Book Review: The Walking Dead Vol. 28 by R. Kirkman et al.

The Walking Dead Volume 28: A Certain Doom written by Robert Kirkman, penciled by Charlie Adlard, inked by Stefano Gaudiano, and gray tones by Cliff Rathburn

Last issue left a veritable ocean of zombies heading for Rick's stronghold. That seems like it would be the "certain doom" of this issue's title. Rick's people have worked out a system for driving away small herds of zombies and they put the plan into action for the hundreds of thousands of zombies heading their way. Mounted on horses, Andrea, Michonne, Eugene, and others lead the zombies off a cliff into the ocean. The process takes a while and they can only take a few hundred at a time, so the massive horde will hit their walls. Can the walls survive? Will the people inside be ready? And what about the leftovers from the Saviors (Negan's old gang) who seem to be rooting for the zombies, not for Rick's people?

The drama is less soap operatic than in previous volumes, though the long and drawn out death of a major character at the end of this issue is fairly melodramatic. I found some of the "deep" conversations sparked by the character's death rather shallow and unconvincing and contradictory, so it wasn't as satisfying. The art seems to have gone up a notch in quality and supports the storytelling better, which I liked.

Recommended for fans of the comic series who have been a bit disillusioned with the past few issues (i.e. me).