Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Walking Dead #142
Image Comics
Kirkman, Adlard, Gaudiano & Rathburn
The latest issue of "The Walking Dead" is a bumpy issue. Not every issue of the comic can be a classic and when you have so many plots running at the same time you run the risk of having them all have quieter moments in the same comic. Unfortunately that seems to be the case with this comic book. Additionally, there are several spots where the dialogue is clunky and has trouble flowing in a way that you might see when two people are talking. This is an average Walking Dead comic.
The primary plot in this issue surrounds around the idea of the fair being put on for all of the various communities. Obviously preparation for a country fair doesn't make for great entertainment but some good things do bubble up in this issue. The big development is that Maggie informs Rick that his son, Carl, has run off to follow a girl that is part of the rival community. This leads Rick and a company to leave the fair in search of Carl.
While this is happening we find out that Carl isn't playing nicely in his new community. He's still trying to convince his girlfriend to leave and this brings the leader of the community out to put Carl in his place. This development is interesting, particularly with the cliffhanger.
The comic has three spots where the dialogue is extremely bad. When Dante is joining Rick for the search for Carl, he is introduced by Maggie as leading Rick out to where Carl disappeared. After Dante explains the dangers, Rick's first question is if Dante is coming with him or not. I get that Rick is testing Dante to see if he's planning to back out, but when you have the character dressed to ride and he's been presented as the person to lead the search does that question really make sense? Another really bad exchange is when Rick is yelling at Maggie about not being informed about Carl sooner. Maggie says she had a lot on her plate. Rick explodes, then Jesus tells Rick how Gregory tried to kill Maggie. Rick then says, "Oh yeah. I'm sorry. I'm just a little overwhelmed." He doesn't ask any follow up questions about Gregory. Doesn't look for more from Jesus or Maggie about anything. He goes to find Andrea. This was as bad an exchange as you can get. Finally, the final sequence has someone ask the blacksmith if he made all the tools. He explains what's he's done and then without breaking stride he says, "Yeah, I'm from Hilltop." It was an unnatural flow. The other character should have asked where he's from or some other follow-up question. It reads like Kirkman knows he needs to get all of this information out so he just has the character dump it all out at once. It was strange.
Adlard does a good job on artwork. There are some pages that look great, such as the skinning of the dead and the splash page of the fair. However, the picture of Maggie giving the speech looks extremely awkward. It appears that she's waiting for a bird to land on her arm. Overall the art is good but without action or drama there isn't much to judge here.
"The Walking Dead" is the best comic book I read month after month. This issue is about as average as it gets. With some clunky dialogue, low points in the plot threads and limited drama or action you don't have a whole lot of entertainment in this individual issue. Hopefully, things will pick back up next issue. This is a very average comic book.
3 out of 5 Geek Goggles