After a glimpse of a new survivor, the action picks up immediately where Safety Behind Bars left off. Dexter, the leader of the convicts who were hiding in the prison when Rick discovered it, has had enough is forcing the police officer and his crew out. Patricia, angered at Rick for allowing Hershel to feed Thomas to zombies, aided Dexter in securing weapons under the pretense that they wouldn’t be harmed. Thanks to Dexter’s carelessness, the standoff is interrupted by a herd of zombies that escaped the bowels of the prison. During the firefight, Rick sees the chaos and confusion as an opportunity to shoot Dexter. Dexter’s confidant decides to flee after things settle down while the last inmate, Axel, sees the good in Rick’s people and decides to stay.
Otis returns from a supply run with a woman who saved him during a small skirmish. Named Michonne, she is a very cold, quiet and reserved woman who leads two zombies on a chain with their limbs and jaws removed. She shows extreme skill with a katana, swiftly cutting through swathes of zombies to save Otis.
With things calming down, Rick, Tyreese, Allen and Dale move deeper into the prison. Allen is bitten on the leg and in an attempt to stop the infection, Rick cuts off his leg with an axe before Hershel steps in to care for him. While everyone is on edge, Michonne has a brief sexual encounter with Tyreese that Carol witnesses. Despondent, she breaks off their relationship and attempts to commit suicide. Rick delivers the news to Tyreese, who he sees fooling around with Michonne. The two men get into a savage fistfight, calling each other out over the kills each has made since their initial meeting and the fight is interrupted with news that Allen has died of his wounds. The Heart’s Desire ends with Rick’s impassioned speech about how this new world is here to stay, no one is coming for help and it is up to everyone to protect what is theirs.
I’ll get this out of the way first: I love Michonne. Granted, her entrance seems to be a bit out of place, a lone woman carrying a samurai sword with two zombies in tow, but she quickly establishes herself as potentially the best characters in the series. Cold, quiet and calculating, she isn’t afraid of getting what she wants. However, we see the problem of Rick’s willingness to incorporate more survivors into the group, as her advances towards Tyreese quickly causes destructive ripples in his group dynamic. Carol nearly kills herself over Tyreese’s infidelity and there are those, especially Andrea, who don’t take kindly to her presence. Michonne also ends up being the source of a violent fist fight between Rick and Tyreese, who use it as an opportunity to release their pent up aggression.
One of the more significant moments in this volume is Rick’s shooting of Dexter. Territorial Rick comes out again, as he kills the man who threatened his people out of the prison. Was Rick justified in what he did? This is the great things about The Walking Dead: there are no clear rights and wrongs in the story. Killing Dexter allows Rick to secure the prison as his own at the expense of his sense of justice, especially since he did it so soon after his high and mighty moralistic speech killing people. This begs the question, is Rick a good leader?
Artwork
With so many characters getting hurt and beaten up, Adlard had his work cut out for him. Half of the time, Rick always seems to be covered in bandages: his hand was banged up from beating Thomas and after the fight with Tyreese, he’s got patches all over his face and arms. There seems to be less of a focus on the Frank Miller-style black and white panels, which is nice as my critiques of Adlard’s work is that he seems to rely too much shadows. I suppose it fits the location, a large prison building with barely any light due to the lack of electricity, but it sometimes gets to be a bit much.
After being forced off Hershel’s farm, Rick and the survivors have found a seemingly abandoned prison – after they clear out the zombies first. While Rick, Tyreese and Dale formulate a plan for clearing the zombies, the other survivors return to Hershel and invite him to stay with the group. Rick and Tyreese stumble upon a cafeteria occupied by four convicts and while happy to find the place stocked with food that the convicts are willing to share, certain members of Rick’s group, especially Lori, are wary of them.
