This Was Always Rick Grimes’ Story. [Walking Dead #193][Spoilers.]
Ha! Three articles in a row where I’ve found art within the pages of the books I’m reviewing to point a gun at you. Maybe I’m just reading a bunch of books with way too much gratuitous violence.
This is the real reason anyone shows up to read The Walking Dead.
You came to and stayed with The Walking Dead to see the zombies.
Of course, you were treated to a very complex series of relationships (that you can be forgiven for getting confused by along the way) and the functioning of a society that had ground to a halt to then get dragged back up from the rubble.
You were warned. This has spoilers.
The first walker Rick laid eyes on. Calling for help? Oh the naivety.
When I began reading this comic, I had no idea what to expect aside from questions about how the hell TWD team were going to pick up after such an enormous emotional gunshot to the heart with the death of Rick Grimes in issue #192. The very first issue of the comic series was the inspiration for my first experience with a post-apocalyptic zombie world in an ongoing television series. (Yes, many zombie movies have been made, I’ll give you that).
Now I’m just in shock.
It happened so quickly. It’s over? But why? Couldn’t Kirkman pass the reins over to some other writers? The story should continue. It has to. Right? Some of the comments I’ve read online really made me feel worried for the mental health of so many people. This shit’s real. Get this..
“WHAT AM I GONNA DO WITH MY LIFE ????!!!!!!!”
“Closure sure feels good, right guys?”
“Well, it’s done. It was truly the only comic, of the many that I have and still read, that I looked forward to each and every month. It was a good run. A good story. And now I miss it.”
“Ending it right here felt kind of out of place. I get not wanting to extend the story if you have no ideas left but this huge time skip felt like a lot of history is missing. I guess people were right that TWD would end in Rick’s death but I kind of wanted to see how the rest of the world would get back up again.”
I lied a bit. Some people were satisfied. I just don’t get it.
I’m sorry, but I just don’t understand. I’m one of those people who still wish Seinfeld had never ended. That last episode was heartbreaking and it felt like I’d lost a sibling or something. The crazy thing too, is that I was actually a bit angry that Jerry Seinfeld moved on to other things – Like Coffee in Cars. To Seinfeld, Kirkman and other creators, these are their projects. For those that become emotionally invested, it becomes a ritual. A part of our lives. When it’s taken away, they should always expect some anger, pain and loss from their audience. I mean, if they didn’t, wouldn’t that just mean that they never really had our love in the first place?
Well, to be honest, I didn’t think I’d be writing about TWD this morning. But now I can’t take my fingers off the keyboard. Last time round I was discussing the Immortal Hulk as an option for my next breakdown. I’ve read half of the number one and it is definitely going to be a fun review, but I find myself here, scratching my head and wondering like others..
“What just happened?”
The final issue of The Walking Dead.
Fast forward to a time when Carl looks like Rick. With an eye-patch. A lone walker somehow makes its way through the perimeter fences of the [Commonwealth?] to which Carl greets him with a katana to the top third of his head. I really hope you didn’t get attached to the walker you saw just a moment ago as it was he who paid the piper.
Sophia and Carl are a thing. Good for them lovebirds. And they named their kid Andrea. Make of that what you wish.
Sophia’s just frustrated that Carl used a blade instead of a gun. Carl then panics as he realises the possibility that his daughter could have seen it. I guess in the future, it’s all about shielding the young from any of the dead. Fair enough. I’m totally into that. However, by now, wouldn’t you think that maybe all the dead have been dealt with? Three hundred million Americans and way more guns and ammo than that.. those numbers point to a crap tonne of dead walkers. I just think it would have been solved within a decade. Surely this is the end of it?
Carl finds out Hershel (Maggie’s son) has his own show.
The show was so bad that Carl punches the crap out of the ringmaster.
Ha. If only. Actually, that walker earlier on was one of Hershel’s. He’s got his own special zombie show and was right-royal pissed off when he found out that Carl sliced and diced it up.
Plaintiff vs Defendant.
Can we even imagine a world where someone would be convicted of the crime of killing a walker?
