The Walking Dead #99

Written by Robert Kirkman
Art by Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn

There is always so much death in this comic, but when a new character dies, we rarely get to see much of how that death affects everyone.  I suppose, once all of your friends and family have been killed and turned into zombies, you would become quite hardened to death.  For Rick and the people in his community, it's almost a daily presence in their lives.

Last issue, Robert Kirkman had a relatively main character killed off by the Saviors, a group of people who follow a man named Negan, and who are looking to take over the Community's property and goods.  Kirkman spends most of this issue having the various surviving cast members react to that character's death, and its very effective.  It also leads to Rick making some pretty big mistakes in terms of how to continue to protect the people who look to him for leadership.

Rick decides to return to the Hilltop, the new community that he's opened trade negotiations with, for assistance in finding Negan and his camp, or for the provision of some muscle.  This leads to some divides within the group - Glen decides that he, Maggie, and Sophia will remain at the Hilltop.  Andrea is left behind to protect the Community, but stupidly, she's not climbing up to her usual perch in a bell tower to watch for any of Negan's men.  That error is judgement, which is not mentioned here, is pretty glaring.

Anyway, it feels like Kirkman wanted to have a nice quiet issue before next month's #100, which is almost guaranteed to show the Community under attack.  I just hope that all of the characters I've come to like the most - Rick, Carl, Andrea, Michonne, and Glen make it through okay.  There is some small part of me that is not over the events of issue 50 yet...