THE WALKING DEAD #76
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Charlie Adlard

A couple of years ago, my sister’s cat, Tilly, got outside while she was in the process of moving to her current apartment. Now, Tilly was an “inside” cat and not well-equipped for living as a stray. Against all odds, Tilly survived and was found after six weeks in the wilds of suburbia, being fed by neighbors.

Fortunately, Tilly was surprisingly versatile and was able to re-acclimate back to apartment life after roughing it for a nearly a month and a half, but not all pets who are miraculously brought home can make that seamless reintegration into their old life. Living without the guarantee of shelter, safety and food can change someone, doubly so when you’re stranded in a world populated by walking corpses that want to eat you.

After 70-odd issues of doing whatever it took to survive against zombies, looters, murderers and even cannibals, the hardest thing Rick Grimes and his group of survivors may have to face is the tranquility and dullness of suburban life. To any reader of this series, we know it’s just a matter of time before the other shoe drops. What I love about Kirkman’s characters is they aren’t morons, and that they know this too. Anticipating the moment that their new community of neighbors will inevitably turn on them, they’ve been stockpiling weapons and readying themselves for the possibility of taking their new walled-off utopia by force.

Even without the new AMC series on the horizon, I haven’t been this excited about THE WALKING DEAD in a long time. Robert Kirkman’s last issue twist hit me in the gut. What if Rick and company are being the bad guys here?

After Rick’s aborted attempt at frontier justice on a suspected wife beater in the last issue, it’s clear that he’s taking the transition to a normal life much harder than Tilly ever did. His reflexes and responses, while appropriate for a lawless apocalyptic landscape, just may be obsolete and dangerous in the cradle of civilization — and his fellow survivors are starting to notice it.

Kirkman and Adlard have really knocked this curve ball out of the park. They’ve so woven my sympathies and suspicions with Rick’s that I didn’t even notice just how paranoid and irrational he’s been acting. It reminds me a bit of some of the stellar character work of George R.R. Martin – and if you aren’t reading his stuff, I’ll beat you with my shoe!

Before you complain that zombies only actually appear in two panels of this issue, remember that zombie stories are – paradoxically – not actually about zombies. Zombie stories, like post-apocalyptic fiction in general, are a reflection on people and how well domesticated we really are. When you peel away the layers of a civilized life and the protections it affords, what do we become? What sort of moral choices do we make when our own humanity can be a barrier to survival? And even if we find that balance, do we change ourselves so much that we can never go back to what we were?

This remains one of my favorite books on the shelves for its willingness to ask those questions unflinchingly and its rare ability to genuinely surprise me.

MIKE’S RATING 5/5

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THE UNWRITTEN #16
Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Peter Gross

When Y: THE LAST MAN ended a couple of years ago, I was worried that I’d never find a new Vertigo title that I could love so much. I’ve never been so happy to be wrong. If you haven’t been reading THE UNWRITTEN, you need to get up from your computer right now and go buy the first trade paperback collection. Right now. This review will be waiting for you when you catch up. Go.

Notoriously hard to synopsize, this title is about the power of stories. It’s not just about their remarkable ability to entertain, inspire or indoctrinate, but also about their potential to be the axis around which power orbits. The power of these narratives and the often rabid fandom they elicit have given us everything from Klingon weddings to Nuremberg rallies.

Since the series’ first issue, this title has also been about Tom Taylor’s search for personal identity. Is he just the Z-list celebrity who shares a name with the boy wizard in his father’s blockbuster children’s fantasy novels? Or is he actually Tommy Taylor himself brought to life as some of his more maniacal fans seem to believe?

Though this issue doesn’t give us a definitive answer to this question, the glimpses it provides are a bit messy, complicated and far more satisfying than either of those two options.

Finally getting to meet the presumed dead Wilson Taylor, whose name has been on everyone’s tongue since the series began, didn’t disappoint. The hints we get about the series’ deepening mythology and his long war with an unnamed cabal are cryptic and I can see how people could want some more concrete explanations at this point in the title’s run. But then, I’m a Lost fan, so I’m well-acquainted with this style of storytelling and can happily live with it as long as it remains as compelling as this.