Carl gets a slap on the wrist after Madam President Maggie waltzes in on the hearing and gives her own judgement. Carl must catch another walker for Hershel to replace the one that was killed. Carl’s not happy and neither is Sophia. I loved how Sophia makes the remark to Maggie that she better watch out or that spoiled brat, Hershel, is going to turn into the next Sebastian Milton. Baha.
Whoopsie!
A little boy accidentally opened the door and the walkers were so excited to get out that they all smashed their heads together. Just desserts for our beloved little shit.
Negan’s been hiding.
While I haven’t been keeping up with everything Negan related in the comics, my experience with him on the TV has been unsavoury to say the least. I think I had touched on it on another review, but Negan had been given a kind of “piss off” pass.
“We’re not going to kill you but you’re banished.”
It appears that Negan’s been living in Springhaven. They’ve been dropping off supplies and they’re being consumed. Sounds like Carl’s got a soft spot for old Negs.
My favourite scene.
Every time I see these huge panels in any comic, it just makes me smile. Across two pages is just something magical in the final TWD issue ever.
We’re all going to have to assume the rail network in the States was destroyed during the Age of the Walkers. Eugene’s big dream is coming true. He’s uniting the East and the West in a colossal railway line. But alas, no Stephanie. While’s he’s out with the railway gang, Carl bumps into an ungrateful and sour-faced Laura who spits on the memory of Rick. Of course, Carl gives her what for and basically tells her to go suck a lemon. Show some respect, woman.
Daddy’s Home!
As it turns out it was Carl who killed the rest of them walkers in the zombie circus. Who knew?
Enter: The Michonne. Er.. Judge Hawthorne.
I try not to incorporate too many images during a review but this is a real gem. How can we forget Michonne? I mean ‘High-Priestess Hawthorne’. So Carl’s facing an informal hearing in the High Court for offing all of Hershel’s walkers. Apparently, the reason why he was taken cuffed to the hearing was because Hershel took the act as a threat on his life. Man, this guy really is a douche.
Michonne makes a swift decision after a moving monologue about the sacrifices made to now live in a world where, once again, the threat of walkers is taken for granted. People were once forced to cling to life or else they perished under the weight of the apocalypse. Carl Grimes is free to go.
I’ve decided to leave any further images on the cutting room floor.
Hershel catches Carl as he’s leaving and tells Carl that his show was a reminder of what happened in the past with a call-back to Glenn and how Hershel’s fear made him think about how his father would have felt. My impression was that Hershel thought he could pull the wool over Carl’s eyes with a story full of horse-shit. I didn’t buy it, but considering that Grimes’ speech balloon had the three dots indicating “I don’t know what to say to that,” leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth. Really? I just don’t think Carl would have bought that crap.
The massive Rick statue.
I have a feeling that we may see a whole lot more of this statue in the meme-o-sphere. Let’s call it the second coming of being “Rick-Rolled”.
A couple of kids make a snide remark about Carl’s eye patch. This is all an indication that everything’s moved on. The youth are blinded by their new cushy lives and apparently are an ungrateful bunch of little shits. Seventy four years later and the world we all live in hasn’t forgotten World War 2. In an entire world faced with a zombie apocalypse, can we really believe that the education system has taken a blow to his history curriculum that everyone forgot who Rick and Carl Grimes were? I mean, Carl’s still around. I’m getting a mixed message here, considering the run-in with Lauren at the site of the railway construction and her whining about how everyone worships Rick.
We end with a bedtime story.
Our final pages end with Carl reading a bedtime story to little Andrea. It’s a book about his father. Her grand-papa. You should see the size of it! (No pictures, either.) I’m assuming that the writing that’s mentioned earlier that’s keeping Sophia so busy may have had something to do with the late Mr. Grimes. Was she writing his biography or historical children’s books? We’re treated to a narration over images of headstones and (my favourite) Sebastian behind bars. It’s quite touching.
Done. For Good.
Now’s the time that I tell you that I’m super sad and it all sucks. But, now that I’ve read this whole book, (it was pretty long.. double sized, I guess), I’m just left feeling angry at Kirkman. You jerk. They wrapped up Seinfeld and now this.
You wrote a solid SIX pages after the last image in this book. I suppose it’s a whole justification for why it all had to happen this way. For the record, I didn't read it. So ner.
Ok, you creative genius. You got bored. Next project. Well, from all the fans...
You're a big meanie.
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