With Hershel, his three daughters and Glenn adjusting to their new home, the silence is broken by the sound of gunfire. Rick and Tyreese run to the source, only to discover his daughter Julie dead and her boyfriend Chris cowering in the corner. As it turns out, the two had planned a murder suicide pact that went wrong and to Tyreese’s dismay, his daughter comes back to life as a zombie. After Chris shoots her, Tyreese strangles the boy until he dies and waits for him to turn. Seeing this causes Rick to head back to their old camp to see Shane once more.
Things get worse in the prison as one of the convicts, Thomas, makes gets friendly with Otis’ girlfriend Patricia before seeking out Hershel’s two youngest daughters. Hershel himself wanders the prison looking for them and stumbles upon a grisly scene of his two decapitated daughters. Suspecting the prisoners, the crew force them into a locked room, which doesn’t sit well with their leader. Things come to a head when Thomas attempts to attack Andrea who manages to get away (after suffering a deep cut on her face) and runs to find the others. When Thomas’ true nature is discovered by everyone, Rick beats him within an inch of his life, severely disfiguring his face and breaking his hand in the process. Rather than kill him outright, Rick establishes a “You Kill, You Die” rule in order to maintain some semblance of social order.
This rule is put to the ultimate test when the convict leader, now armed, tells Rick at gunpoint to leave.
Safety Behind Bars is the first volume in the series in which zombies are not the primary cause of death among the survivors. The prison, as secure and comfortable as it is, is where we start noticing Rick’s sense of territoriality. He seems to operate under the pretense that because he and his group found the prison, it is theirs to live in without stopping to consider whether or not others have occupied it. After discovering that four convicts have been living in the facility, Rick chooses to trust them fairly quickly, unaware that Thomas is actually a brutal murderer.
Thomas is another part of what makes this volume interesting. Even in the face of utter ruin and chaos, some habits are hard to break. He shows no remorse for murdering Hershel’s two daughters and is unrepentant when Patricia attempts to save him. His beating at the hands of Rick shows his fierce defense of his own people, but that the stress of living day to day is getting to him. Only when he sees the survivors look at him in shock does he stay his hand and implement some form of order.
We also find out how the zombie infection works in this volume. Thanks to George Romero, we’ve been trained to believe that if you are bitten by a zombie, you become one. In Kirkman’s world, however, we’re already infected and will become a zombie regardless if we are bitten or killed by other means. This certainly raises the stakes, as it means that even in safety, there is a risk of turning into the undead. It is a great twist on the formula and keeps a popular genre fresh.
Artwork
Adlard’s more realistic rendering of the characters makes many of the grisly deaths all the more disturbing for me. Seeing the mutilated corpses of Hershel’s poor daughters was difficult to see again.
In a flashback, Lori stands alone on the highway outside of Atlanta. Shane approaches her and the two discuss their situation and the grief she feels for having left Rick at the hospital. Lori expresses feelings of loneliness and in the heat of the moment, Shane and Lori make love. Back in the present, Lori spits on Shane’s grave before meeting with Rick and the others as they break camp and prepare to move. Andrea is still coming to terms with the death of her sister and Dale tries to comfort her. While clearing wreckage from the highway, the survivors are met by a man named Tyreese with his daughter and her boyfriend in tow and are welcomed into the group.
After a few days worth of travelling, the survivors happen upon a gated housing community that shows promise once they complete a house to house check for zombies. Just as everyone gets used to the prospect of sleeping in beds, Rick watches in dismay as the melting snow reveals a sign that reads, “all dead do not enter.” As if on cue, herds zombies emerge from the houses and attack the survivors as they scramble into Dale’s RV. Donna is killed, leaving Allen and his two boys stricken with grief.
A hunt for food results in Carl accidentally getting shot by a man named Otis, who leads Rick to a nearby farm for aid. Rick is met by Hershel, a farmer who’s skills with tending animals allows him to successfully pull the bullet out of Carl’s body. As the boy recovers, Rick asks if they can all stay at that farm and are willing to sleep within Hershel’s barn. The farmer causally mentions that is where they keep the zombies of his friends, neighbors and loved ones alive. Rick is upset by this and offers to kill them, a suggestion that sends Hershel in a rage, as he desperately believes that the government is finding a cure.
