Episode 3, “Walk With Me”, was one of the most well done episodes of The Walking Dead I have seen in a long time. Instead of more of the same (the group trying to fight off a herd, someone disagrees with Rick, everyone relies on Rick to keep the group safe, Lori cries) there was a mass amount of character development. No… not just character development, storyline development!
Alas, we have our Mayor! David Morrissey is an outstanding addition to the show! When Andrea and Michonne were in the woods they were hiding because a helicopter had crashed. I had forgotten that they didn’t know that everyone who dies becomes a walker, even if they weren’t bitten. It made me almost sad. Michonne thought that she and Andrea were going to be discovered, so Michonne cut the heads off of her two walkers.
Andrea and Michonne end up being taken from the woods by our old pal Merle and his group, which includes the Mayor. They are guests in the little town of Woodbury; a walker-free safe space for survivors! There are guards defending the town from their high walls and buildings that keep the town secluded. When walkers show, they get got! It is an amazing idea. The people of Woodbury have children who attend school, the adults have jobs, and everyone feels that they still have a purpose in what is left of their post-apocalyptic world.
Andrea is much more receptive to the whole idea than Michonne, and rightfully so. While Andrea is clearly flirting with the Mayor and enjoying some well-deserved down time, Michonne is eyeballing everyone and keeping her guard up. They took the girls’ weapons away when they arrived, so we do finally see Michonne without her Katana. Personally, I like her better with it, but this is not one of those episodes. Don’t get me wrong, we still see plenty of deaths; some of them are not deserved.
The man, Tim, who was piloting the helicopter, survived and was hanging onto life by a thread. The Mayor promised that if Tim told him where is stranded group was, he would bring them back to Woodbury. Instead, the Mayor wiped out the entire group of military personnel, and took all of their supplies. I understand that he would not want anyone challenging his authority and taking over his Mayorship of the group back at Woodbury, but I got very upset when I saw this. I immediately loved the Mayor upon seeing him on this show. Seeing him heartlessly wipe out these men with his group really upset me.This was a good way to find out all of the sides to his character in one episode. Not to mention that at the end, he was sitting in front of a large amount of tanks with heads of people he’d killed, and at the very top was Tim, the survivor. It was as if he was just sitting back watching his favorite TV show episode. Just unsettling.
Merle being back could either be really great or really terrible. He would be a good addition to his brother’s group if he could stop being loyal to the Mayor. I think he should realize, with the senseless killing the Mayor has Merle doing, the second the Mayor thinks that Merle could pose a problem of any kind, he will kill him. Merle would be a great asset to Rick’s group, except that he hates Rick. Rick is the one who handcuffed Merle to the rooftop, causing him to mutilate himself to avoid being zombie food. I love how the show does every single thing they can to avoid the term “zombies”. Walkers, Biters, Living Dead… they have been called everything but that. When I think of zombies, I think of special effects and fake gore. I feel like maybe they avoid that word because it is so widely associated with pretend and they want to keep the show as realistic as possible.
Overall, this was an amazing episode. There was so much to focus on, even without going into what Rick’s group is doing at all! In fact, this might be the first episode ever without Rick in it. I enjoy the break from more of the same, and I love the new characters. These 3 episodes of season 3 have been my favorite season starter so far. I can only hope that they can keep the episodes as interesting and strong as they have been up to this point.
Yes, it has been a few days since the episode “Sick” aired on AMC. You can’t blame us for the late posting! I am from Detroit, so we are very caught up in our whole being in the world series thing.
Now then… let’s get to it! This episode took me by surprise for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, there has been some character development. For one brief instance, I liked Carol’s character. I know… I was surprised too. She is always so damn useless and unimpressive. When I see her, I yawn. However, in this episode, Carol levels up. She has been trained by Hershel to assist with Lori’s medical needs when she delivers the baby, so she is helping with Hershel’s lost limb situation. She also kills a female walker to practice performing a Caesarean section when Lori goes into labor. For about one small second, Carol, I liked you.
