The Final Plague Vol. 1 by JD Arnold (Author), Tony Guaraldi-Brown (Illustrator)

The Final Plague begins in Lehigh Iowa on May 4, 2012.  As someone who hates any kind or rodent, this was not a good comic for me to read.  It begins when a small farming family finds that their home has become infested by rats. Helen is tough as nails and ends up killing the first one after a battle on her front porch. Helen is forced to use a shovel to decapitate it and even then, the damn thing still twitches.

The second rat attack happens in New York City on the same date. A homeless man is drunk in an alley when he is attacked by what can only be described as a horde of rats. There are so many rats, they quickly overpower the drunk and consume his alive.

The third incident happens on the same date in a lab in New Jersey. Jeremy is working with the rats and he notices that some of them have bloodshot eyes and assumes they are blind. Because he believes the rats to be sick but not contagious, Jeremy does not follow along with proper quarantine protocols, much to the disgust of fellow scientist Carol. Of course it's not Jeremy is hurt but a fellow when the rat sprays blood at her which lands in her mouth. Finally, it's decided that the rats need to go into quarantine and be dissected so that the scientists can figure out exactly what the hell is wrong with them.  

The one thing that is certain is that rats aren't acting the way that rats are supposed to. Normally, a rat would shy away from a human being if it encountered them but these rats are bold enough to actively attack humans when they come into contact with them. We later learn that it's not just the rats and that in fact all of the furry rodents are doing damage to humans when they encounter them. The red eyes suggest some sort of infection which is making the rodents more aggressive than usual. Alan, the exterminator posits that all of the pesticides that humanity has been using has emboldened the rats and changed their behaviour.  Of course, Alan finds out the hard way when he succumbs to the rats when he tries to exterminate them at the farm.

The Final Plague Vol I  quickly establishes the idea that rodents aren't behaving normally and are attacking and consuming humans. As someone with a deep fear of rodents this comic rises to the level of horror for me.  It does however make historic sense. We know for instance hat the bubonic plague was carried by fleas on rats which is estimated to have killed 50 million people.  Rodents are nothing to joke about because they carry disease, so the idea that the end of humanity might come at the paws of rodents makes perfect sense. It's particularly true in a city like New York city, where the rat population is enormous. Think about what it would mean for humanity if the rats suddenly started working in a swarm to attack humans. And since they can slip into a hole as big as a quarter and quickly reproduce, this would be a true nightmare because not only have to deal with the diseases which rats carry, we'd be attacked as prey.

Outcast, Vol. 3: This Little Light by Robert Kirkman, Paul Azaceta (Illustrator), Elizabeth Breitweiser (Colorist)

When we last left Outcast, Kyle's sister had been possessed by what we assume to be demons. It's easy to make this assumption because the Reverend John Anderson has spent his entire life performing exorcisms to remove them from the bodies they steal. The Reverend sees everything from a biblical perspective and is unwilling to consider any other angle which frustrates Kyle.

Over time and by questioning Sydney and the possessed, Kyle has figured out that the entities which are taking over humans in the town are drawn both to him and his daughter, Amber, who has inherited her unique abilities from him. Allison became possessed because the entity was attracted to Amber's light. Kyle is only beginning to piece things together.  Despite all of the years that Anderson has spent supposedly performing exorcisms, he knows next to nothing about the invaders.

Just as in the show, Anderson is quite an arrogant asshole.  Anderson is absolutely resistant to the idea that he isn't doing God's work. When he is presented with evidence, like the fact that Maurice is just as affected by Anderson reading the phonebook, as when Anderson read the biblical passages to the other afflicted, Anderson decides that God must have somehow imbued his voice with the holy spirit.  Anderson even discounts the fact that regular water seems to work just as well as holy water.  At the center of Andersons's angst is the idea that he is isn't important and that he's lost his family for nothing.  Kyle is determined to experiment and then learn from each interaction while Anderson looks for away to explain away the evidence in order to centre himself and his faith. It's telling that Anderson refers to God as an asshole when he begins to come to the realisation that he isn't the centre of everything. Anderson's faith is based on his own desire for power and a feeling of superiority more than anything else.

It's clear now that Sydney is the leader of the beings which are controlling the humans.  Sydney talks about a great merge that is coming and he clearly sees Kyle as a threat because of course, Kyle can excise the beings.  What is it about Sydney that makes him the leader and what is his ultimate goal? The merge implies that everyone in the small town is going to have a creature inside them. We know that the creatures are attracted to Kyle's light but they can still come through without that.  

The League of Extraordinary Gentleman Vol 1

The big glaring issue of this volume - it’s set in Victorian England AND it’s based on 19th century adventure stories. Which means the authors have taken a carte blanche to engage in some pretty epic level racism, misogyny and a dash of homophobia.

Look, yes, when using past settings there should be prejudices depicted - because that was how it was (and how it very much is). But there are correct ways of doing this - naming, showing prejudiced PEOPLE and then showing them as wrong. Depicting prejudice and then challenging it.

This volume doesn't come close to it; the prejudice is revelled in and elevated at every turn. We don’t just see prejudiced people, the marginalised people fit those prejudiced stereotypes; prejudice is reinforced as ACCURATE at every turn in this book - from how the characters act to how they are drawn. Bigotry is not only reasonable, but it is accurate and even a sensible response to the situation

Mina Murray is the so-called leader of the league.  She is hired by Mr. Bond, an agent of the British government to gather up a “menagerie” of people to help protect the empire. To that end, she rounds up Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll, Allan Quatermain, and Hawley Griffin (The Invisible Man). Mina is now divorced from her husband after supposedly being “ravished by an Easterner,” and the League is her chance to make her own way in this world.  This premise sounds good right? A woman in charge of all of these notorious men, on a mission to save the empire.  What could be more glorious?

Unfortunately, from the very beginning it’s clear that Mina is a liability.  When she goes to retrieve Quartermain, Mina finds him high out of his mind on opium.  She tries to rouse him several different ways but it is not until she is set upon by a group of Egyptians intent on raping her that Quartermain jumps out of bed and comes to Mina’s rescue.  Throughout this volume, Quartermain saves Mina several times and Mina is only able to return the favour once.

Mina seems to be in charge because she plans the missions and even hands out the assignments, but it is Nemo who has the intelligence to have Bond investigated.  When Mina rightly gets upset that she was not consulted on the investigation of Bond, Nemo actually commiserates with Quartermain about western women not obeying their men and dressing like whores.  At no time does either man acknowledge that she managed to get them this far with her careful planning.  No, they are being oppressed by having a woman who does not know her place.

When it is discovered that Bond is indeed a problem, instead of focusing on the issue at hand, Mina actually blames her failure to investigate Bond on her female naivete.  To be fair, Quartermain does acknowledge that he was also naive but he never blames it on his gender.  This failure of leadership is solely because of her gender.

