Quite possibly "The Walking Dead" is the most gut-wrenching comic book out on the market, or perhaps in comic history. Honestly, I have a hard time calling it a "comic" book. The very word belies the agony these characters go through.
As of the most recent issue, there have been 39 characters significant enough for us to be aware of them, from the infant daughter of Rick and Lori to the evil Governor.
Of those, 26 have died. In some of the most gruesome manners possible. The worst thing that can happen to you in a zombie apocalypse is being bitten/turned or eaten, right? Writer Robert Kirkman has attacked that as the mere starting point for human misery. Our protagonist, Rick, has gone from small-town cop to battle-weary leader and occasionally cold-blooded murderer throughout the series. Like antiheroes? Meet Rick.
Here's the thing about "The Walking Dead": Most of the true horror visited among our characters doesn't come from the zombies. It comes from the lawless lives the survivors lead, and the lengths to which they will go for survival in a world with no civilization left.
As Rick says in Issue 24, it is as though the survivors themselves are the Walking Dead, not the zombies outside.
I began reading this black-and-white series because my comic guy recommended it to me, and I was immediately hooked. To be honest, I thought it started to pall once our gang holed up in a mostly-empty prison and got into a mini-war with Woodbury, the town led by the sadistic, dictatorial Governor.
But the last few issues have broken us out of the rut, and in the most horrible manners I can imagine.
SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! While I expect character deaths in this series -- and honestly, we've had so many characters it's hard for me to remember who's dying in front of me -- I never once expected them to knock off Lori, our protagonist's wife.
Seriously, the last image of Issue 47 is of a gun held to Lori's head. Ruh roh, I thought. This guy will kill anybody. But in the first few frames of Issue 48, we find out it was a ruse -- just playacting, in case they needed to trick their way past the bad guys. I thought that was a bit of cheating from a series that never cheats.
I should have known better. It was misdirection from the misdirection, as in the final pages, Lori is shot dead by the Woodbury army. While carrying her newborn baby daughter. Who also is killed. Before the eyes of her horrified husband.
People, you don't get much more sadistic than that.
It's hard to recommend "The Walking Dead," because only those with extremely strong stomachs who don't mind reading comics while cringing in pain should apply. But when I open the bag from my pull list, it's the first issue I grab.
Just not while I'm eating.
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