The Walking Dead #54

Written by Robert Kirkman
Art by Charlie Adlard

The Walking Dead is my favourite on-going series published today. Whenever it comes out, it is always the first thing on my reading pile, and my enthusiasm has never waned for it. I caught on to the series around issue 9 or 10, and when I started buying it, I always felt a touch of anxiety that it, like so many other terrific independent books, wouldn't last long. I'm past that fear now, as from all accounts, the readership of this book is only growing.

Kirkman's writing is often criticized for the fact that his tales never seem to have definite endings - they just seem to continue endlessly. In the case of this book, I think that's one of its strengths. Society is over, zombies are everywhere, and the people who are left are just trying to survive. It's not a story that need have an ending.

This current issue has Rick and his now very small group of friends meeting a trio of other survivors at Herschel's farm. We meet Eugene, who is very smart, and seems to think he knows what happened to the world. We also meet Abraham, who explains to us that Eugene is smart, and is very angry. The book ends with our usual cast deciding to leave the somewhat dubious safety of Herschel's farm, and join up with Abraham and his group (who live on a big truck).

There were a few elements to this issue that ring a little false. Abraham seems to calm down very quickly from a full-on rant, and the group (with the exception of Rick's warning to Carl) seems to decide to throw in with the new characters rather quickly. All the same though, it's nice to see that the characters are getting back on the road - it should give the book a similar feel to what it had when I started reading it.

As always, Adlard's art conveys the story beautifully. I don't understand why people complain that they can't tell characters apart - I find he does a great job of conveying personality in his art. He's one of those few artists who can make his conversations as visually interesting as his zombie-attacks.

I'm really glad to hear that Kirkman is getting this book on schedule for '09.