American Vampire, Vol. 2 (American Vampire #2) by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque (Illustrator), Mateus Santolouco (Illustrator)

It's been about ten years since Pearl and Skinner last met.  Las Vegas used to be a sleepy little town but with the building of the Boulder Dam (Read: Hoover), Las Vegas has seen an influx of people. With drinking and prostitution now legal in order to amuse the workers in their off hours, police chief Cash McCogan wonders if Las Vegas well ever return to the town he was raised in.  When members of the consortium responsible for the building up the damn show up dead through exsanguination, McCogan doesn't have time to engage in a stroll down memory lane. The monsters have crawled out from under the bed and he is ill equipped to deal with them.

Once again American Vampire splits the story between Skinner and Pearl but in the section that deals with Skinner, the story is largely told from the point of view of Cash McCogan.  There's a part of me which is highly cognizant of the fact that Cash's story is predictable. Good guy finds out vampires exist and it doesn't end well has been done before but I found myself drawn in. I felt for Cash when he learned that his adopted father was a vampire all along and how it nearly shattered his world view. For all of Cash's life he has been lied to. I sincerely hope that we aren't done with this character. I want to know what he does with his vampire baby and if he seeks revenge against Skinner.

At this point, I believe Skinner to be just straight up evil which is actually a relief.  We've had an onslaught of anti-heroes recently, so it's weird to have a straight up evil protagonist who isn't troubled in some way or experiencing something which humanizes them to make people find the character empathetic.  There's absolutely nothing redeemable about Skinner. He kills for the fun of it, betrays his allies and is generally unrepentant about anything he's done.

The thing`about Skinner is that he keeps making enemies.  He seems to have more lives than a cat, making it that much more satisfying when the slightest thing goes wrong for him.  Because he is so unrepentant, it's easy to want to see him get his and I cannot help but think that when this series finally comes to and end, it will be with Skinner getting everything he has coming to him.  Pearl may not be actively chasing him, or ready to betray him because he is her creator but others have no such reason for loyalty.

Pearl's story is quite separate from Skinner.  She's settled into a happy life with Henry, but worries about the darkness in her soul.  She wonders if he's content with the life they are living given that she's pretty much immortal and he only has so many days in front of him.  For his part, Henry thinks about the day he will ask Pearl to make him like her and is certain that when it's time to make that decision, he doesn't want to make it from a position of fear.

American Vampire, Vol. 1 (American Vampire #1) by Scott Snyder, Stephen King, Rafael Albuquerque (Illustrator)

The first volume of this story moves between the 1880's and the 1920's. It begins in the twenties with the story of Pearl, a young aspiring actress living in Los Angeles.  In between picking up bit parts in movies, Pearl works several odd jobs to make her rent.  When she gets a big break - an invitation to a party by a successful director, Pearl believes that her hard work has finally paid off and that she's going to get her big break.  Pearl's gets a break alright but it leads to the end of her human life.

Volume One then takes a step back to look at the life and death of the infamous outlaw Skinner Sweet.  Just as his last name implies, Sweet, loves candy and he combines this with his love of robbing banks, violence and sleeping with prostitutes.  Sweet is not even remotely at this point an anti-hero, let alone all around good guy.  

Sweet is Pearl's sire but the connection runs a lot deeper than that.  Because they are both a new breed of vampire, the sun has no effect upon them and the old guard, (read:European Vampires) want them gone.  Sweet and Pearl represent a contamination of the blood and if that were not enough, this so-called contamination means that no one knows what they are vulnerable to. Sweet and Pearl absolutely have a target on their backs but the tie that binds them is deeper still even if it is ridiculous.

Volume one is written by Scott Snyder and Stephen King and the difference in the writing is evident from the start.  Clearly, King wanted to step away from vampires that sparkle. One guess as to who?

It's hardly surprising given King's very adamant dislike of Twilight, based in the idea that it's "tweenager porn" and his belief that Stephanie Meyer "can't write worth a darn".  It feels as though Sweet's story is an absolute refutation of the sparkly vampire.  Sweet is most certainly not a vegetarian and he glorifies in violence.  He works his own agenda and simply cannot be tamed.  It's clear that Sweet is not a man to be taken lightly and certainly not a man to run into even casually. He is bound to no one and serves his own end. In fact, the creation of Pearl is about the only good thing that he does in this volume and it's clear an ulterior motive exists for this action.  

Outcast, Vol. 2: A Vast And Unending Ruin (Outcast #2) by Robert Kirkman, Paul Azaceta (Illustrator), Elizabeth Breitweiser (colorist)

Kyle's entire life has been plagued by demons.  It has cost him his family and almost his sanity. When he finally meet the reverend, Kyle learns for the first time that he may be able to fight back.  The reverend has been at this work for years, counting on his faith in God to see him true. Even as Kyle and the reverend attempt to come up with a plan of action, the devil clearly has ideas of his own.

If I had only one word to describe this volume it would be SLOW. Oh my goodness, does Kirkman ever know how to drag out a plot.  It begins with Megan, Kyle's sister taking a trip into town to meet Kyle's ex wife Allison. Megan and Allison meet in a coffee shop and after some small talk get to the heart of the matter, despite what Allison has been through, a part of her still misses Kyle.  Allison knows that Megan is the one who keeps giving Kyle cell phones which he uses to call her but she finds these silent calls comforting.  Megan believes that Kyle not only beat her but their child and yet she is comforted that she is being stalked?

Women recovering from being in an abusive relationship have very conflicted feelings.  It makes sense to me that Allison would miss the good times that she shared with Kyle; however, having her find comfort in being stalked is beyond problematic.  This is a man she believes put her in the hospital and nearly killed their child.  It's one thing to reminisce about good times and another to find comfort in what should be understood as predatory stalking.

Allison later finds an upset Kyle hiding in her bushes.  She doesn't call the police, she doesn't scream, and instead, she invites him to wait while she puts their daughter to bed. They talk about the fact that Allison believes that not only did Kyle ruin their marriage but that he gave her no warning that he had this kind of dark side.  For his part, a crying Kyle protests that he is trying to get to the bottom of what happened.  The two then kiss before Allison excuses herself to call Megan to take Kyle away.  It takes Amber (Kyle and Allison's daughter) sneaking onto the porch to see her father for Allison to finally flip out.  Funny how Allison wasn't concerned with Kyle creepily staring at Amber from the bushes but Amber actually seeing her father is enough to set Allison off.  A small tug of war ensues over the child and Amber reveals that it was Allison who attacked and not in fact her father.

iZombie, Vol. 4: Repossession (iZombie #4) by Chris Roberson

With the zombie horde pretty much taken care of, things should be settling down in Eugene but a larger threat is looming. Xitalu is coming though the dimensions to earth and his plan is to devour everything in his path, leaving the earth empty and devoid of life.  Gwen quickly finds herself surrounded by the people she loves and has to make the choice of her life - drain the souls of the people she loves and then sacrifice herself to Xitalu, or do nothing and allow the earth and everyone who resides on it die.  What will our favourite zombie girl do now?