I absolutely loved the twist at the issue’s climax as the long-awaited and fraudulent Tommy Taylor book is finally unveiled to the walls of slobbering, screaming fans.

This is very strong finish to a story line in an always outstanding series.

MIKE’S RATING  5/5

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THE INCREDIBLE HULK #611
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Paul Pelletier

Is it safe to come out yet?

Now, I’m a huge Hulk fan. Huge. I have a small shrine to the character, in fact. I’d be reading his stuff continually for over a decade and probably own more Hulk back issues and trades than any other single character. But about six months ago, I did something that I didn’t think I’d ever do: I dropped the Hulk books from my pull list.

Dropping Jeph Loeb’s “Big! Dumb! Action!” was pretty effortless. I couldn’t care less about the Red Hulk or his bizarre “Mary Sue” stories where he was beating up and humiliating Marvel icons, no matter how beautifully they were illustrated. Dropping Greg Pak’s title was much harder.

Pak, after all, is the guy who brought us the classic “Planet Hulk” and its follow up, “World War Hulk” only to have Marvel slam on the brakes.

Pak’s intelligent and brutish Hulk, who had been getting some of the best development the character had gotten in over a decade, was boxed and all of the momentum of the previous two years was ended in favor of some more “Hulk smash!” Marvel decided to drop all of the growth and story arcs that Pak had spent the previous two years building and let Jeph Loeb spend a year beating up the Watcher, She-Hulk and Thor vicariously through the Red Hulk. Seriously, why can’t I get resolution on the Caiera storyline? Why do I have to wait until now to see the emotional resolution for a story that ended over three years ago?

Even after Pak was allowed to take the helm again on the newly-renumbered INCREDIBLE HULK, it felt like he was helplessly caught in the current of Loeb’s dumbness. In the words of the Jade Giant himself, why can’t Jeph Loeb just leave Hulk alone?

I poked my head in this issue to see if all was clear. Let me say that I’m cautiously happy with what I’m seeing. Pak’s intelligent Hulk is back and we’re finally starting to see resolution to the smart Hulk tales that the writer was giving us before Loeb swooped down to ruin everything.

Not only is there great action in this issue, but an attention to character and history that I can always count on Greg Pak to deliver. If this is what the future of the title augurs, I may be back next month.

My fingers are crossed.

MIKE’S RATING 3.5/5

..In Brief…

UNCLE SCROOGE #394
Writer: Regis Maine
Artist: Jose Cardona Blasi

The road to the big 400th issue is paved with nostalgia, with the third issue of DuckTales stories. While the European reprints have been mostly fun, I’m anxious to see this title become a real priority for Boom! Studios, who are turning out some great original all-ages books these days.

How about it, Boom? Can we take a page from DARKWING DUCK’s book and commission some new, original Scrooge stories from a new generation of American creators? The character’s legacy in comics is rich enough, and the Boom talent pool is deep enough that I see an opportunity for future classics here.

MIKE’S RATING 2.75/5

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GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD WARRIORS #1
Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Artist: Fernando Pasarin

Guy Gardner is boldly going where no man has ever gone before. I hope they have insurance.

Now I was really skeptical about a third monthly GREEN LANTERN title, even one written by Peter Tomasi, who made GREEN LANTERN CORPS a favorite of mine.

Following up on the secret pact made between Gardner, former Guardian Ganthet and Red Lantern Atrocitus, we see the pieces start to fall into place. Something nasty is building in the Unknown Sectors of space unprotected by the Green Lantern Corps, and Guy successfully lobbies the Guardians into sending him there as a scout and proactive deterrent to possible outside invasion.

I’m on board with the secret pact storyline. I love the book’s likely cast of Guy, Kilowog and Sodom Yat. I loved the opening sequence with Guy’s over the top “traffic stop” of intergalactic weapons smugglers. I’m especially interested to see the hint that Guy’s recent infection by the Red Lantern ring may not be as cured as he thinks it is.

This was a great opening issue. I’ll be back next month.

MIKE’S RATING 4/5

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