rage this man is made of. He also introduces us to his best friend Lucille, which is a baseball bat covered in barbwire. All hell breaks loose, Negan literally smashes Glen’s skull in in front of everyone. What is the gut wrenching part is when he starts yelling Maggie’s name while his eye ball is hanging out his socket. When the deed is done we get a very nice splash page of what looks like a giant bowl of spaghetti but in actuality it’s Glens head.
RIP Glen…..
Negan explains to the gang that they will start answering to him. They will work and gather supplies for him when they are told. Rick is put in a sticky situation and we are left to wonder what he will do to get out of it. Weirdly enough I think Negan is a great addition to The Walking Dead mythos. We haven’t seen this type of villain since….well since the Governor days. The Governor was a mad man and I think Negan takes the cake and it’s only his first appearance!
I have always been a fan of Charlie Adlards pencil work since the beginning. Granted some issues felt super rushed and random at times but in this issue he stood out. Then when you add Cliff Rathburn’s grey tone work, it just makes it all the more great. I don’t remember the last time I was grossed out in a comic book issue since I am huge fan of gory movies, but this issue was too far. Maybe since Glen was one of my favorite characters or the whole set up, it’s just stomach turning. I can only wonder where it will go from here…..
Lastly it should be known that this single issue is the best selling comic book of the century, Selling a whopping: 383,612 copies!
Second Printings are in the works as we speak, check out the cover here.
Score 9/10
P.S. Variant covers galore!
Lover of Comic books, film, television, fresca and video games. Check out my blog dweebofthedead.tumblr.com to see what kind of shenanigans I got going on, or check out my twitter for up to date ramblings @dweebofthedead.
Email: chuckie.valdez@geeknewsnetwork.net