Unlike all of the other volumes in this series, Repossession is fast paced to point that it feels completely rushed. I know that the creators had planned for a longer series and so I understand why they had to wrap up all of the loose ends as quickly as it did.  That being said, it really feels to me like Repossession jumped the shark.  I much preferred the beginning of the series where Gwen worked as a grave digger and hung out with her friends in her off time.

Gwen really doesn't grow much throughout the series at all and this probably because iZombie had such a short run.  I very much enjoyed her friendship with Eleanor in the beginning but as the story progressed they seemed to spend less and less time being with each other and seemed to have separate story lines that were tossed together at the end. Sure, Gwen finds a way to keep in contact with Eleanor after the big confrontation but it's only to tell her story and not because she wants to keep in contact with her friend. This in part is why I much prefer the beginning where Gwen and Eleanor would head to the coffee shop and meet Scott/Spot

Though Scott/Spot spent Dead to the World and part of uVampire mooning over Gwen, he actually ends up with Gwen's brother Gavin.  Gavin and Scott/Spot's romance is extremely rushed because it plays out against a backdrop of Xitalu attempting to suck the world dry.  Scott/Spot of course is nervous and awkward and he repeatedly tells himself not to mess this up.  Spot/Scott's attraction to Gavin is something new and having never been intimate with someone of the same sex before. he's not sure how to feel or what to do. Scott/Spot isn't even sure that he is gay/bi. When Gavin moves in for a kiss, Scott asks for more time which I am happy to say that Gavin respected. Unfortunately, because Gavin is possessed by another soul, he ends up see flipping between trying to draw Scott in and pushing him away.

iZombie, Vol. 3: Six Feet Under and Rising (iZombie #3) by Chris Roberson, Gilbert Hernández, Mike Allred

The veil in Eugene is thinner than anyplace else in the world.  That allows creatures from other worlds and dimensions to slip through.  These creatures can be accessed by those who seek power. Amon knows that things are coming to a head but thus far he has been unable to convince Gwen that she has an important role to play.  Gwen however is only interested in hanging out with her friends and her new boyfriend Horatio, the monster hunter who still doesn't know that she's a zombie. Gwen won't be allowed to to be passive for much longer though, the shambling zombies have made an escape from a secret underground labyrinth thus forcing her to confront the supernatural world on terms that simply aren't her own.

iZombie is at its best when it's doing the scooby thing. Six Feet Under and Rising opened up with having the group fulfilling and the wishes of a recently departed soul and sending if off,  it quickly shifted to dealing with: Galatea, the government zombie killing group the Dead Presidents and Spot's disappearance. Six Feet Under and Rising is action packed but all of the action also made it seem so very cluttered.  Where the hell did the Dead Presidents come from all of a sudden?  If that were not enough, we also have zombie Russian cold war era spies and the brain of a mad scientist in a jar.  It's all too much too soon and without enough context to make it feel anything other than chaotic.

The Dead Presidents did give us some added diversity in the form of a take no nonsense Madison the zombie.  Madison answers to Lincoln but while out in the field, she's the undisputed boss.  Madison like all of the other zombie agents pay a price in that it costs them their original meat.  I get the sense that there's so much more to her character and cannot help but wonder if she's actually the original Madison but placed in a black female body.  I must admit to laughing at the idea that Nixon is the president that seems to get on everyone's nerves.

We didn't actually get to see much of the scooby gang together this volume.  Spot spent a lot of time trapped in the catacombs with the zombies.  I love that Gwen jumped right in there to save him though Horatio suggested she should just wait on the sidelines.  From the moment Gwen entered the catacombs there was no chance that it would end well for her in terms of keeping her secret.  I love that she was willing to jump in front of Horatio to save Spot should Spot be discovered in his full were form.

Speaking of Spot, perhaps the most interesting revelation about him thus far is not that he is so virginal that he's never kissed a girl but that when the thought of kissing a girl occurred to him, he suddenly thought of Gavin, Gwen's brother. What does this mean? We know that in UVampire (volume two), there was a lot of taunting of Scott because he is perceived as gay by his friends but there was nothing overt in the story to suggest Scott actually being gay or bisexual. Scott's instantly confused by his thoughts of Gavin but it's enough to make me wonder if iZombie is going to make Scott canonically gay?  Given the homophobic taunting that iZombie's engaged in so far and the absolute erasure, it would go along way to improving this series.  I for one am sick of Scott mooning over Gwen; however, if Scott should in fact be gay, things won't run smooth with Gavin because it seems that Gavin is possessed.

Outcast, Vol. 1: A Darkness Surrounds Him (Outcast #1) by Robert Kirkman, Paul Azaceta (Illustrator), Elizabeth Breitweiser (Colorist)

Trigger warning for discussions of child abuse 

All of his life, demons have surrounded Kyle Barnes in one way or another.  With his is life in shambles he is haunted by memories he just cannot seem to shake; Kyle lives alone, wanting nothing more from life than to be a hermit in peace.  The demons however aren't done with Kyle yet and if he has any hope of getting his wife and child back, he needs to find out the extent and limit of his power and why they are so attracted to him.

A Darkness Surrounds Him, is the first graphic novel in the Outcast series from the creator of The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman.  Just like its predecessor, though Outcast ostensibly is about demons, it's actually about what happens when someone is confronted by the impossible and how they survive. What happens to a child when a loving mother suddenly turns abusive and violent and how does this then effect said child into manhood?  Kyle is so obviously suffering PTSD that his pain simply echos off the page.  It is symbolized in part by the locked door in his home that he cannot bring himself to enter - the room where he finally fought back against his demon possessed violently abusive mother. Kyle lives in filth, there's no food in his home and all he wants is to lay his memories of violence to bed - to stop them continually playing in his mind.

Kyle at least has his foster sister Meagan, who tries valiantly to lift him out of the abyss but even this relationship has been tainted with violence.  As a child, Kyle started sneaking into his Megan's bedroom to sleep on the floor.  Kyle became Megan's only defense against an older foster brother who would sneak into her room and molest her.  By the time Kyle ended up as Megan's foster brother, he was already used to taking a beating and so he took beatings repeatedly to protect Megan. It is why his brother in law staggers to understand why a man like Kyle would be abused of beating his wife and child.

The violence against children doesn't end there.  Kyle runs into a local preacher who knows a little bit about Kyle's past.  When a local child needs an exorcism, the Preacher approaches Kyle in a parking lot in belief that Kyle somehow chased a demon out of his own mother.  Kyle is completely resistant to this but decides to help anyway.  This is when he sees demon activity for the first time and discovers that somehow, his blood scares them away.  Thus begins Kyle's work to cast out demons; he is the Outcast. Kyle begins to visit his comatose mother and for the first time realises that she doesn't hate him and had been possessed. This realisation however leaves him with questions that are in need of answers if he is ever to get his life back.

