The Walking Dead #175

Bought at Double Midnight in Manchester NH over Christmas break.

Title: The Walking Dead
Issue: 175
Date: 2018
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Penciler: Charlie Adlard
Inker: Stefano Gaudiano
Gray Tones: Cliff Rathburn
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Cover: Charlie Adlard, Dave Stewart
Editor: Sean Mackiewicz

Eugene, Michonne, and their group finally meet up with the community that Eugene has been in contact with by radio. But the welcome is not exactly a warm one.

It's been a long time since I've read any Walking Dead. I never bought very many individual issues, and always meant to follow it through the trade paperback volumes, of which I did read a few of the early ones.

I was impressed by how well the quality of the writing has held up over 175 issues. The tension and distrust as the two groups meet was palpable, and the questioning that Michonne and company had to go through before being allowed close to the Ohio community was logical even as it was infuriating.

This is the beginning of the "New World Order" storyline, showing a different kind of survivor community than the series has explored before, and it caps off the good dialogue and worldbuilding with a major plot twist that should make for some interesting drama.

If you're intimidated by the whole 175 issues thing, this is a reasonable jumping-on point.

Rating: 8.5/10

The Astounding Wolf-Man #1 (Free Comic Book Day Edition)

Another books from Free Comic Book Day 2007.

Title: The Astounding Wolf-Man
Date: May, 2005
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Jason Howard
Letterer: Rus Wooton

A man is badly injured while camping with his family. He is transferred to a hospital in New York where he lies in a coma for 30 days only to be miraculously healed. Thirty days after that, things get even stranger.

This is a simple, straightforward werewolf story following pretty traditional werewolf mythology, that turns out to be quite a lot of fun.

Instead of focusing on what makes his werewolf different from everyone else's, writer Robert Kirkman (you might have heard of him from another Image comic: The Walking Dead) is able to rely on the readers knowing the basics of the folklore while the story focuses on character development, and a good plot twist at the end to hook the reader.

This was a clever and enjoyable story with good pacing, sparingly-used gore (enough to keep the horror vibe), and characters that show a lot of potential.

A good start.

This book also contains previews for Brit, Spawn: Godslayer, and the Witchblade tie-in First Born: Conception. Of those Brit looked entertaining, while the Spawn preview went with printing four full pages of art per page of the preview, badly limiting the effectiveness of the art. First Born took the opposite approach with lovely full-page character introduction pinups.

Rating: 7/10

Brit #9

This was one of those Free Comic Book Day extras. Not an official FCBD edition, just a bargain bin comic that a dealer was giving away for free as part of the Free Comic Book Day fun.

Title: Brit
Issue: 9
Date: 2008
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Bruce Brown
Penciler: Nate Bellegarde
Inker: Nate Bellegarde
Colorist: FCO Plascencia
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Cover: Ryan Ottley, Kelsey Shannon
Editor: Aubrey Sitterson

I had no familiarity with this title at all going into this, so to start a fairly complex book with a large cast at issue #9 can sometimes be a bit of a stretch.

But I have to say, the first scene was a really solid hook for me. The book opens with a guy named Bob sitting on the Great Wall of China with his date for the evening, teleporter Ms. Popper. Popper is instantly likeable, an older female character who is quietly competent.

The story, as it turns out, plays heavily with parallel universes, and relies a bit heavily on parallel universe cliches once we get going, but there was good flow in the action, screen time for a lot of characters, emotional intensity, and a very clear degree of thought put into characters' various powers and abilities.

There is also a seemingly invincible villain who has that whole invincible-and-also-intolerably-annoying vibe, and it did not help matters when his identity is revealed on the last page to be the most obvious cliche of them all.

But in spite of all that, there was enough here in terms of good dialogue and clever interactions to keep my interest up.

Rating: 6.5/10