Walking Centennial: Walking Dead #100

Since Rob and Amanda are off in San Diego, risking life and limb dodging furries and trying desperately to avoid the dreaded ConSARS, they’ve asked me to write up my thoughts on Kirkman’s centennial issue of the Walking Dead.

Last night I caught up on the last several issues of The Walking Dead in preparation my review of issue 100, and, after reading through the past few books I was disappointed to find:

• Carl still won’t stay in the fucking house
• A stranger appears with a too-good-to-be-true offer from a nearby community
• This community, it could change everything, they could have lives again!
• Rick opts to tie up the stranger instead of putting an e-fence shock collar on Carl

It reminded me of daytime soaps and their lather, rinse, repeat storylines; though here it’s even less surprising when a character comes back from the dead. As I finished up #99, I found myself growing tired of the repetitiveness, and yet still eager to read issue 100, hoping for an interesting turn rather than more of the same.

Spoilers Ahead

Issue 100 leaves me a bit angry at our scrappy group of survivors. I feel like they should be smarter by now. More wary. Rick should know better than to send a message to Negan warning him that he’s made a deal to take them out – but Rick is a bit of an arrogant douche – and for that, Glenn has to die.

It came as a surprise really, I had expected Negan’s crew to go after the town while they were weak – and they may yet. However, I had not expected Rick & co. to be attacked while out on the road.  The first few pages leading up to the ambush are not terribly exciting.  On my first read through they left me wondering if we would even see an attack in this issue. It took a second look to see that all of the signs were there – Maggie glancing worriedly at Glenn; Glenn showing no concern at all and then later babbling on in the middle of the night about babies and tomorrows.

The rest of the issue is dark and bloody. There is light humor as Negan prepares to choose his victim, but that brief moment is over all too soon as the humor turns to a macabre game of Eenie Meenie Miney Mo.  In fact, Negan’s light mood makes his actions throughout the issue all the more sickening.

During the murder (which is seriously grisly and horrific) we are offered the faces of Rick and everyone traveling with him and Glenn – expressions of shock and grief.  The only light here ironically is the darkness in Michonne’s face. It gives hope that if Rick and the others no longer have the heart to take on Negan’s gang, perhaps she will.

The artwork is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn, stark black and whites bring a grim sense of realism to the books. I struggle with the question of whether this issue is truly any more graphic than any other issue, or if it is just the death of a loved character that makes it more striking.

While we’ve seen these survivors face many dark and terrifying times, Issue 100 leaves me with the impression that the upcoming arc will be much harder on them. I’m not sure that they will come out of it without becoming worse people themselves. On top of the horror of losing another one of their own, they now need to stand down and succumb to the demands of others, something this group doesn’t have a history of taking well.

Up to this issue I had been waiting on the trades, but I think I’ll be picking up the singles for a while. There are just too many questions at the moment and I’m curious to see how the group handles the new conditions that have been placed on their lives.