The Walking Dead #85 / Witch Doctor #0

Written by Robert Kirkman and Brandon Siefert
Art by Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn, and Lukas Ketner

One of the things that has always appealed to me about 'end of the world' stories has been the actual mechanics of putting life back together.  The difficulties of rebuilding and reconstructing day-to-day comforts and routines would be massive.  Kirkman, in his long-running zombie comic, has addressed these issues a few times, like when Rick and his group moved into the prison a few years back, but now that the decision has been made to stay in the community where they've been living, and to improve upon it after their recent troubles, this is what's taken centre-stage.

There's a terrific scene where Rick meets with some of his friends, and the leaders of the community, to talk about methods that can be used to improve their safety, preparedness, and quality of life.  It's a cool scene, as so many people have good suggestions.  Previously, this comic was about survival; now it's beginning to become about rebuilding, and I'm looking forward to seeing these themes explored.

Of course, everyone is still recovering from the events of the last few issues.  Rick is in an especially dark place, for reasons I still don't want to spoil.  Leave it to Kirkman to end the book with such an ambiguous scene, which has me worried about a certain character that I like very much, all over again.

On the flip-side of this book is the 0 issue for Witch Doctor, a new series being published next month by Kirkman's Image imprint, Skybound.  The previews I saw of this title didn't interest me, but reading this whole issue did.

The Witch Doctor is a man studying the mystical from a medical standpoint.  In this issue, he and his assistants (one of whom is X-23?) medically examine a vampire.  In this world, vampires are parasitic creatures, like the Goa'uld of Stargate fame crossed with the Aliens from Aliens.  The way in which this investigation is conducted is interesting, and the art in this book, with it's attention to detail like stained glass hypodermic needles, is excellent.  I'm afraid I may have to buy the first issue when it comes out...