Make no mistake about this, none of this is easy to read whatsoever.  It seems at every point, someone is being abused. Even a good deed leads to violence.  When Kyle exercised the demon out of the child, he was in a physical fight with said child which entailed, punching and kicking. Think about that for a moment.  A grown man is punching and kicking a child with all of his strength.  It is absolutely unrelenting and serves to show how dark and grim this world is.

iZombie, Vol. 2: uVampire (iZombie #2) by Chris Roberson

Gwendolyn is still very much dealing with how to survive as a zombie.  In order to ensure that she retains her memories, Gwendolyn must consume a brain a month.  For some reason however bodies are being stolen from the morgue leaving poor Gwen hungry. This is a problem because unless Gwen feeds regularly, she starts to lose memories from her life. Already, interactions with her mother when she was a little girl have begun to become fuzzy.  When she finally does get a brain, it's from a woman who wants to reconcile with her daughter.  Proving that Gwen has absolutely no luck, the young woman who her new brain wants to reconcile with just happens to be a girl she went to school with.

uVampire doesn't really do much to advance the meta of the story despite introducing us to a few new characters.  What uVampire does do is offer up some back story on the characters that we met in volume one. In Dead to the World, we met Gwen's friend Scott/Spot the were-terrier, who is possessed by the the under soul of a dead terrier.  In this volume we get a bit of Scott/Spot's backstory.  Scott/Spot was raised by his grandfather after his parents died in a crash.  Though the two were close when he as a child, a rift grew between them as Scott/Spot began to age and refused to give up his love of the fantastical. After Scott/Spot graduated they went their separate ways until Scott/Spot got a call to inform him that his grandfather was dying. Scott/Spot told him the truth about what he is not but his grandfather believed that he had actually lost his mind.  It's only when Scott's grandfather died and he came back as a chimp of all things that he realised that there was something to what Scott/Spot had been saying.This however did not stop Marvin from constantly pushing Scott/Spot to go out and meet a girl.

Scott's life is pretty generic.  He hangs out with his friends at comic book shops, they play board games and or video games.  He is clearly in love with Gwen but has been friend zoned.  I do however like that he is respectful and is just happy to be Gwen's friend.  What does irk me about Scott/Spot is that he doesn't ever stand up to his friends homophobic comments.  When Scott/Spot runs into Gavin at a local comic book store, the two strike up a conversation and Gavin writes his phone number on Scott's hand.  This is enough for Ashook to say, "seriously Scott. You are TOTALLY Gay. Just ADMIT IT." Where the hell did this even come from? How does this even make sense? How else are you supposed to get back in touch with a stranger when you just happen to click?

 Thanks to Marvin taking up residence at Scott's, he is unable to have his friends over for a month. Vincent suggests that the reason Scott/Spot doesn't want them there is because he has to hide his burgeoning gay magazine collection.  Again, what the hell was the point of this ridiculous homophobia?  Roberson couldn't be arsed to include a gay character but somehow, he could find time for a homophobic snark. Yeah none of that is the least bit okay.

We also get Ellie's backstory and it is incredibly sad.  Her father was extremely over protective and made his life all about her.  As a child, Ellie was never allowed to do anything remotely dangerous. When she reached young adulthood and wanted to leave Eugene for college, her father expressly forbid it. Because Ellie dreamed of seeing the world she decided to leave and got hit by a car crossing the street in front of a bus station.  This means that Ellie, who always wanted to travel, is now permanently stuck in Eugene because a ghost has to have a memory of a different place in order to visit it.  After a visit to Amon, Ellie learns that she can possess the body of the living and the first things she does is take a man's body and then physically accost Spot/Scott in the street. Really?  Yeah, accosting Scott/Spot and asking him for a kiss is played for humour but it's not the least bit amusing.

The Walking Dead, Vol. 24: Life and Death (The Walking Dead #139-144) by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard (Illustrator), Stefano Gaudiano (Illustrator), Cliff Rathburn (Illustrator)

After all of the preparations, it's time for the various communities to come together to celebrate the achievements they've had since they've defeated Negan. Expectations are high, as booths begin to be filled with merchandise and people begin to arrive at Alexandria from The Hilltop and The Kingdom. For as festive as the air seems, a dark shadow is about to fall over the celebrations and not everyone will survive.

A few major events happened in this graphic novel.  In Whispers Into Screams we really got to see Maggie as a leader for the first time in her own right.  It all culminates with Gregory's failed attempt on her life.  Gregory's treachery leaves Maggie with a huge problem.  Now that Gregory has been imprisoned and it's clear that members of The Hilltop knew of his assassination plans and didn't warn Maggie, or try to stop Gregory, Gregory has become a problem which must be dealt with. Maggie decides that Gregory has to die and he is publicly hanged at The Hilltop.  Once Gregory is dead, she does take the time to talk with her people and reaffirm that Gregory's death doesn't change anything and that killing fellow humans is wrong.

This is in great contrast to Rick, who as we know has been keeping Negan imprisoned since defeating him.  Negan is treated humanely but Rick has no intention of ever allowing Negan to have his freedom again.  Maggie decides that she doesn't have to answer to Rick because she is the leader of The Hilltop and and has made the best decision for her community.  It's clear they both have a very different idea of what constitutes justice.  The continuing imprisonment of Negan has been a sore spot between Andrea and Rick for quite some time but Rick explains that Negan's continued existence is proof that they have changed and have created the kind of society where death is no longer necessary. Negan however feels quite differently about his imprisonment which we find out when Rick returns to Alexandria and discovers that Negan's cell was left inadvertently unlocked. Negan chose to wait for Rick's return rather than escaping. Negan believes that Rick keeps him alive to prove to the world that Rick is a good person and that he is the only one who can solve the world's problems.  Negan is at least partially right in his point. There can be no doubt that keeping Negan locked up allows Rick to show his power.  It also allows Rick to keep a separation between him and Negan because though Rick, as the antagonist has been positioned as good, there can be no doubt that in order to survive as long as he has, Rick has done things which were certainly not good, or that would have been acceptable before a zombie apocalypse. Negan acts as a mirror for Rick, reminding him of the kind of man he aspires to be, rather than the kind of man he is.

