Walking Dead #115-120

So Deanpool is finally starting to read Walking Dead. Keep in mind this is first exposure to the Walkng Dead series. He’s not familiar with any of these characters, alliances, factions, etc. and has ZERO attachment to any of the characters that will be shown. He doesn’t know who’s alive or who has died. If anyone dies in these 6 issues, it probably won't have the same effect as Damian Wayne's death in DC. He has very little background of the story going into this one. He doesn’t even watch the TV show. But this story arc had a lot of hype behind it as it celebrated Walking Dead’s 10 year anniversary. DC’s Villain’s month, someone came up to Deanpool while he was at the comic store and recommended to him that he should collect these upcoming Walking Dead issues. With a title like “All Out War,” there were bound to be some tragic deaths and casualties. Seemingly sounded like a good place to dive in. During And that’s exactly what Deanpool did. He’s picked up every issue since #115 came out in November. Since then, Walking Dead has been releasing them on average twice a month. At this point, the story is exactly halfway through and Deanpool thought it would be a perfect time to get caught up on it as fans get ready for Walking Dead to come back on AMC.
Oh yeah, spoiler warning. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. Throughout the whole post. This is your only warning. Read at your own risk.

For this review, we'll look at each of the issues individually and analyze them like we would a typical Weekly Pick-Up. Let's get started!

#115

Three factions: The Kingdom, Alexandria, and The Hilltop, are banding together to stand up against Negan and the Saviors. Led by Rick Grimes, these oppressed communities are looking to take this fight to the death. It doesn’t jump right into it in its first installment though. We see the various characters prepare themselves, knowing that starting a war would mean drastically changing the current status quo. Rick is seen with Andrea, and we also see Ezekiel with Michonne. Nice for Deanpool to get sort of get caught up on relationships before the mayhem begins. It’s a slow start, but things do pick up.

When Rick finally leads the united group to Negan’s main post, we see a giant army ready to take Negan down. There are allusions to some well-thought out plan, but it’s not quite certain who knows all the details outside of Rick himself. Deanpool’s first impression of Negan, who is the outright, clear antagonist in this story, was the military tool stereotype. The guy has a weird fixation to constantly talk about his penis and likely wins the award for Most Cussing in a Comic Panel. Not that it bothers Deanpool at all. Just really builds the whole bad guy character. The real game-changer comes at the end of the issue when Negan pulls out Gregory, the leader of The Hilltop. While Rick is under the impression he has the support of all three communities, it leaves readers wondering how the Hilltop soldiers would react.

#116

Picking up from the sudden betrayal, Negan threatens the Hilltop allies to stand-down from Rick’s forces. Knowing that they have family and loved ones to think about, they reluctantly walk away from Rick’s group. Doesn’t work to Negan’s advantage as much as he’d hope. He expected Hilltop’s numbers to take up half of the group, but the number was merely eight members.

And then we get our first taste of an all-out war. Shots fired. Bodies down. Rick shows his preparedness and continues to play out his plan. At this point, it’s completely up in the air who will survive this firefight or not. It is later revealed that part of Rick’s plan was to attract the attention of some local walkers. The next stage is for Rick’s team to regroup while he sacrifices himself to crash through Negan’s gates in order to have him trapped in his building as the zombies surround the outside. But things don’t always go as planned. Holly took it upon herself to make this sacrifice, motivated by death of her lover Abraham (from an earlier issue before this story). Rick believed Negan wouldn’t kill him because Negan views this war as a game between the two leaders. Nevertheless, the first phase of Rick’s plan is complete: the firefight attracted walkers from all around, and the collapsed gate provided them entrance to Negan’s camp. If anything, it cuts Negan off from the outside and from his other Saviors at other posts. Very clever plan Rick.

Nice, zombies actually playing a role in this war.

But with Holly on the other side rather than Rick, what does that hold for her future? Doubt someone like Negan makes her stay enjoyable. It was a pleasant surprise to see Negan trapped so early in the story. As much firepower as he has on his side, it seems like Rick executed a very well planned first strike. Not exactly a clear upperhand for either side, but Deanpool gets the feeling that Rick has a lot more surprises up his sleeve. Also, having the zombies play a role in all this, neutral threat and all, is still nice to see when reading a Walking Dead issue.

How do the plans change with Molly crashing the gate as opposed to Rick?

#117

Negan and his men are trapped in their complex with while thousands of zombies are at their walls. So is the captured Holly. Negan sees her sacrifice to tear down the gate, as opposed to letting Rick do it, as a sign of love and affection for Rick. She quickly corrects him, telling him that she wants to see him and his forces die as revenge for one of Negan’s men killing her lover, Abraham. Luckily for her, Negan has to deal with a little zombie problem before dealing with Holly, buying her some time.