T-Dog also got slightly more badass! Usually, T-Dog’s job is to stand around and exist. In this episode, T-Dog gets chatty when the fellas confront the other survivors. T-Dog can be quite the cool character!
Oh yes, the others! The five prisoners who survived the attack on the prison were brought out of the cafeteria, where they had been eating, sleeping, defecating and apparently working out since the walkers started appearing. The cafeteria had massive amounts of food for the group, which Rick agreed to split with the five in exchange for helping them clear out another cell block for the possibly dangerous group to stay in.
Big Tiny started off as my favorite of the new guys. Unfortunately, he couldn’t handle the reality of the situation when he got scratched by a walker. The crazy Mexican convict bashed Big Tiny’s brains in, but not just enough to kill him; the psycho obliterated him. When I saw this, I knew he was going to die, and he got taken care of after he tossed a walker at Rick.
Now we have 3 of the 5 prisoners left. The little guy with the bat runs off and is PRESUMED dead, but since when do they kill people off-screen on this show? The other 2 are moved into another cell block and told to stay out of the way.
Hershel remains alive, not a walker, although the very dimwitted Lori gave him mouth to mouth and I panicked because he looked like he might attack her. I am glad that he is alive, however if he had died I would understand. Here is what I keep thinking about… Hershel now has 1 and a half legs, a baby is about to be born, and Lori (if she survives giving birth) will be out of commission for a bit. Having a baby with no drugs or modern medicine…imagine that! I am in pain just thinking about it. Good thing Carl never stays where he’s told…
While my mind would be full of how to survive, Lori’s is full of her need for Rick to talk to her about their relationship. Boring! My thoughts: She should wait it out! He doesn’t necessarily have any other options, I mean, the world is full of the undead and a possible few stragglers. He will stop thinking with his brain one day, and start thinking with his genitalia. And we all know she’s good for that! *wink*
This week was very exciting, however I feel like the prisoners were taken care of very quickly. The Hispanic guy could have been a great villain! I liked the character development, even if it was subtle.
Words cannot express the high level of anticipation and anxiousness I felt yesterday as the television lit up with a recap of the season 2 finale of The Walking Dead.
The episode “Seed” began after some months had passed. The group had made it through the long winter by running from house to house and eating anything they could safely consume. You see Lori has a big pregnant belly, and Hershel has a beard; both signs that a chunk of time has gone by. Andrea is still with Michonne, the newest addition to the show. She gruesomely beheads two walkers during the first scene she is in. Clearly, this is an indication of what we can expect from her, action-wise, in the future.
In a world full of fear that one night a walker is going to find its way onto your person and turn you, you can imagine that there would be some tension. Rick seems to have become very hard and cold. Lori spent the entire episode focusing on herself, as usual. She explained that she was concerned that she would die while giving birth and come back as a walker. I am not saying that this would be awesome, but… I can’t think of a way to finish this sentence. After this long with Rick being the prominent leader and keeping a good chunk of this group alive, some are still doubting his ability to keep them safe. The group finally reaches the long awaited prison! Victory! The way that they secure the premises just inside the gate was very impressive. Some of them were stabbing walkers through the gate from safety, some were sniping, and Rick got face-to-face with a bunch as well!
One thing became very clear to me by the first half of the episode: Maggie is now a total bad-ass! She joined the men in fighting hoards of armored walkers from the other side of the prison, and she was the one to figure out how to kill them! You go girl!
Maggie’s little sister Beth… not so much of a bad-ass. In fact, as Dr. Kronner would say, she is completely useless. She sang a song, which I guess cheered up the group, but Maggie sang as well. So really, I was thinking that if the group lost a member, it should be her. Instead, much to my chagrin, Hershel got bitten by a walker. While the group was making their way through the rest of the prison, Maggie and Glenn had to duck into a door and separate from the group. When Hershel went back to find them, he decided to step over a dead body instead of walking on the other side of the empty hallway. The body was that of a walker, who then bit Hershel.