Not being Carl's parent, Maggie doesn't feel the same kind of responsibility for his safety as Rick would.  She sends out a scout to look for Carl but when he returns after two days saying that he cannot find him, Maggie takes comfort in the idea that Carl got himself into this mess and can take care of himself.  Maggie declares that Carl is on his own.  Maggie's big concern is that Carl's actions will cause some sort of conflict that everyone will have to deal with and that's fair given that they were warned by the Alpha to stay out of the Whispers territory.  Maggie does tell Rick the moment she arrives in Alexandria, but she didn't sentdword to him of Carl's departure right away and even gets her back up when Rick demands to know why she didn't do more.  This new Maggie is not afraid to stand up to the great and powerful Rick Grimes. This new Maggie is also aware that her priorities might not always match with Rick Grimes and she accepts this without question.

When we last left Carl, he had left The Hilltop in search of Lydia. It's not long before Carl finds himself surrounded by the Whisperers.  Carl who proves he doesn't have the sense of a concussed penguin decides to the threaten the Alpha and doesn't realise that he is actually being held captive and not there of his own free will until they decide to release Lydia.

 When Rick comes to rescue Carl, he is surprised to find himself rebuffed.  It seems that for Carl, it wasn't the sex that drew him in but the fact that with Lydia he didn't have to wear glasses to hide his scars.  In fact, Lydia finds his disfigurement sexy.  There's also the fact that to Lydia, he isn't the son of the great Rick Grimes, or Carl Grimes the kid who survived so many horrors.  To Lydia, Carl can just be himself without any expectations. I am really glad that Kirkman expanded upon Carl's attraction to Lydia because in the previous graphic novel it all felt rather twee and shallow.

Though horror and tragedy has brought people together that doesn't mean that each person doesn't bring a lot of baggage to relationships. Things were going good for Ezekiel and Michonne but Michonne simply ran scared after he brought up them staying together and having a family.  For Michonne, it's all too much because she feels that she doesn't deserve a second chance, especially given the fact that she believes that her daughters are dead.  Michonne running scared from a relationship, as awkward as it seems is a step forward for her.  Michonne is normally portrayed as a woman of few words - a bad ass with a katana and a weapon for Rick to point.  Michonne running is a sign of her vulnerability and thus her humanity.  It's Rick who pulls Michonne aside when he meets her at the boat where she is dropping of the fish she and her crew have caught.  It's Rick who tells Michonne that she deserves to be happy and that she shouldn't feel guilty.  Despite Rick's best efforts he cannot convince Michonne to go back to Ezekiel but he does make her smile by referring to her as his best friend. Given Michonne's absence in recent comics, this is a reminder that she and Rick have developed a close relationship.

The Walking Dead, Vol. 23: Whispers Into Screams (The Walking Dead #133-138) by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard (Illustrator), Stefano Gaudiano (Illustrator), Cliff Rathburn (Illustrator)

It's a new world and that means that everyone has a role and a responsibility. Alexandria and The Hilltop both end up dealing with new people leading to a result which sets up the next story arch. Now that Carl is at the Hilltop and Rick is gone,  it's time to fulfill his ambition of becoming a blacksmith.  His famous name still haunts him and people gossip about him.  When a run in with Sophia's bullies turns bloody, Carl discovers that he hasn't left his violent ways that far behind.

Carl's transition from Alexandria to The Hilltop is not at all smooth. He takes the time to catch up with Sophia and the two of them reminisce about what their life was like when they lived at the prison.

One of the things I really liked about Whispers Into Screams, is getting to see Maggie in a leadership role that does not involve extolling the virtues of Rick Grimes.  As the leader of The Hilltop, she hands out assignments as well as punishments, deals with threats and keeps the community working. Unlike Rick however, despite all that Maggie has been through she has not been deified. Given that Maggie is referred to as a "bitch" and a "cunt" several times in this volume it's clear to say that her gender greatly impacts how she is viewed by the people of The Hilltop.

Akin to Rick however Maggie does seem to have at least some degree of plot armor which I was quite happy to see.  When Gregory riles up the citizens about Maggie's failure in their view to harshly punish Carl for beating and nearly killing Sophia's assailants, they decide that it's time to kill her. Gregory's motivation is to regain the position of power that he lost just before the war with Negan. Gregory's big plan is to poison Maggie but for whatever reason, what he used didn't work and Maggie ends up ordering Gregory to be locked up.  Maggie who is full of snark, questions how Gregory would be as a leader when he cannot even murder her successfully.

The one thing that has always been certain about The Walking Dead, is that if things start to go to well, for too long, a new challenge will arrive. In A New Beginning, we met the Whisperers for the first time.  They are a group of survivors who disguise themselves as zombies and even travel with the herd. At this point, they have taken a few people in the fellowship prisoner and killed others.  Jesus goes out riding on patrol and has a run in with the Whisperers.  He manages to kill quite a few of them, rescue a fellow patrolman and take a member of the Whisperers captive.

Lydia is a sixteen year old girl and she is like no one we've met so far.  Because she travels with  the zombies, Lydia has come to see them as her protection and her comfort.  Separated from the zombies and her people for the first time, Lydia is alone and scared.  Carl, who has been locked up until Maggie can get to the bottom of the altercation he was involved in, tries to comfort Lydia and assure her that they are good people.  They get to know each other a little and Carl even gives Lydia the iconic sheriff's hat. Later, Carl argues with Maggie about keeping Lydia locked up, suggesting that Lydia isn't a threat to anyone.  It's only when Lydia refuses to speak to anyone other than Carl that Maggie consents.

Wynonna Earp: Yeti Wars by Beau Smith, Enrique Villagrán, Manual Vidal

The consortium has hired a scientist to do something genetic experimentation.  This is not good news for the humans because it involves creating creatures that are part human, part animal and yes, part supernatural.  If Doctor Robidoux is successful in his experimentation, it means that the already powerful supernaturals will be unstoppable. It's Wynonna and her team to the rescue.

I have to say that I found Yeti Wars far from compelling.  The Consortium is determined to unite all of the supernaturals on the globe but unfortunately they're nearly universally hated for their wealth and their power.  Thus far, the consortium has managed to bring everyone into the fold except for the vampires, who are determined to keep their independence.  The Consortium decides that the only way to bring the vampires into the fold, is to offer them something they don't have - immortality. HUH? A vampire that's not immortal? I know, what the hell is the point?  To that end, The Consortium hires Doctor Robdioux to conduct genetic experiments but what they don't realise is that Robidoux is a double agent and is also working for the vampires.

We are told that Robidoux is a psychopath and that this is why he does wild experiments. I found this to be ableist.  Why is it so hard to have someone who is not neuro typical just go about their lives or even be on the hero side?  Why must they constantly be framed as evil, or beings to be wary of? Robidoux really doesn't even get any development, he's just some horny, mentally ill guy, doing horrible experiments. He's described as a cross between Frankenstein, Doctor Moreau and Dr. Mengle. Here's the deal, it's fine to say that Robidoux is engaged in horrible experiments but it's not fine to decide to invoke Mengle and therefore the holocaust to make a point.