Naturally, things go real bad real quick, as an attempt to shepherd a zombie into the barn leads to the escape of those trapped inside, killing one of Hershel’s daughters and son. In his grief, Herschel orders the survivors to leave his farm, threatening to shoot Rick if they don’t. Glenn, who has developed a relationship with Hershel’s second daughter Maggie, offers to stay behind. While on the road, Dale discovers a prison situated not too far from the farm. With high hopes, the survivors start making plans for their new home.
The Walking Dead is the kind of series that it is hard to get bored with because something is always happening. After being forced out of their camp by a zombie attack, the crew leave their former haven for the unknown and with winter settling in, survival is about to get even more difficult. One of the biggest bombshells of this volume is not so much Carl getting shot, but Lori’s pregnancy. Thanks to the flashback, we know that she and Shane had an intimate moment together, which could very well mean that the baby is his, not Rick’s. Rick is delighted by the news but Dale’s suggestion on who the father could be upsets him and wishes to not consider the possibility. Even though the nature of the pregnancy comes off as soap opera-y, the stakes are very high in this case due to the lack of functioning hospitals and medical equipment.
The nice thing about doing re-reads of a series is that, by going back, you tend to remember things easily forgotten because of events in the recent volumes. For example, I don’t remember “Miles Behind Us” being such a sexually charged volume. We see Lori have sex with Shane, Carol pursues a relationship with Tyreese and his daughter is constantly sneaking around to fool around with her boyfriend and Glenn, who has shown signs of jealousy over Carol’s interest in someone, finds comfort in Maggie’s arms. It is interesting to see characters “hooking up” so soon after the outbreak and the more recent deaths of Donna and Herschel’s children. But then again, when faced with life or death situations, shacking up is likely related to finding dependence rather than love.
Artwork
Much has to be said about the artwork in Miles Behind Us as it is a significant departure from Tony Moore’s work. For reasons I have been unable to figure out, Moore stopped illustrating The Walking Dead after the first volume. In his place is illustrator Charlie Adlard who forgoes Moore’s style and creates his own distinctive look. Instead of clean, finely detailed characters and environments, people are more realistic, with thick black lines and shadows becoming a visual trademark. In some instances, the heavy use of black becomes a bit much, resulting in scenes you would normally find in a Frank Miller comic. I remember not caring for Adlard’s style when I first saw it but since he has become the de facto illustrator for the series, I have learned to accept it. However, after experiencing the jarring transition from Moore to Adlard once again, I can’t help but pine for Moore to return to the series.
Welcome to a new feature here at No Flying No Tights, Doubletake.
Rather than do a basic review for graphic novels that are made up of numberous volumes, a re-read allows us to accomplish two goals: review the work and encourage you to follow along and chime in with your thoughts and comments. If it is your first exposure to the graphic novel, that’s even better!
Our first re-read will discuss Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. Although popular among readers, The Walking Dead has been given further exposure from the televised adaptation developed by Kirkman and Frank Darabont. If you’ve been following the show, you will quickly discover that it has diverged significantly from the source material, so people, places and situations will be different. Also note that this feature will not shy away from spoilers. You’ve been warned!
The genesis of The Walking Dead came from Kirkman’s desire to see an ongoing story of a zombie apocalypse. With fifteen trade paperback volumes currently available on the shelves, Kirkman shows no signs of stopping the story, despite the major changes that have occurred since the first volume. Unique to The Walking Dead is Kirkman’s philosophy of no character being safe from death, allowing for a constant state of tension. The Walking Dead is not a happy story, it is one that follows the remnants of humanity struggling to stay afloat in an ocean of madness after the dead begin to walk the earth.
