Written by Robert Kirkman
Illustrated by Charlie Adlard‘NO WAY OUT’ BEGINS! Being surrounded by a wall keeps things out-but it also keeps you in.
Team Walking Dead is having a big week, as this new issue arrives with a big new arc as well as the debut of “The Walking Dead Weekly.” A lot going on around the wonderful zombie world of Kirkman’s creation, but does the series keep up its great run?
Find out after the jump.
In the first issue of “No Way Out,” we have all of our favorite characters and the other members of the new community dealing with being surrounded by a mammoth herd of zombies. Granted, they are safe-ish for now (besides the redshirt who was killed in the first couple pages), but the fact of the matter is they are now in a precarious position in which any motivation for the zombies could lead to their town getting overrun – walls or not.
The tension is higher than usual in this issue (which is amazing), as Rick has a firm grasp on the situation at hand but the town itself is starting to show cracks in its armor. Former town leader Douglas is falling apart (and based off the excellent montage at the end and the cover to issue #83, maybe a tad more inviting to their new guests than anyone else), Abraham is about to start having serious drama of the human kind (two timing bastard), and a whole lot else, highlighted by Pete’s wife (whose name escapes me) who has started to take an interest in Rick.
A lot is happening here, but it’s all a) paced perfectly by Kirkman and b) executed perfectly from a character standpoint. Most exciting? I feel like Rick and Carl are starting to see the light at the end of their recent tunnel of borderline insanity, and Kirkman gives us a wonderful moment between the father and the son that adds some humanity to the recently cold and monstrous child.
Charlie Adlard continues to give us some really, really nice work on the book. The two things that make Adlard so incredible to me are his consistency and his speed – the guy can churn out a book with the best of them, and it always looks good. While he’s not my favorite artist overall, it’s hard not to argue that he isn’t one of the most consistently great visual storytellers in the industry today. This is just another great example of that.
Another month, another high quality issue of our top book of 2010. The team keeps churning on, and while it still maintains itself as a book that is hard to come up with fresh reasons why it is great, that doesn’t discount it in this reviewer’s eyes.
Final Verdict: 8.8 – Buy