Robidoux is not the only character who is described as a psychopath.  Maxim, the leader of the consortium also considers Dr. Sasha Tarasov to be a psychopath, albeit less so than Robdioux.  Maxim charges Sasha with keeping an eye on Robidoux, getting inside of his head and sleeping with him to get as much information as she possibly can from him.  She is nothing but a tool and gets absolutely zero character development. Because Dr. Tarasov also falls on team bad guy, we have yet another example of a person with mental illness as evil.

Wynonna Earp (Wynonna Earp, #1) by Beau Smith

Wynonna Earp is a descendant of the famous old west lawman Wyatt Earp.  Colour me unimpressed. She is drafted by the US Marshals Black Badge division to go after all things which go bump in the night.  Wynonna is a no nonsense cop who experiences absolutely no fear up against creatures which would make the most of at the very least scream and run the opposite direction.

My decision to read Wynnona Earp is based on our commitment to read the source material of all media that we watch.  Wynnona Earp, the television series which is currently airing on Syfy.  The television show really is aimed around the idea that Wynnona is a descendant of Wyatt, which is not a central point to the comics.  She is chosen for her skill and her fearlessness.

I find Wynnona as a crime fighter absolutely ridiculous.  She runs into situations with little planning and little back up.  Invariably, despite the fact that Wynnona is strong, she needs to be saved by a man twice.  Can you picture any male protagonist with the same background having to be saved, let alone by a woman?

The artwork in this comic leaves so much desired.  Why is it that any male law enforcement official is dressed from head to toe, while Wynnona sports thigh highs, a bare midriff or short skirts?  Who gets into battle looking like this?

This is absolutely Hawkeye Initiative material. What sense does it make for her to go up against a nest of vampire who are hopped up on drugs dressed like this?  If that's not enough, we even have drawings done is such a way to show off T&A.  

A kickass protagonist is an awesome thing but a kickass protagonist who is overly sexualized is sexist and ridiculous. The horrible portrayal wouldn't have been so bad if we had seen even a modicum of intelligence coming from Wynnona.  At best, we got badly written one liners that simply rise to the level of bad snark.  

Leaders of international criminal organizations are being killed. This leads Wynonna to little Cairo in New York City.  Amir Tasmir has big plan is to bring the goddess"Timat" back to life and use Wynonna's body as her vessel.  As far as I am aware, there is no Goddess Timat but there is a goddess Tiamat of the Mesopotamian Religion (Sumerian, Assyrian, Akkadian and Babylonian) At any rate, apparently it has been prophesied that Timat will make her return in a blonde body.  Go ahead and roll your eyes because I did.  Why the hell would a supposedly ancient Egyptian goddess choose to come back in the body of a blonde white woman? It makes absolutely no sense. It seems to me that this prophesy is all about making Wynonna the extra special special one. If Wynonna's character had been developed beyond T&A, such a cheap trick wouldn't have been necessary.  If that were not enough, Wynonna refers to the men who work for Amir as, "sand stooges and stinking sand lovers"  Thanks for that. This language isn't even coded; it's blatantly racist.

Lucifer, Book One (Lucifer New Edition #1) by Mike Carey

Lucifer, having quit his job as hell's keeper, is happy running Lux (his piano bar). Lucifer is offered   a mission to stop a creature which is providing wishes for mortals, because God does not want to get involved.  As a boon, Lucifer requests a letter of indulgence from God, which gives him access to an alternate dimension outside of creation.  Of course there's a catch. When Lucifer enters the portal, though he will effectively become a God,  he cannot return.  Lucifer, not satisfied with the deal decides to take action to make it more to his liking, thus drawing attention of the angels and Amendial in particular, who is determined to go to war. If that were not enough a whole host of supernatural beings are determined to use the portal for their own ambitions.

Let me start off my saying that if you pick up this comic in the hopes of a connection between it and Fox's show Lucifer, you will be sadly disappointed.  Vertigo's Lucifer is a far cry from Fox's and the storyline itself is vastly different, even though both use some of the same characters.

As a protagonist, I must say that I found Lucifer very engaging.  He's always one step ahead of everyone who is out to get him.  Even when he arrives naked and unarmed in the "realm that knows no mornings", Lucifer is able to outwit his adversaries by playing their own game. No matter who proposes to bring an end to him, Lucifer is always more than ready to deal with them, making deals when necessary, sometimes using force and other times, simply being more cunning.  He makes for a very interesting protagonist, even if he is the classic antihero.  It's very difficult not to root for him.

Much of this comic concerns predestination.  God supposedly knows how each situation will turn out because of predestination. This gives rise to the question as to whether anyone truly has free will? Lucifer is determined to be an independent agent whatever the cost and this is why he actively questions what the catch is with his letter of indulgence.  If people are just playing out the roles they have been given, then choice is all an illusion.

My biggest problem with this comic are the moments of transition. Carey randomly introduces characters and they suddenly disappear, as Lucifer moves onto something else.  Several pages later, the character may or may nor appear again, forcing the reader to try and remember not only who this character is but why they are relevant.  At times, I actually was lost and had to go back and search for the initial introduction of said character to figure out how they fit in.  Book one has absolutely no flow to it whatsoever and I can imagine reading it as individual comics (how they were first released) would have made it that much more difficult to follow.

Carey introduces several marginalized characters to the story and unfortunately every single one of them is problematic.  Ray is a young gay Indian man and he is infatuated with a young man who unbeknownst to him is a White supremacist.  Though Ray's family does not know about his sexuality, his friend encourages him to ask Karl for a date.  When Ray finally works up the courage to ask Karl out, Karl uses it as an opportunity to set Ray up to be beaten up by his White supremacist friends. Karl stops just short of sodomizing Ray with a broken bottle. Later, a guilty Karl calls emergency services. While Karl waits for help, he is confronted by the angel Melios about his actions.  It seems that Karl attacked Ray because he was disturbed by his attraction to him. I am sick to death of the idea that gay bashing is the result of a closeted gay man.  Not only was the beating of Ray graphic and visual, to then have it arranged by another gay man is beyond problematic. In fact, this little snippet of the story is absolutely toxic. Neither Ray or Karl are major characters in this story and Ray's bashing seems to exist for the soul purpose of having Jill Peterson (Ray's friend) realise that she is magical now and able to see the different paths of destiny and exact punishment. It's Jill who kills Ray's attackers save Karl, promising to get to him later.  We never learn if Ray survives or if Karl gets the justice he deserves.  It's just a small little subplot for the growth of Jill's character. Need I say what's wrong with this?

iZombie, Vol. 1: Dead to the World (iZombie #1) by Chris Roberson

Gwen Dylan isn't what one would normally think of when zombies come to mind.  She holds down a job, sure, it's as a gravedigger but how else is she supposed to get access to brains?  The brains taste awful but eating them is a small price to pay once a month to hold onto who she is and to keep her memories intact.  If only her monthly diet didn't also come with the memories of the deceased.  It's particularly a pain in the ass when Gwen eats the brain of someone who has unfinished business and wants justice.  Gwen feels compelled to help and fortunately, being part of a great scooby group which is made up of her ghostly best friend Eleanor and Spot/Scott the wereterrier  makes giving the dead their desire easier..