The Walking Dead, “Days Gone Bye”
The Walking Dead begins with officer Rick Grimes waking in a hospital bed after he is shot by armed thugs. Weak and confused, Rick stumbles through the seemingly abandoned building and finds a cafeteria filled with the undead before leaving the facility, allowing himself a brief moment of total emotional collapse. Liberating a bicycle from an undead corpse, Rick visits his home and finds no sign of his wife and son. Dismayed, the officer walks outside and gets bashed on the back of the head with a shovel. Coming to, Rick is introduced to Morgan and his son Duane who, after ensuring that Rick is not infected, brings him up to speed. In the classic zombie setup, no one really knows why the dead have risen from their graves, only that they have quickly overrun major cities and sent everyone in a panic. The government set up shelters, the closest being the city of Atlanta, but some – like Morgan – opted to stay in the suburbs. Rick takes Morgan to the police station where the two men stock up on weapons and supplies before going their separate ways.
Rick reaches the outskirts of Atlanta without incident but hope of finding survivors is lost because the city is dead and he is quickly surrounded by the creatures. Finding shelter in a nearby alley, Rick meets a young man named Glenn who helps him out of the city and to a nearby camp, where he is tearfully reunited with his wife Lori, his son Carl and his partner Shane. After a zombie wanders into the camp and breaks up the reunion, Rick takes Glenn back into the city to gather weapons. In order to pass through without attracting attention, Rick comes up with a bold idea to hide their scent by covering the two of them with zombie gore, thinking that the undead search out prey by smell. The ruse works well enough until a storm breaks and the rain washes the grime away, sending the surrounding zombies into a frenzy. The two reach safety and agree not to tell anyone about their near death experience. Back at camp, Shane and Lori share a private moment that suggests a previous sexual encounter between the two. Shane and Rick train the survivors to use weapons, which is put to good use as the camp is attacked by a small of herd of zombies during the night, leaving Amy dead and Jim mortally wounded.
The attack leaves the survivors shaken and traumatized. Amy is buried and Jim is tended to until he asks to be left alone to die on his own. Rick suggests that the survivors pack up and go some place else, which sets Shane off the deep end and accuses Rick of blaming him for the deaths of Amy and Jim. Lori steps in to defend her husband, which angers Shane even more as he storms off into the forest. Chasing after him, Rick confronts Shane who breaks down, allowing his anger and jealousy to get the better of him. Wanting Rick out of the picture in order to be with Lori, Shane makes a move to shoot his former friend, but is instead shot by Carl. The volume ends with Rick embracing his son who says, “It’s not the same as killing the dead ones, Daddy.”
Days Gone Bye is a great introduction into Kirkman’s zombie nightmare, setting the tone of what we can expect to see throughout the series. While there are herds of zombies waiting to make lunch out of Rick and his band of survivors, this new, chaotic world is dangerous and terrifying enough to turn humans into savages. Shane’s outburst shows that people are hanging by a thread, with all of the prejudices and grudges becoming our worst enemies in a society that no longer has rules.
Rick Grimes is, and will be, the series’ most fascinating character. Although he shows signs of being a reluctant leader, there are moments where he steps in and asserts dominance over the lives of the Atlanta survivors. Although the survivors are quick to look up to him, Shane is obviously upset because his new life as a leader and Lori’s lover gets taken away. Human nature plays a big part in The Walking Dead and this certainly won’t be the last time we see something like this.
Artwork
Days Gone Bye is illustrated by Tony Moore who has an incredible eye for detail, especially when it comes to drawing zombies and urban environments. Atlanta is rendered in painstaking detail and from buildings to litter, there’s always something to see in each panel. Because Moore’s artwork is clean and fine, it makes the violent images all the more graphic. Know now that this series is not for the faint of heart. Zombies bite and rip human flesh with shocking ferocity as skin peels, bones break and blood flows uncontrollably.
The Walking Dead, “The Heart’s Desire”
The Walking Dead, “The Heart’s Desire”
The Walking Dead, “Safety Behind Bars”
The Walking Dead, “Miles Behind Us”
The Walking Dead, “Days Gone Bye”
