Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Walking Dead #124
Image Comics
Kirkman, Adlard, Gaudiano & Rathburn
The tenth part of "All Out War" is a fast moving read. The action is fairly limited considering where things left off last issue and the book sort moves to the next phase with little hype. It's a good issue for a variety of reasons but isn't perfect because it just feels like it's a roadblock to what comes next rather than an issue with its own drama and tale to be told. If anything, the book is always surprising and there are one or two of those in here. This is recommending reading.
Negan invades the Hilltop and things fall apart quickly. The dimension that's added in here is that of darkness. The book mostly occurs at night but the strange angle is how easily the enemy finds their prey. Visually, this just doesn't seem possible, but in reality would if ever be that dark? Even in the darkest of dark, when outside you can still hear noises and see shapes of buildings. The oddity is that the darkness plays such a factor but doesn't seem to hinder anyone's retreat. This aspect was both a good item to include but a puzzling one to reconcile.
The book works best when it deals with the strategy. The book has plenty of hidden gems that the characters spring on each other and some of them most readers probably didn't see coming. They aren't game changers by any means but they make the book move along at a heart-racing pace.
The artwork is brilliant in many spots. There are a couple of double-page spreads that are perfect for this book as they show the range of destruction and the level of threat that the characters find themselves in. The comic also has a couple of panels where the armies are gathered, either charging or waiting to charge and those are also excellent visuals.
The Walking Dead is in the middle of a strange arc for this book. It's a long arc, but one that is moving at a lightning pace. The comic book feels like an incomplete read in some ways, perhaps because the scenes seem to end without warning. The book's arc is also diminished because of Negan. The character simply overpowers anything else in the comic book and this is going to make for a painful reading experience if he does die at the end of this. As always, The Walking Dead sits atop the read list for the week.
4 out of 5 Geek Goggles