Rick chopped off the infected leg with an axe. This wasn’t even the most disgusting part of the episode, if you can believe that. (The most disgusting part was when Rick pulled a helmet off of a walker and it basically ripped his whole face off, skin and all.) Out of all of the people who could have been bitten, it had to be the most useful one? Hershel knows how to farm, is signed on to deliver Lori’s baby, and is basically the group doctor, not to mention that he is also the group’s conscience. Oh yeah, guys. You don’t want that gross, messy riot gear and armor that you had lying on the table. You’d rather tough it. Good call. After this, at the end of the episode, you see that there are other survivors who are living in the prison! Last season, we learned that outsiders can be a bad thing for your group. I am curious to see whether the group accepts them, or if they kill them off.
As far as other characters, not much development took place. Carl stayed put! This is a pretty big change for him, doing what he is told. Also, Carol and Daryl are going to hook up (gross). Beth and Carl might eventually get something going, but thankfully right now the Grimes boy is in his awkward stage. In the beginning of the episode, you see an owl; try not to fall in love with it, because Daryl picks it apart for food. T-Dog is still just kind of there.
This episode was seriously amazing. The overall amount of walkers killed was impressive. How they were done in also was very fun to watch! The character development was much needed! I really like the way they skipped ahead a few months from last season’s finale. This allowed for the characters to change without any real explanation. When you see someone every single day, change is so gradual that you do not notice. This is where the jump in time helps the story move along. I appreciated every minute of this premiere. I imagine that the other 10.9 million viewers did as well. Bravo!
Welcome to Comic Rack! My pick of the top five comic news stories in no particular order…
Boom Studio’s & Paul Jenkins Teaser
Boom studios is one of the many indie comics studios that has found a niche audience with their select few titles of popularity. Arguably their most popular was Mark Waid’s Irredeemable, but they’re also known for their Hellraiser, Planet Of The Apes, and Adventure Time comics. Personally I really loved Irredeemable, and thought it was a great book, even if it’s ending was the same ending from All Star Superman #10. But that’s such a brilliant ending I’ll take it again anyway. When it comes to Boom Studios, there’s not much they do make that I can say anything negatively about, so the fact that Paul Jenkins is working on a project with them, is something I’m looking forward to upon announcement alone. So here comes the teaser for the project, whatever it may be:
So yeah, not a whole lot to go on there at all. But hell, Jenkins has done incredible work on Hellblazer, Wolverine: Origin, and my personal favorite, The Sentry. Not that I like who The Sentry became, but that first 6 issues that introduced us to the character were so creatively meta, well written, and emotional that I still love it greatly, even if The Sentry turned into a whiny crybaby Mary Sue piece of shit. To this day I still think that story of The Sentry could be adapted into one of the best original superhero movies ever made, if you just changed it to an original superhero, and make it a bunch of Marvel analogues, ala Planetary, or The Authority. It’d be a great story about superheroes, rather than just being about superheroes.
As for the teaser? Is it a comic about death? Maybe. I know I’ll be looking forward to hearing just what the hell it is.
Greg Rucka Tells It Like It Is
Greg Rucka, probably most famously known for his Batman related work, and his New Krypton storyline for the Old DCU, has been pretty vocal lately with his dislike of the way creator relations are currently being handled by BOTH of the big two, voicing his displeasure in a revealing quote over at [ComicsAlliance].
Rucka said that he’s “reached the end of my Work For Hire rope,” adding that “I have spent a lot of my comics career in service of other masters, and I’ve had enough of that for now. I’m sick to death of the way the Big Two treat people.”
He goes on to add some more details about the mistreatment he’s received from both camps, expressing his displeasure pretty pointedly. As a comics fan, it’s hard to disagree with him, because the points he makes are so prevalent, especially with DC. I’ve heard plenty of horror stories over the years about the way writers are treated like meat into a grinder, especially since there’s so many that are chomping at the bit to break into any sort of comics writing mold. The most obvious and glaring point is that the companies keep trying to compete with each other, and play catch up, rather than strive to innovate or go their own way. The most obvious example is the whole Marvel NOW! thing, which is so blatantly a transparent lift of the concept of New 52, it’s maddening. At least with DC, it made sense, because they had a bowl of spaghetti for continuity, but Marvel seems to be doing this purely for marketing reasons, rather than anything creative.
