The Walking Dead #89

Written by Robert Kirkman
Art by Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn

When a series is as character driven as The Walking Dead, I'm sure it can become difficult, after many years, to find ways to keep the principal characters fresh, interesting, and alive.  There is a thin line between keeping characters and their situations believable, and ending up in soap opera territory.  There have been times where I've felt that The Walking Dead may be veering too close to that direction - the recent drama with Carl being one such example, even though I found it thrilling - but Kirkman continues to impress me with his ability to get inside the heads of these characters, especially Rick.

This issue opens with Rick being all emotional.  He's leading a small group of people through the town around their community, hunting for supplies and other useful items, and has ducked into a building to have a good cry.  It makes sense, what with all that he's been through, and his conversation with Andrea, who discovers him there, is frank and very believable.  At the centre of his worries is Carl, who Rick is beginning to believe is stronger than him.  It's a nice moment.

At the end of the issue though, we see Rick in full-on bad ass mode, as he returns to the community to find his leadership being challenged by one of the place's earlier inhabitants.  This guy has roused up just about everyone, and has been chasing after Glen, who has heard of his plans to kill Rick.  What works well here is that in facing him down as he does, Rick is confirming the guy's suspicions about him.  Next issue should be pretty interesting.