I chose to pick up this comic after falling in love with CW's I Zombie.  Naturally the basic premise of a self aware zombie surviving in our world is very much a part of this graphic novel.  Even certain things, like Gwen's getting the memories from the brains she eats remains the same; however, there are several characters in the graphic novel which aren't in the show.  It's still light, irreverent and a joy to read.

In Roberson's version of the story, the world is much larger. He includes the aforementioned were terrier, ghosts as well as vampires and mummies.  I personally love Scott/Spot though he spends way too much time mooning over Gwen.  When he is not actively hoping that his relationship with Gwen will turn romantic, he works in IT and uses the internet to hunt down clues to help Gwen give closure to those whose brains she has eaten.  Scott/Spot is the classic socially awkward geek but seems to have a bit of a sense of humor about the fact that of all the supernatural creatures he could possibly be, he's a were terrier.  Gwen doesn't seem to respect Scott/Spot and I think that it's a stretch to call her feelings friendly.  Gwen seems to have no problem using him for his expertise and accepting gifts from him yet, she's absolutely dismissive about his feelings for her and even ditches him when she thinks she sees someone she knows.

Gwen is a much better friend to Eleanor, her ghost bff, who died forty years ago.  Eleanor is a a dreamer and would love to see the world but unfortunately, ghosts can only travel to places where they went in their lifetimes and since Eleanor never got far from home, this means her options are really limited. Even with her limitations, Eleanor is not content to just waste the night away at the graveyard with Gwen. Eleanor wants to go out and experience the parts of the world that she is able to.  Just because Gwen is better with Eleanor than Scott/Spot doesn't mean that she's great.  Gwen never tires about going on about how flighty and emotional that Eleanor is.  To me it feels as though she is discounting Eleanor's feelings.

Thus far, the vampires we have all met are women.  I like that they stick together and that they are smart business women.  In order not to attract attention, they women up a paintball business and then separate their prey from their friends long enough to feed.  It's a smart business if you think about, 'cause the food comes to them.  It allows them to take enough to survive without leaving any bodies behind.  I would really like to know more about the organization of their society.

Lucifer: The Morningstar Option (Lucifer 0) by Mike Carey

Lucifer has given up ruling hell and is taking it easy as the proprietor of the upscale piano bar Lux. At this point, he seems content to let time pass by him, even if the antics of humans bore him until the angel Amenadiel pays him a visit to request a favor.  It seems that God has a problem - one which he chooses neither to let past or interfere with. While man may have escaped into the light, the silent Gods have not forgotten what it's liked to be worshiped and the power which comes with it.  When they decide to take advantage of humanity's most basic prayers, chaos ensues when people suddenly find their wishes coming true.

It is quickly deemed by the supernatural world that mankind having their wishes and whims coming true would bring about the end of the world.  We make a thousand small wishes each day never really expecting them to come true.  Some of them include our more baser thoughts - the ones we never share because we know intrinsically that they're bad. Imagine now these thoughts - these wishes being set loose on the world. Our greed, lust and rage would indeed bring about ruination.

Lucifer really comes across as the black sheep that every family has.  At some level, everyone wants to disavow him but cannot bring themselves to for the sake of memories or alternately that he's useful. Lucifer is at times charming and at others so smarmy you think you'll never get the stink of him off. Despite it all, he's the ultimate anti-hero, though as a reader we absolutely know, that given who and what he is, we should not be rooting for him but inexplicably find ourselves wanting him to get everything he's after - screw the consequences.

I was very confused when the story shifted from Lucifer investigating the supernatural to the struggles of the  Begal family.  Paul has a debilitating disability and much of his care falls on his sister Rachel. Being a young woman, Rachel is very resentful of having to miss school and time with her friends to care for her disabled brother.  Rachel's father lives in an almost fantasy world as to the state of her his son's disability and doesn't for a moment acknowledge the pressure he is putting on his teenage daughter. When a supernatural world is filled with hyper able characters, it's rare to see the appearance of the disabled.  Unfortunately, Paul's disability is such that his story is told completely through the point of view of his carers.   In this case, because the God's Lucifer has to defeat were brought into existence before humanity had a language, they channel their power through Paul because of his inability to communicate. I understand how Carey explained Paul's silence but there always seems to be a reason to prioritize the experience of the carers over the voices of the disabled.

Through the process of hunting down a lead, Lucifer makes his way to the Begal home where Rachel has been left to watch her brother while her father catches up on over time.  When Paul ends up dying because of an errant wish that Rachel makes because she  disgusted when she finds herself covered in his vomit, Lucifer makes a quick exit.

Rachel is kidnapped shortly afterwords and uncharacteristically, its Lucifer to the rescue. Lucifer Morningstar is nothing if not self interested and so there must be a reason that Lucifer decides to rescue Rachel other than spitting in the eye of Mahu - a member of the Lilim who seems to believe Lucifer has sold out to the light side so to speak for agreeing to carry out a mission for the heavenly host. Lucifer saves Rachel because ultimately he needs her to get to the world of the silent Gods because she is Navajo.

Much is made of Rachel's race throughout the three volumes which make up The Morningstar Option. Rachel herself doesn't identify as Native though her father is Navajo and her mother is what I can only assume to be white.  Unfortunately, when Rachel's race is referred to she is called "half caste" by Mahu and "half breed" by Lucifer.  Yes, Rachel is indeed biracial but given the ways in which blood quantum has historically been a problem for indigenous people the language used by both Mahu and Lucifer is absolutely racist to say the least.  Rachel herself conveniently never challenges these labels because she doesn't see herself as Navajo and since no one else is present when these slurs are used, they go unchallenged.

