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 111 (Comic Book Series) Review

I apologize that this review is late.  I've been sick all of this week and didn't get a chance to read the new issue until last night.  As always, this review will contain spoilers, so for anyone who hasn't read the new issue yet, you may not want to keep reading this.

So based on the cover of this issue, we knew we would see at least one character death.  However, there are instances where you have a cover which may not exactly depict what is going to happen in the issue.  That was not the case in this issue.  I was going back and forth between Dwight and Rick for who Negan would kill.  I never once thought that it would be Spencer.

I never thought that Negan would go to Alexandria to get supplies while Rick was out with the others at the Kingdom getting ready to attack. That's a pretty interesting angle and completely different from what I thought was going to happen.  It's also a very interesting way of introducing the upcoming war between Rick's group and Negan's group.

So we start off with Carl trying to sneak off during the night to play with Ezekiel's tiger, but he gets caught by Rick.  That was a pretty funny moment and Rick then tells Carl that he can play with it tomorrow.  Next was a quick, little scene with Michonne where she takes her sword and actually sleeps with it next to her.

Then we have Jesus arguing with Gregory at the Hilltop and gathering his troops to head over to the Kingdom.  Gregory isn't really in on this war, so he's more likely to stay out of the whole situation.  So Jesus has about twenty men, Ezekiel has about forty people and Rick has his small group of tough fighters.  They also have Dwight on their side, but either way, this war is definitely going to be a blood bath, especially since Rick's group doesn't know that Negan is at Alexandria.  Then we see Andrea putting together a group of snipers and Michonne doing a little sword training with Ezekiel and his men. 

The rest of the issue is basically Negan showing up at Alexandria, banging on the gate and eventually being let in.  We have Spencer wanting to talk to Negan and being all polite with his shirt tucked into his jeans and all that good stuff.  I really liked the ending to the issue because at first, I thought Spencer knew what Rick was up to and was going to tell Negan everything.  But then Spencer actually wanted Negan to kill Rick and then Negan says,

"You wanted to take over... why not just kill Rick and take the f--k over? You know why? BECAUSE YOU GOT NO GUTS."

Then he just takes his knife and cuts Spencer's stomach open and all of his guts spill everywhere.  Negan's next lines are why he is the greatest villain in The Walking Dead by far.  He said,

"Oh, how embarrassing!  They were inside you the whole time.  You did have guts.  I've never been so wrong before in my life!  Clean this up before a kid sees it... and find out where this a--h--- lived.  I want to play some pool."

That's Negan in a nutshell.

Overall, I really enjoyed this issue a lot.  I think it's interesting to see Negan in Alexandria and I never thought that Spencer would be the one to die in this issue.  As always, I'm really excited to see what happens next and how the whole Negan situation will resolve itself.  I think we will see a ton of deaths on both sides in the upcoming war and I think it could last anywhere from 10-20 issues, so we should see a lot more Negan.  Now who doesn't love that?

The Walking Dead Issue 110 (Comic Book Series) Review

Sorry this review is late, but I did read the issue right away because I love The Walking Dead comics just like the television series.  I like them equally and for different reasons.  But the comic book series is just great and I can't wait for the next one to come out.  At this point, this probably the most exciting the series has been in a while.

SPOILER ALERT! BUT IF YOU JUST WATCH THE TV SHOW, YOU WON'T REALLY CARE ANYWAY! BESIDES, THERE IS NOT ANY CHARACTER DEATHS AT ALL!

So in this month's issue, which was released on Wednesday, things are starting to come together for the imminent war that is going to occur between Negan and the alliance of Rick's group, a splinter part of the Hilltop colony, and the Kingdom.

This was basically a character-builder issue, as we're getting to know Ezekiel and what he's about.  The cover was really interesting because you have Michonne with her sword and Ezekiel with his, so this finally brings in a match for Michonne in the comic book series, which hasn't happened since Tyreese at the prison. 

This is the first time that Michonne has had somebody that she really seems to click with.  She is one of the most badass chicks you could ever meet in a zombie apocalypse.  She has a sword and has probably killed more zombies then any character in the entire comic book series.  Ezekiel, who has a tiger by the way, basically told Michonne that she's carrying a samurai sword, but she's using it like she's fencing.

It's kind of interesting that he can break down her techniques, which makes me think that he's even better with a sword and we just haven't seen it yet.  So he has a tiger and he assumingly is amazing with a sword, which probably makes him more badass then she is.  We also find out a little more about Ezekiel's story, which is necessary because you need to get to know characters before you can care about them.  Hopefully, we'll get to see Ezekiel in action very soon.

We also got to see how many men/people the Kingdom has and there is so many more people there then in Rick's group and even at Hilltop.  They all looked pretty tough too, so this war is going to be pretty awesome.  But as far as we know, there is no set number of people who will fight against Negan's group, but based on the pictures, the Kingdom has about 20-30 fighters.  You also have the Hilltop group and Rick's splinter group of Andrea, Carl, Michonne, Heath, Aaron and Eugene, who didn't come to the Kingdom however.

So all in all, Negan's group would still outnumber them, unless Dwight is able to get enough people on his side against Negan.  The main player in all of this may be Eugene he may able to produce those bullets.  He seemed kind of hesitant towards Rick, not that he doesn't trust him, but he doesn't want to produce bullets that will be used for killing people.  Eugene is going to have to realize that if he doesn't produce those bullets, everyone is going to be killed or Negan will end up taking all of the ammunition.

As for Jesus and Kal, nothing really happened other the Jesus convincing Kal not to tell Negan of their plans and to come back to Hilltop.  Overall, I thought it was a great issue and I can't wait for the upcoming war, which I would assume would take up an entire volume (six issues).  The next issue comes out on June 12, so we got to wait another month, but it'll be worth the wait.