Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: charlie adlard, Comics, entertainment, image comics, michonne, robert kirkman, The Walking Dead

Typing On The Dead #139: I'm Sailing Away

By Jared Cornelius

Welcome back to Typing on The Dead, Bleeding Cool's recap and dissection of the latest issue of The Walking Dead.   For almost a year now, The Walking Dead has been the Carl Grimes book.  With a few detours here and there, Robert Kirkman's put a spotlight on the young man, making characters like Maggie and Jesus almost relegated to supporting cast.  While I've enjoyed Carl's extended story, this month we get back to the larger Walking Dead universe and meet up with some old friends.  I know I've had a ton of questions left unanswered from the jump forward in time and while few questions have actually been answered, we're finally on our way to fitting some puzzle pieces together.  As always, *SPOILER WARNING* for the remainder of the article.

The Walking Dead #139 by Robert Kirkman & Charles Adlard

Hey that's something I don't feel like we've seen in a while!

The undead are being dispatched by a familiar sword, but it's not who you think.  It's King Ezekiel dispatching the roamers with Michonne's sword.  Ezekiel tells his men to stand back and that he can handle them.  He takes off a roamers head as one of his worried soldiers asks that he not risk his safety, calling him, "Sire".  Ezekiel shoots him a friendly smile and simply parrots "Sire?" His solider tells him it's an old habit as Ezekiel requests they just let him have his fun.  As he takes out the last roamer, someone yells out, "Hold Your Fire!"  Ezekiel turns around and see an old friend.

Ezekiel questions Rick about wasting ammunition on the undead.  Rick tells Ezekiel that they stockpile more ammo than they actually use and wanted to draw the dead away from the coast before their arrival.  Ezekiel agrees and comments that the area is clear, Rick concurs and says that it was clear when they made their pickup last month too.  The two friends make pleasant chat and start talking about making the road to the coast the next project after the long awaited fair is done.  Rick and Ezekiel take in a calming ocean view waiting on something, noting that they're late.

The two leaders make small talk and Ezekiel asks how much the going price is for bullets these days.  Rick tells him supply and demand and says that Ezekiel can shop around, noting that Dwight can provide them with lumber.  Ezekiel says that Rick needs to pull the claws back in and reminds him it was only a question.  Rick brings it down a notch and says that he just doesn't want to screw up their system.  Ezekiel agrees and Rick notes that some people just can't be happy.  Ezekiel says that is something he knows all too well.

At the Hilltop Carl's absence has not gone unnoticed.

Maggie is none too pleased that Carl has gone missing.  Brianne asks if maybe Carl went into hiding to freak everyone out, but Maggie knows him better than that.  Jesus agrees commenting that he missed two meals.  Maggie's certain that he went after Lydia, Brianne is concerned that he's out beyond the Hilltop's wall, but the involved parties know that Carl's not afraid of that.  Dante says that the "First Piece" will make you do crazy things, which gets him this look.

Dante remarks on how his chances with Maggie are now done, and Maggie continues on how she's not worried about Carl being on his own, but the potential danger of him breaking the peace between the Hilltop and the Whisperers.

Off in the woods, Carl is resting against a tree.  A single hand comes into frame as Carl jumps into action and points his gun at a group of Whisperers.  The leader asks why Carl is following them, he replies that he came on his own and is only concerned with Lydia's wellbeing.  The fake dead man tells him to put the gun away, Carl says he has the dangerous end pointed at him.  The Whisperer tells Carl to think out his plan, that even if he shoots him there's no guarantee it'll kill him.  That even if he does take the shot, he's outnumbered and his group will kill him.  He tells Carl to bide his time and maybe he won't be dead, then asks Carl if he's coming with them.

Back on the coast a ship's sailing into the bay.  Rick and the rest of the gang turn up on a dock to greet the sailors, Rick is oddly calm, but Ezekiel is sweating bullets.  The former king is a little upset he's noticeably shaken, but Rick breaks the news that everyone knows he's not over her.  Who's her?

It's Michonne! Looking very Pirates of The Caribbean if I do say so!  Rick offers her a welcome back, but she takes one look at Ezekiel and is annoyed he didn't send someone else.  Ezekiel meekly says that he was keeping her sword warm for her.  Rick turns to one of the fishermen named Pete, and asks about their trip.  Pete tells Rick they brought in a huge haul and that the death of humanity turned out great for the sea life.  Rick give's his men instructions to load up the fish quickly so they can leave as soon as they're done.  Rick elaborates that he feels like they need every spare moment to prepare for the behind schedule fair.  Rick turns his attention to Michonne, and asks if she missed him.  She shoots him a cold stare, but quickly changes it to a smile, telling him, "Maybe a Little".  Michonne asks about the new girl, referring to Magna.  Rick brings her up to speed on her story and Michonne asks Rick if Andrea has anything to worry about.  Rick's a little taken aback by it, but Michonne says she was only making a bad joke and has been out to sea long enough that she's out of practice on her small talk.