Time for Rick to move into the next step of his plan: Attack the other smaller outposts that Negan has Saviors set up in to increase the small advantage that they have. Presumably, Negan will be too occupied with the zombie problem outside his complex that he won’t have time or the manpower to spare to deal with Holly and/or inform his other forces. With 4 different posts to hit, Rick divides his remaining forces into two smaller groups. Half with Rick, the other half with Ezekiel. Michonne, on the other hand, returned back to Alexandria as a cautionary move in case Negan manages to launch a counterattack. We also see a moment shared with three members of Rick's group. Again, Deanpool doesn't know a lot of these faces so it's nice and helpful to see some work on the side characters. We see Aaron, Eric, and Heath sharing a moment of comraderie before starting the next mission.

Negan is spotlighted a little bit by Kirkman, showing him as having a purpose and reason for leading the way he does. Deanpool finds himself showing a small amount of sympathy for him, seeing him more as a human than a “senseless supervillain.” When one of his men attempts to rape Holly, Negan intervenes by killing him. Makes him look like he lives by some sort of code, that he’s not just sick and twisted. Though with the smile he leaves at the end of the issue, Deanpool would hardly see this as a good deed. Maybe more of a, “I’ve got bigger plans for you” type of deed. He ends the issue by claiming, "We're not monsters." Maybe the rest of his people aren't, but Deanpool still isn't sure about Negan. It was entertaining to see Negan swing his barb-wired bat at some walkers though.

#118

Here’s one of those filler issues Deanpool figured would be necessary to the 12-issue story. No Negan or Rick. Okay a little bit of Rick, but told through another character. But we do get insight into the other characters that look to play big roles in the series.

It starts with Maggie with the other members of the Hilltop community. Gregory returns along with the rest of the men that deserted the first battle against Negan back in issue 116. Maggie is infuriated at his changing of sides as he pleads that violence does not always have to be the answer and believes that Negan can be a reasonable person. Maggie goes off on the guy, showing her pain for the death of Glenn. She tries to rally the rest of Hilltop to fight against Negan and his oppressive ways and to join forces with Rick and the others. This part of the story ends with a double-page splash of her saying “I believe in Rick Grimes.”

Michonne arrives back at Alexandria, sharing a short moment with Carl upon her return. This simply acts a segue into the next half of the issue.

Poor Aaron.

The story shifts to Ezekiel's telling of their crusade against the smaller outposts. We see Rick and his men successfully take out the posts he was assigned. And he decided to take out the most heavily guarded one. We also see one casualty that actually starts giving the feeling of uncertainty for the rest of the story. Eric, Aaron’s lover, is shot early in the issue, sparking Aaron’s rage to avenge his lover’s death.



Ezekiel, on the other hand, practically leads his men into a bloodbath. In this monologue (which is later revealed to be him telling the story to Michonne), he mentions how he feels he wasn’t fit to lead his men. That his kingly appearance is all an act. He luckily finds his escape thanks to a third party of zombies who interfere and keep Negan’s men busy. However, when caught in the middle of a swarm of zombies, Shiva comes to Ezekiel’s rescue. She takes out as many as she can, just enough for Ezekiel to get away. But he knew it was too late for her. Okay, this one got to Deanpool a little bit. No one is safe from death in war, Kirkman made that clear this issue.

RIP Shiva. The one character Deanpool actually became a bit attached to.

Despite his personality and appearance that he portrays on the outside, this issue digs into the real man beneath the king-like bravado. As a result, we get a sad showing of one of the leaders of the three factions that seems to represent the consequences of war. Ezekiel ends the issue saying he'd rather have died in a heroic sacrifice than to be looked as some sort of coward, but most of all he wouldn't have lost Shiva.

Doesn’t move the story forward much, but fillers like this are necessary to set up the bigger picture. It also does act to reveal how the next part of the mission went for the two split teams. Now we must ask whether Ezekiel will ever find his swagger again in the midst of all this action. Or if Maggie was successful in recruiting the Hilltop members despite what their so-called leader prefers. If anything, it’s a good issue to develop the characters outside of the Rick vs. Negan. Regardless, for a story that doesn't move a story forward, it still holds its own with the drama that ensues.

Casualty tracker: Eric. Shiva. Richard (Ezekiel's head of security). Most of Ezekiel's men.

#119

We’re back to the action again. The issue starts with the fallout of what has happened in the last few issues. Heath comforts Aaron for the loss of Eric. More emotional fallout from Ezekiel's loss. Michonne gives him a good hit to the head for all the readers and reminds him to do what he does best, "Act like he knows what he’s doing out there." Rick returns to Alexandria. A nice, touching moment is shared between him and Carl upon his return as Carl tries to uphold his tough demeanor while showing his emotion for missing his father. For the most part, it seems like Rick’s been in control of the war with some decisive wins for his side. That is until he learns about what happened to Ezekiel’s group. He calls for a quick meeting to make the proper adjustments to his plans. He figures that the post that Ezekiel was unsuccessful in raiding would respond by going to Negan and informing him of the attack. He also concluded that if these men return, Negan would have more than enough help to get rid of the zombies that had him surrounded. The next logical conclusion was that Negan would launch a counterattack on Alexandria and take the fight to Rick.