The Walking Dead Volume 21: All Out War Part 2

One thing that has dramatically changed in the last few volumes which we’ve touched upon is the whole tone of the comic books. Obviously, for a long time The Walking Dead is all about survival against the Walkers. Then it was survival against various human groups that were generally awful against the backdrop of the constant threat of the walkers

This is kind of off the table. The fight for “survival” is more a fight for dominance, control. Yes, it’s a fight to not be controlled by a brutal, raping dictator who is, frankly, a caricature of evil, but it’s not the same tone as the series has shown.This isn’t a battle for survival in a zombie ridden world. This is a war between two factions - good and bad - with zombies floating around in the background

Part of this is due to the sheer cast of characters now. We have three factions (on the “good guy” side)- Alexandria, Kingdom (the place with the tiger guy) and Hilltop (that’s the place full of random cowardly extras that Maggie now leads). And we have a squillion characters (this number is an approximate). If you look back on some of the earlier volumes I continually kept a living/dead list. because there were so few characters, anyone could die and while not all deaths were meaningful, they did significantly reduce the number of the group. There were undeveloped characters, but even the most expendable of them made a significant difference to the group composition and fear of the stories. They risked extinction constantly

We don’t have that now. We have people dying I’ve never even seen before. We have a whole death bed scene with Heath and Denise and I only have the vaguest idea of who any of them are. The groups have apparently taken vast losses in the war - but the mere fact they have the NUMBERS to take vast losses says how much these comics have changed. They have canon fodder. The tone of the comics, the nature of loss and the nature of the group has changed dramatically and I’m not sure I’m on board with the change. I know there would be change - there should be a change because there’s a limit to how long you can play the same storylines over and over, but I’m not sure how far they’ve sold the new reality yet. Part of it is, I think, because they haven’t spent a great deal of time exploring the people and processes of Alexandria -let alone Kingdom and Hilltop (the big town o’ extras). The stakes have changed, the cast and character has changed - but there hasn’t been a great deal of investment in making me care about the new reality before everything was torn up by war. I also kind of want to know why they could spend months wandering around and only finding isolated strongholds but on arriving in Alexandria there’s villages all over the places. I bet the Governor would be kicking himself over all the conveniently poorly defended towns there were out there to claim.

There’s another shift that comes with this - moral ambiguity. Ok, we had the Governor and the cannibals and there was always a clear good and bad guys; but at the same time “what will we do to survive” has been an ongoing theme of the The Walking Dead, one of the defining characteristics of the whole franchise is making hard choices in impossible situations. This is destroyed by Nagin because he is cartoonishly awful; even the Governor was hastily fitted with a humanising backstory to show he WAS once not entirely an irredeemable monster of a human being. Nagin is hard even to hate because he’s pretty patently ridiculous. This also means that the nuance/turning point moment of Rick not killing him lacked the moral turning point moment - this wasn’t a point of the defining characteristics of civilisation vs brutal survivalist society because we’d kind of left that point in its wake

The Walking Dead Volume 20: All Out War Part One

This Volume Rick finally leads the forces of Alexandria, Hilltop and the Kingdom against Negan and his Saviours

The battle is epic and the casualties high.

Spoilers ahead!

Alternate title for this volume:

All Hail Rick our Saviour! Praise the Rick! Praise the Rick, god among men!

Seriously, that was the overwhelming theme of this volume - Rick as the saviour, Rick as the hope, Rick as someone deserving of awe and near worship. Especially after last volume when Rick epicly screwed up - and was still praised by Paul as being the supreme leader.

This volume opens with Rick lamenting the pressure of being everyone’s saviour - oh heavy is the head that wears the crown! Andrea is, of course, there to tell him what a wonderful, amazing awesome person he is. Which is something we see repeated over and over - how super special Rick is, especially compared to the other leaders.

Look at Gregory - he’s not just a bad leader of Hilltop, he is a comically bad leader. In fact, I outright don’t believe Gregory could have become a leader of Hilltop - especially since they have competent members (like Paul/Jesus). Gregory is there simply to contrast with Rick and make Rick look good.

The same with Ezekiel - even though not a bad leader, his whole leadership is based on play acting, on faking and on extreme eccentricity. Again, his almost comic style of leadership makes Rick look extremely good in comparison.

If that weren’t enough, both of these leaders fail in this book. Gregory is obvious in his weakness - but he is deposed by Maggie who doesn’t take over for herself or because of her own competence, she takes over in the name of the Precious Rick! She is his disciple bringing the word of Rick to Hilltop, the whole scene is about how much a better leader Rick is than Gregory - not Maggie.

And Ezekiel - like Gregory he also fails in his attack. An attack against an easier target than Rick’s group, but Rick had not just success, but overwhelming success with few casualties, while Ezekiel’s people are slaughtered including his beloved Shiva. In his defeat, Ezekiel openly says how much of a superior leader Rick is, how much better Rick is than him, how much more experience Rick has than him and then he Takes to His Bed rather than face the aftermath.

There is also a sense that Rick earned his leadership, fighting and suffering through their experiences in the last 20 volumes while both Gregory and Ezekiel “inherited” their positions - they assumed them through trickery or appeasement. Rick earned his leadership in blood.

The Walking Dead Volume 19: March to War

This volume really highlighted the weakness of Rick’s leadership.  He doesn’t trust the people he should.  Let’s be clear, Andrea and Michonne have been with the group from essentially the beginning.  They have fought by his side and followed his orders without question yet suddenly Rick believes that Michonne is some uncontrollable blood thirsty savage?  It’s ironic that despite all of his so called skills as a master planner that he engaged in the exact same behaviour he was worried that Michonne would commit.  Rick is so incompetent at this point that he doesn’t think he is infallible - he believes his own hype and that is the worst trait in a leader. A seasoned veteran does not necessarily make one a military strategist.

Also we need to examine further this problem of Rick treating Michonne like some kind of uncontrolled berserker is getting annoying. On the plus side, Michonne challenges this and explains, yet again, that she doesn’t like the fight, she doesn’t want to fight and if she can avoid fighting then she will - she’s not some loose cannon read to explode at the slightest provocation. This is good. But Rick should know this. He’s already been told this by her - and even if he hadn’t, they’ve been together for a very long time now. He should know her better than this. She should have been developed better than this - it’s a mix of her character growing and being revealed but that growth and revelation also exposing just how much she has just been a walking weapon until now.

Also, it’s not escaped our notice that Michonne and Ezekiel are homing in on romance. If there’s a Black guy around, Michonne makes her moves all the time.  Why is it that she is only a viable love interest for Black men?  Considering that this comic is written by two White men, it really is rather telling on their views of Black women.  I know it’s not interracial relationships because they had no problem putting Maggie and Glen together.

We did have some POC characters being awesome in this episode - Michonne (of course), but also Jesus and Ezekiel. Ezekiel’s back story did a great job in cutting through the whole ridiculous eccentric persona he had adopted and showed him to be far more aware (and capable) than that. In fact, he displayed decision making skills and leadership that completely eclipsed Rick.

Andrea also stepped up pretty awesomely - showing she was more than just a sniper (even while we saw the difference between a good shot and a professional sniper) and her epic “We don’t die” was an excellently powerful moment for her.

And there’s a problem with all of these characters being so competent and awesome. Rick still leads (and doesn’t treat them as the competent people they are) and I have no damn clue why. In fact, I think the writers got insecure at Rick not being in the lime light this episode and threw in the whole speech from Jesus about why Rick is the super leader, better than all the others. Why is he? Oh yes… Even Negan respects Rick (in fact, the whole scene was Spencer seemed to be another attempt to keep him on his pedestal, no matter how it wobbles)!