Comic Series - Volume 20: All Out War

For any of you that have been following The Walking Dead comic book series over the past year, you're probably almost as or maybe even more excited then I am about the recent announcement of the "All Out War" 12 issue story arc.

We already knew this was going to happen anyway.  But I have some cool "team" pictures showing the four different groups involved in the war.  I also found out by looking through the pictures that they're officially naming Rick's group "The Survivors."  There's also a new cover for the story arc, but the best thing about the new volume is that new issues are going to be released biweekly starting in October.

I'm excited because now we get twice The Walking Dead with the TV show also returning in October.  So without further ado, let's take a look at the first of five pictures I'm going to analyze.

So this is the cover for the new story arc.  I love the symbolism with the size of Negan's head because it shows how powerful he is and how the Survivors, Hilltop and Kingdom are getting ready to fight against these odds.  You have Michonne on the right with her sword, Rick in the center with his axe and Andrea on left with her sniper in hand.  Just as a side note, every time I see Andrea in the comic book series, I always think back to the TV series and how different it is from the comic book series.  Finally, we have Carl at the bottom, who's looking a lot like a teenager and getting close to being 16 or 17 (I'm just guessing, I don't really know).  Very cool cover!

So here's the first of four team posters that I'm going to go over.  We now have the first official label for Rick's group, the Survivors.  I like the name because of what they've been through, particularly Rick, Carl, Andrea and Michonne.  The logo also resembles Carl a lot (except for the skull) because you have the eye patch and the cowboy hat.  Very cool logo and poster!

Next is the poster for Negan's group, the Saviors.  I love the addition of the baseball bat and I think a vulture is a perfect animal to represent Negan.  Vultures prey on the weak, which is what Negan does with his threats of violence.

Next we have the Hilltop poster, which has great symbolism with the iron and the hammer.  I'm pretty sure it refers back to the blacksmith that's located in the colony and how the people use spears when they're on watch duty.  So I think this represents them pretty well.

Last, but certainly not least, we have the poster for the Kingdom. I do like the sword and tiger, but my favorite thing about the logo is how the whole thing is on one of those old school flags. Very cool logos for all four groups!

I think this is some of the most exciting events we've ever seen in the comic book series.  This upcoming war is nothing like the prison group against the Governor.  There are different circumstances, more groups involved and stronger leaders such as Negan.  The whole thing is way more complicated with a lot more groups and characters coming together.

I'm predicting that there will be a lot of characters deaths throughout the course of this war.  I could even see characters like Andrea, Michonne or even Eugene dying or somebody really important to the Survivors. 

Tell me what you guys think about the new story arc beginning in October.  Who will come out on top in this war? What characters will die? Let me know what you guys think in the comments below.

The Walking Dead Issue 109 (Comic Book Series) Review

Sorry this is late, as I was busy with school all week and didn't have time to post this review.  Also, this issue was released on Wednesday, April 10.

So the television series has been so good that I almost totally forgot about the comic book series, which has also been awesome. 

SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ ISSUE 109 OR ANY PREVIOUS ISSUES, YOU MAY NOT WANT TO READ THIS! THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING!

Just to recap what has been going on up to this point, we met Negan, the leader of the Saviors, in Issue 100 when he killed Glenn.  Afterwards, Rick became submissive with his group and understood that there are limitations to whom he can pick a fight with, and Negan, at that point in time, was not someone he wanted to mess with.  Now, Rick is beginning to find out that there are more groups close to the Alexandria Safe-Zone that Negan has bullied into giving him half of their supplies. 

However, Rick knows that this can't last forever because as time goes on, finding supplies becomes more and more rare.  That being said, he knows that he has no other choice but to fight back against Negan, although the Saviors do have about 50 to 60 fighters.  That may sound like a lot of men/women, but Negan's group does have weaknesses, such as their lack of guns and ammunition. 

So Issue 109 starts off with Maggie and Sophia at the Hilltop.  I like the development with Maggie's pregnancy and Dr. Harlan Carson is checking on her when Gregory, the one who got stabbed by one of the Saviors,  walks in and introduces himself to Maggie.  We find out that he's kind of a creepy womanizer, or at least tries to be, to no avail.

We then find Jesus, who talks with Gregory about Ezekial.  After that, we finally get to meet Kal, who was seen in previous issues, but now we find out who he is and all that good stuff.  Now, when Jesus was telling Kal, Gregory and Maggie about the plan to take down Negan, I immediately thought that he was telling too many people.  You have Rick telling Michonne, Andrea and Carl, but we know they're not going to tell anyone else.  We don't really know Kal all that well and we don't really know the relationship between Kal and Jesus. 

At the end of the issue, it came to back to bite Jesus in the butt, as Kal has gone off an a run, but we know that's not the case.  Kal obviously has gone off to tell Negan about their plan and has betrayed Jesus.

It's safe to say that once Negan finds out about the plan, he's going to attack.  I don't know how strong the resistance will be against Negan because Rick has a few people, we don't know how many fighters Ezekial has, and the Hilltop residents are absolutely terrified of Negan, except for about five to ten people.  It makes sense that Kal did what he did because he's so scared of Negan and he's not sure that the plan to take him down is going to work.  There could be a chance that Jesus is wrong about the entire situation and Kal has gone on a supply run, but I think those chances are slim.

Back at the Alexandria Safe-Zone, Michonne is pissed at Rick for lying about Negan, but I think she's still loyal to Rick.  She let Rick know that she was angry instead of hiding it like Kal hid what he was going to do from Jesus.  Obviously, Michonne is not a traitor, she won't screw him over or tattle on him or anything like that.

Just to look ahead, the Issue 111 cover features Negan smiling with a knife in his hands.  I think somebody is going to pay for this mutiny against them.  I think there will be a couple of major deaths over the next couple of issues.  I think Jesus could potentially be killed by Negan because he was the one who told Kal about the plan. 

Overall, I liked the issue a lot and I liked the plot and character development.  I think it's very interesting to see what is happening with the mutiny versus Negan, the characters involved and possible snitches and rats, like Kal.