An industry that only looks to constantly play catch up, is inevitably going to stagnate. As innovation dwindles, and brilliant books that try things differently go by the wayside, you’re in danger of having an industry bubble burst. I don’t mean to go all “THE SKY IS FALLING” on anybody, but I’ve found that generally being a pessimist about these kind of things doesn’t hurt. Expect a kick in the balls, and if you get slapped in the face, you win, I always say. Hopefully, Rucka’s words will wake up some abject comics executive, who’ll help creative minds establish their work in a way that’s beneficial to everyone, rather than threaten them with losing their job to 10 more hungry writers, who’ll work for scraps off the DC table.
Brian Wood’s New Original Title From Image Comics!
Brian Wood is a curious writer for me, personally. First off, the guy has written some of my most favorite comics of all time. Issue #10 of his masterpiece, Local, brought me to tears, and touched me in ways I can barely explain to most people. His other work, is all of differing quality and style, from his massive work on DMZ, to the shockingly different tone of his work on Northlanders, the guy undoubtedly has range.
However, he’s a guy who I’ve met in real life, more than once, both times I went to Comic-Con. It’s one thing to meet someone who’s obviously stressed and trying to cope with the zoo that is CCI, and it’s another to meet a guy who clearly doesn’t really like his fans. I remember being in line, and watching the guy be kind of openly rude to multiple people, begrudgingly signing things, and just generally seeming like he didn’t want to be there. I’d like to think I’m a very understanding person, and I get that after a while it’d be very difficult to be super enthusiastic for each fan you come across when your main prerogative is just getting back to your hotel room and getting some sleep. But it’s another thing when you’re there first thing in the morning, and still have attitude. I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt though, and came back next year, to get him to sign my copy of The New York Four (which is great mind you), only to see him acting the same way again. It was disheartening to say the least.
All personal experiences aside, the man undeniably is a genius and makes great comics, even if he is a bit of a douche. So of course, I’m totally stoked to see he’s working on a sci-fi title dealing with superpowers. The concept of an athlete discovering their superpowers live on television is A-1 dynamite. A stepping stone that could lead to excellence. It’s the sort of thing where I have to separate Brian Wood the man and Brian Wood the writer, and just take his work at face value for the brilliance it is. You can read more about the actual book here.
Those of you familiar with me here at GB, know I’m not the biggest Spider-Man fan in the world. I’ve said before time and time again, he’s my least favorite superhero, out of the big ones. Something about him I just can’t relate to, even when I was a teen struggling with… helping my weird Aunt, or responsibility, or some other boring shit.
Dammit, sorry. I promised myself I would try to stay as positive as possible for this part of the article.
Unlike some other people, of course. They see this as an attempt to revise, erase, and forget the legacy and history of their superheroes in favor of a cash grab. But that’s what the movies are for. I see this as a welcome change to the entirely shitty status quo that is Spider-Man.
I remember way back when Spider-Man was 3 different books a month and they decided to cancel the other 2. This of course meant Amazing came out 3 weeks in a row every month. Which forced Dan Slott to write weird, lame stories that amounted to mostly useless filler at best, and at worst, horrible retcon filled bullshit like the fallout from One More Day. Then they started introducing stupid villains like Mr. Negative and Anti-Venom, which the mere thought of, to me, screams UNCREATIVE.
I know, they’ll just print another Spider-Man title, and the re-numbering means nothing, and it’ll just be the same book with a different name, maybe with some new gimmicky team attached, or something or other. I don’t know, and I don’t care. It’s all pointless really, and in the meantime, i’ll just try to pretend like this is the end.
Shit. I failed at being positive didn’t I? Oh well.
[Supascoot here. My opinion varies greatly from Cheesebadger’s. Spider-Man is my favorite (Marvel) hero. I don’t like the end of Amazing, and some of the rumors about Spidey’s direction afterwards (Spidey with Doc Ock Arms… Seriously) aren’t filling me with confidence. I would be more upset, but Marvel already punched my love of Spidey history right in the balls with One More Day. So… whatever. Back to you, Cheese.]
