The Walking Dead: Book Five/ Robert Kirkman

The Walking Dead: Book Five by Robert Kirkman graphic literature, survival horror, zombies, adventure 304 pages

I think the biggest thing I needed to adjust to when reading Kirkman's "The Walking Dead" is that it is a running series. When I popped my graphic lit cherry reading Bryan Lee O'Malley's "Scott Pilgrim" saga, I knew the series had already reached its end, and I knew exactly how many books I had to read. The Walking Dead is still going strong, and that is something I realized about halfway through the book. Why is this important, you might ask? Well, being the visual media nerd that I am, i'll put it into terms that I hope everyone can understand. The plot of Scott Pilgrim was more like a movie plot (which makes sense, because they made it into a movie). There was one major arc with a series of small arcs, and the whole series would end with the conclusion of that major arc. The Walking Dead is much more like a TV series with consecutive major arcs. When a major arc reaches a conclusion, a new one will follow. This was the case with The Walking Dead Book 5.

I was a little bit worried at the conclusion of the 4th volume that the loss of many beloved characters would ruin the series, but Kirkman really managed to revitalize the series with this loss. The old characters weren't necessarily forgotten, but they did become more of a backstory for the brand new story arc: the trip to Washington DC with the newest members of Team Survivors- Abraham, Eugene and Rosita. I am pretty satisfied with how this story arc began, because Kirkman really did manage to resurrect the energy of the first story arc while upping the ante and providing a much more horrifying scale of danger (two words: zombie herd).

In terms of character development, the only person that I was really impressed with was Rick's son, Carl. It's clear he is growing up and becoming his own person instead of just an extension of Rick. Does this mean that Kirkman will either kill of Rick or separate the two of them? If I were a betting man, I'd say yes...but The Walking Dead never fails to surprise. Maybe I'm just over thinking things.

I was a little disappointed with the explanation of Michonne's talking to herself. Kirkman's been building that up for the past couple volumes and I thought that Michonne hallucinating speaking to her dead boyfriend was TOTALLY WEAK. I guess it was good that Rick isn't the only one going crazy, but still, give me something a little better than that.

I just picked up the sixth book today, and i'm definitely looking forward to just how far this trip to DC will go. Will our survivors get all the way there? Or will their hundreds of miles lead them off in some entirely new direction? Only time will tell...