Before Rick can come up with a new plan, they are bombarded by grenades from Negan. He has responded much quicker than anticipated and is now at their front gate with his armed forces. Kirkman again leaves a feeling that the odds can easily be turned against you in war. Negan forces Rick’s hand when revealing he still had Holly as hostage with a bag over her head. They agree to an exchange of bringing Holly in for Rick to come out and confront Negan. But the biggest surprise comes in the final page.

As the resident doctor, Denise, goes to Holly’s aid, she is revealed to have already turned into a zombie and takes a bite at Denise. It's an evil but clever move by Negan, as his side gains a lot of momentum with this surprise.

Damn it Negan!

Casualty tracker: Holly

#120

Following the events of the last issue, Rick reacts by shooting the Zombie Holly and tending to Denise’s wound. The grenade barrage continues, injuring Heath in the process. It doesn’t look good for Rick and company.

Jesus manages to pull a Call of Duty move and throws back one of the grenades before it explodes, taking out some of Negan's men. Then, in a sudden turn of events, it is revealed that one of Negan’s men (Dwight, the one with the burnt half face, resembles Two-Face to Deanpool honestly except with a crossbow instead of a gun) plays double-agent. He shoots the few men he was with going around the perimeter and reminds Jesus that he wants to be trusted by Rick and everyone else and that he's doing everything he can.

Rick and the others look to evacuate the perimeter houses from being bombarded by the grenades. In the process of getting Andrea and Carl, Rick and the other two almost get hit by one of the grenades causing them to be knocked down. Rick delivers Carl to Denise, who also successfully saved Heath. It doesn't look like Carl was burned or any other serious injuries, but he is still left with Denise... who is bound to turn anytime soon, but it must've slipped Rick's mind.

Negan is compares this amusement with being sexually aroused as he sees Rick's community up in smoke and flames. It's kind twisted. It's also a bit funny when one of his men agrees that it gives him "a full boner too," he looks to the man like he's an idiot. Some of the most entertaining kind of bad guys are the ones who don't know how ridiculous and sick they really are.

The situation gets slightly better for Alexandria. Maggie and the rest of Hilltop come to the rescue, driving Negan's forces away for the meantime. She approaches Rick, who regards Maggie as the one in charge of Hilltop now. Maggie acknowledges her new position, but soon after, Rick faints.

The issue closes with Negan, as he and the rest of his forces drawback. He feels he has already won the war by burning Rick’s homes and community. No solution to a fire in a land of zombies and no firefighters. But doesn't he know it's only the 6th chapter in a 12 issue story? Still a lot that can happen.

The future is looking bleak for the allied groups, Maggie brought most of Hilltop members to Alexandria in hopes that they would be able to stay there. But now there’s only an Alexandria up in flames. This issue really delivers even more of a feeling of an all out war. Rick and company definitely have their backs against a wall now, but with Negan thinking the war is already over perhaps they may still have an opportunity to strike back. And when will Dwight make a power move to reveal his true alliance? Where will all these people relocate to if Alexandria can't be salvaged? Is there anything serious wrong with Rick? Lots of questions left to be answered at the halfway point, but at least it's safe to say that the story's first half has delivered the war that we've been expecting.

As with any long story-arc that takes up 12 issues, Deanpool was afraid that the story would be too drawn out. Fast beginning, slow middle, with an ending that everyone wishes had spent more time on. But halfway through the story arc, pieces seem to be in a good place that keeps readers interested and keep the story paced to last 12 issues. While it may be possible to wrap this up in one or two more issues, it's nice to look forward to 6 more issues worth of stories to round out what has started off as a chaotic, death-filled plot of twists and power shifts. No one is safe, anyone can die. And Deanpool is realizing this is very different from the Marvel and DC universes where a careful storyline can re-introduce a character or bring some back from the dead. Ironic, since people technically do come back from the dead but not in the form we'd prefer, but in the form of a mindless walker.

The art looked solid. Deanpool has grown accustomed to the black and white art thanks to Batman: Black and White and Night of the Living Deadpool, though none of those are really like the art in Walking Dead. Despite the faster production schedule to get two issues out a month, it doesn't seem like it has hurt the artwork at all. Lots of double page splashes. Detailed shading. Looks top-notch to Deanpool which should be expected for a popular comic like Walking Dead.

Deanpool made an interesting argument as he finished reading these issues. Negan and Rick represent two philosophies in Walking Dead on the survival of mankind in this zombie-filled world. Negan runs his group through fear and intimidation. He believes power and keeping everyone under him in check will lead to survival in this post-disaster world. A dictator in which everyone should follow. He's also just a crazy mofo. Rick, on the other hand, believes in trusting others. As seen in these issues, he allies himself with two other factions in this war to take on Negan and his way of life.

Enjoy the return of Walking Dead everyone! Maybe Deanpool should start watching now too...