Rick asks what it's like out on the sea, to which Michonne goes into a long explanation about the work.  She tells Rick that it's all about the work, you work so hard it feels like you'll break.  Her biggest take away is there's no time to talk about what happened, only time to work.  Rick questions if she found what she was looking for.  Michonne goes silent for a moment, then apologizes to Rick for what she did.  Rick monologs about Michonne's disappearance and being presumed dead, that she'd just up and left her belongings with Ezekiel and left.  Rick expands further saying that people searched for her and could've been hurt looking.  Michonne reminds him that no one was hurt searching for her, but Rick tells her that he couldn't have forgiven her if the outcome was different.  Michonne's upset and didn't want to put anyone in danger but she couldn't keep her happy life up with Ezekiel as she drops a bombshell on the readers.

Michonne explains that she got caught up at work, and had realized her marriage was failing.  She still loved her kids and didn't want to move them away from their school and father.  She figured moving closer to work made sense as she'd be there long hours while her husband the artist was taking care of the kids.  When the outbreak hit, they were across town, and by the time she'd arrived, they were gone.  She was haunted by the idea of not having any closure, not knowing if they were dead or alive, and most of all not getting to say goodbye.  Michonne reminds Rick that he lost his girls, but at least he knows what happened, that he got closure.  Rick's sorry for never asking about Michonne's children and tries to calm her down, but she interjects again.  She tells Rick about how happy she was with Ezekiel and how they thought about a new life together with children, but couldn't reconcile her happiness with the death of her children.  She felt awful about getting a do-over and building a new life on top of the old one.  Michonne gets so upset she asks Rick about if he feels like he deserves happiness after everything he's done.  Rick has no question and says yes, he also tell's Michonne to get it together, that she can't punish herself for things that weren't her fault.  Ending the issue by simply telling her to go home.

After almost a year we finally get to see some familiar faces and it was pretty nice.  I was happy to see the story get away from the Hilltop for a bit.  While I've been content to stay focused on a single story, the larger cast does create the problem of having to find time for all these great characters you grew to love.

Ezekiel is clearly not the man he once was.  While the former king looks like he's settled into a more traditional leadership role, dropping the whole royalty business.  In one of his last appearances, we'd seen him breaking down in-front of Michonne, who wasn't having any of it.  The war cost him a lot, friends, security, and his beloved tiger Shiva.  So it was nice to see him in good spirits right up until Michonne made her return.  It's nice to see that he's dropped the king shtick, but we still have a lot more to fill in the gaps.  What's happened to the Kingdom? How has it transformed since the end of the war?  Was there more to Michonne's disappearance?  This issue was a brief appearance, but a welcome one.

The incredibly stoic Michonne has been a fan favorite for some time and her absence from the book left me wanting.  Rick's right hand woman was often the go-to problem solver pre Alexandria and played a crucial part during not only the war, but the Governor's story arc.  A tough exterior, a tough interior, and a cool samurai sword made her a one of my favorite characters.  Oddly enough it was her absence from the book that made me notice how integral I felt she was to the series.  Her return to the title was the highlight of the issue, but it also reminded me how little we actually know about Michonne.  It was a couple years ago her backstory was fleshed out in a one off published first in of all places Playboy Magazine.  With a more human element to the hardened survivor, I think we way be on the road to an interesting place with her story.

I was actually glad to see Carl take a back seat for a good portion of the issue.  Kirkman didn't waste any time getting him found by the Whisperers and presumably he'll get a better look at how the reclusive nation/cult lives.  It puts him and the Hilltop by proxy on a collision course with the group.  It also has the potential to be a big payoff when we get to see if they're actually the force to be reckoned with that Alpha would have us believe they are.

Maggie was justifiably upset by Carl's brash choice and it showed through Adlard's always on point art.  I'm very curious about the outcome of Carl's quest, will he face ramifications when and if he returns to the Hilltop or will he be forgiven for endangering the community?

All and all the issue was light on action, but that's been a theme of the post All Out War Walking Dead.  It's not a bad thing per-say, but I know some fans have been complaining about the direction.  I've always maintained that Kirkman's been setting up the characters and building them up, only to have them broken down again by way of tragedy.  The post war character building has been setting everyone up with a nice life, friends, food, shelter, and the more things that get fixed are just more things waiting to be broken again.

That's all for this time, you can check out my other regular column, Sweet Release!  Where I talk about the weeks new video games.  Maybe go check out some of the work by fellow Jersey resident Christine Marie who does cool stuff like review the funny adventure anthology Munchkin from Boom! Studios.

Jared Cornelius is some guy from New Jersey who's ready for the weekend to start.  Tell him your weekend plans on Twitter @John_Laryngitis.

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