Kirkman and Moore Lawsuits Arrive At Mutual Satisfaction
When I first heard about this, I was pretty shocked to hear about it. It seemed like something out of a bad made for TV movie:
Two buddies make a project together. Project gets big. One buddy gets all the credits, lets the fame change him. Leaves previous buddy by the wayside. Previous buddy asks for due credit and compensation, but is unable to reach his old buddy, as he’s now a megalomaniac monster, drunk on his own fame and power. Lawsuits are made, friendships ruined forever. Tragedy. Roll credits.
Which is more or less the situation with Kirkman and Moore, from my point of view anyway. It seems history has a way of repeating itself, what with this happening between Siegel, Shuster, and DC, or arguably even Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. When it comes to partner projects, it’s hard to tell if even your best friends since childhood, (literally in Kirkman/Moore’s case) can be trusted. Unlike those previous examples however, both Moore and Kirkman came to a resolution that seems to be good for all parties involved. I know I’m not privy to many of the personal details but having suffered from the fallout that can come from collaborating with friends on projects and watching those projects fall through, along with the friendships, this story hit a nerve for me. I’m glad they came to an agreement, but I can’t help believe it was at the cost of their friendship. Potentially anyway, but lord knows neither man will actually actively comment on their personal lives in this manner, because who else but me would care?
Tony Moore cares…
Regardless of how I feel personally on the matter, it’s good to know that credit is given where it is due, and all of the other particulars could be put by the wayside. Unfortunately, The Walking Dead is still a terrible TV show, and I’ve never looked to a new season of a show with regretful disdain more than the upcoming third season. I fully expect it to be shit, especially in contrast to the perpetually great comic book. Hopefully this sort of thing won’t happen again, and the comic won’t be affected in any way, because it’s still my #1 read at the top of my pull list every month, for 4 years straight.
You can read more about the actual details of the lawsuit and the settlement here.
That’s it for this edition of Comic Rack. We’ll see you next week.
AMC’s The Walking Dead is probably the most anticipated Fall premiere coming this year. I think I can speak for everyone when I say the anticipation is overwhelming. The release of little teasers and trailers do help calm me down, but I still crave so much more! Season 3 is going to be amazing! We already know about Michonne, the Prison, and the Governor, so it would be pretty difficult for them to screw this up.
Here are some visuals for you:
The Walking Dead: Season 3 Official Poster
I want a print of this!!
The first two seasons broke records all over the place. I can only imagine how many millions of people are going to tune in to the season 3 premiere! Of course, you can count me in! I am literally wet with excitement for October 14th!
I have thought from the beginning of the series that these episodes seem like short movies. The special effects and storyline are absolutely phenomenal, and movie quality. It would be sweet to see a Walking Dead film! Sadly, there is nothing official in the works. However, according to Uproxx.com, it is a possibility for the future! Apparently, there have been subtle rumblings of a possible feature film to end the series’ running. We are only in season 3, so if it is going to happen, it will most likely be a little while.
There are a lot of different reasons why I can’t wait for season 3. I am curious if I will see the wee little baby this season. With Lori as skinny as she was at the end of last season, I seriously doubt it. If the baby is born, how the hell are they going to hide from walkers? Baby cries -> everyone gets eaten. Babies cry a lot… there’s no way to stop that unless you have a lot of duct tape and a cooperative mother. Unfortunately, I doubt that Lori has ever been cooperative. With anyone. Ever. Bitch.
Overall, season 2 was not the greatest, but I still have high hopes for season 3. They got complacent and knew the fans would follow no matter what. The drama took over. Season 3 promises epic storyline and more of the best zombies TV has to offer.
Imagine if you will a world like ours. A world where there is no pollution and no crowds. Sure it’s because most of the population has been killed off but that’s not a problem hey? Oh did I mention the massive mutated animals that roam the landscapes eating folk? Yeah probably not every ones holiday destination but it is the basis of the new graphic novel from Image.
Grizzly Bomb 