Long Time Coming: The Walking Dead Issue #80 & 81 Reviews

The Walking Dead so far has been exactly what I wanted from a comic in any genre, it has both the excitement and the suspense backing it’s already exalted story and we are all addicted to everything The Walking Dead. But nothing is that black and white and The Walking Dead surely does falter if only slightly. Issues 80 & 81 feel very odd for me on the one hand it felt great to finally get the issues but I was wondering if that was it. If that was the only reason why I think that the series is good and if so am I addicted to the current storyline or am I in love with the past? And, in the end, did this “high” make me forget my expectations story wise?

The answer (for me at least) gets a bit complicated and I will not bore you with it, but besides that I can’t help but feel that this was NOT what I wanted at all because these two issues feel like filler. It kind of feels like Kirkman channeled DC or Marvel Comics where they throw in filler before they get to the main/hyped storyline. And of course that isn’t very bad but it isn’t necessarily good, because of the fact that it feels like we’re being led on. Now, I’m not saying that Kirkman is leading us on or feeding us filler as fact but going off of my history of reading comics it certainly feels like it. But I’m sure that everything in these two issues will lead to bigger and greater things as we’ve grown accustomed to when it comes to The Walking Dead.

But, like I said before I can’t help but feel a little disappointed with these two issues. It kind of fell flat for me after the first couple pages of Issue 80. We have the beginning which continues right where issue #79 left off, there are zombies surrounding the safe zone and the two groups try to get the zombies off the wall but of course things go awry. Sure, it was nice to see how they kind of handled that situations and it was a shock to see Abraham take an axe to Bruce but after all of that was done it felt a bit boring and a little bit too wordy for me, in particular, the scene where Rick makes the speech, it just felt like it was rushed and it lacked the magic that Rick’s other monologues had and it felt like it was more of the same, just recycled.

I mean I can see where Kirkman wanted to take these two issues and I was onboard for it but he resolves himself a bit too fast, and it feels a bit clichéd, like the part where Andrea has somehow made it onto the other roof and of course the rope was gonna snap when Glenn and Co. tried to get across to the adjacent building, and of course Jessie and Rick where going to get together in some capacity I could see that from a mile away and that’s why the kiss that they shared didn’t affect me in any kind of way in fact I would even go as far as to say that that was the slowest part of the story. I get the point though, Kirkman wanted to slow down the story and bring it back to a more humane level but issue 80 never really got going in the first place and I know it was there to kind of jolt us but I could see it coming. For me, it was just parts like that which fell a bit flat for me and even worse it felt like he cut a few corners in both issues and he spends too much time on other things when he should be paying attention to the meat of his story.

But that’s not to say that they were bad and yes I very well may be overtly critical where I shouldn’t be. I really liked all of the stuff with Glenn and how he felt morally obligated to help rescue Andrea even though in the end she really didn’t need it, I also liked the part where, after sleeping with Jessie, that whole part where Rick gives Carl his gun back and has a little talk with him, and the part where Rick walks past the room with Lori’s telephone and the millisecond of guilt that he felt before writing it off. Those scenes I felt where some of the brighter spots of the two issues where Kirkman really shone through the maze of his own making and again it’s absolutely brilliant, when Kirkman can do something so small that brings back a rush of emotion or memory that he had planted way back is where he becomes the genius that he truly is. And even though it was a bit of a rough ride getting there I liked the ending of issue #81 where Rick is surrounded after Morgan is taken down by zombies it’s a classic ending and one that truly makes you wonder how Rick will ever get out of that situation. Also, what Kirkman does in brilliant fashion and what he has done before is the fact that he creates that same tension we have felt in past issues/arcs Kirkman creates a stalemate where the zombies aren’t doing anything but yet the survivors can’t escape. And after thinking about it, maybe that’s the point, to keep us on the edge of our seats because we are absolutely invested in these characters and the lives of these characters are so fragile in their predicament. And for that I applaud Kirkman even though these two issues where kind of underwhelming.

In the end, we have been forced to sit through a lot of issues that were meant to build towards these issues (80 & 81 et al) and there isn’t a whole lot of pay off, sure we get some pay off with the some stuff but it isn’t enough to quench my thirst. But when all is said and done I‘m sure Kirkman will deliver a huge payoff that will knock me on my ass, and I‘ll just have to wait. No Way Out isn’t over yet, in fact it’s only begun so let’s see where it’ll take us, I’m sure we won’t be disappointed.

Thanks for waiting for the reviews for Issues 80 & 81, I’ve just been busy.

And as always thanks for reading!

-Dane

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