The Walking Dead Issue 178: Sebastian, The Walking Dead’s version of Joffrey?

It seems like Game of Thrones may have influenced The Walking Dead in issue 178, or at least that is what everyone else is saying about the character of Sebastian.
This issue really showed how much of a jerk he was and naturally this, combined with his spoiled upbringing, has caused many people to compare him to the hundreds-of-people-praying-for-him-to-die character, Joffrey from Game of Thrones.
Sebastian certainly is an entitled jerk of a character, as can bee seen in the final moments of the issue when he starts a fight by assaulting Yumiko, Magna and Elodie just because Yumiko would not go on a private tour with him (shudder).
This scene did have the best moments of the issue though, with Princess showing off her skills by beating up a bunch of Commonwealth soldiers after they tried to defend Sebastian.
As someone who did not like Princess previously, it was nice to see her fighting those soldiers for her friends because it made her more likeable.
On top of this, the reveal that came afterwards, at the end of the issue, also had a lot of great implications.
I predicted in my review of Issue 176 that The Commonwealth was built on a class system and Elodie’s comment that, “it’s important we know our place,” basically confirmed this prediction.
Despite the fact that Sebastian just assaulted three people he will not get arrested because he is Governor Milton’s son, while Princess probably will be arrested for trying to defend her friends.
This is an interesting turn of events because, as I mentioned in my review of Issue 176, this probably means Governor Milton sees herself as above everyone else and will want to take over Alexandria and the other communities.
These final moments of the Issue were really entertaining and had some great revelations.
Another great moment in the issue was a touching scene between Michonne and Elodie, where Michonne reconnects with her and assures her that, even if Elodie hates her, she will always be there for her.
This was a great part because of Elodie’s constant changing expression across the different panels as Michonne assured her that she would be there.
However, in comparison to these moments the rest of the issue was lacking.
It was revealed in the beginning of the issue that Mercer and George were just letting off steam when Siddiq overheard them talking about overthrowing Milton, which makes the previous cliffhanger feel very misleading.
Then there was the part when Sophia confronted her mother about Dante, which I did not like at all.
It had the potential to be a good scene but it was ruined by how over-the-top Sophia was.
Yes, Sophia did have justifiable reasons to be angry about Maggie and Dante’s relationship but she went too far by calling Maggie a f*#@ing w!*#e .
This over-the-top reaction was made worse when Sophia seemed to be completely over it and jokes about it with Maggie minutes later.
There was also a weird inconsistency this issue with Stephanie.
When she was first introduced in Issue 176, Stephanie was Caucasian but in this issue she is African-American and this was a little odd to see.
Overall though, this issue was still good, despite the weird inconsistency and the over-the-top Sophia scene.
It certainly has me intrigued about what Governor Milton will do when she reaches Alexandria two issues from now.

Issue 177 of The Walking Dead: Good Issue With a Bad Cliffhanger.

In issue 177 of The Walking we got to meet more news characters, saw ones we had not seen in a while and had a few interruptions of intimate moments (wink).
The issue starts off with Rick reading a poem Mikey wrote about the death of his mother.
It was nice to see Rick again, who had been absent for three issues, which is apparently the longest time he has ever been absent in the series.
The scene between Rick and Mikey was very touching because of how Rick reacts to Mikey bringing up Andrea’s death.
Rick comments that he, “wouldn’t even know where to begin,” when writing a poem about her.
I like that Rick is still shown to be grieving Andrea, something that will probably take him many issues to bounce back from.
Although, it should be said that Rick will never be completely the same, considering that he loved her more than Lori.
Next at the Hilltop, we saw Maggie and Dante choose the absolute worst spot to hook up.
Seriously, if Maggie wanted to be discreet about her and Dante’s new relationship why did they choose a weapons shack where anyone could walk in?
Naturally, someone does and after that awkward situation we meet two new important characters named Sebastian and Mercer.
Sebastian is the son of Governor Milton and Mercer is his bodyguard.
Unfortunately for Mercer, Sebastian is a jerk who sees Mercer as below him, even though Mercer just saved him and his girlfriend’s life from multiple zombies.
This, however, did lead to a very funny moment where Sebastian criticized Mercer for not being able to handle two Walkers quickly and in the very next panel it reveals there were actually more than ten of them, which Mercer killed.
Then we finally get the conversation between Michonne and her daughter Elodie that had been built up the past two Issues.

michonne and elodie — Michonne shares a heartfelt moment with her daughter Elodie.

This was one of my favourite moments of Issue 177 because we learnt that Elodie is a real chip off the old block, when she reveals she murdered the men who raped her and murdered her sister.
This was very surprising to me because I thought Elodie would have found The Commonwealth early on and not had to resort to violence previously.
But no, just like Michonne, she has had to kill people to survive and knows exactly how bad things can get.
This may prove to be very interesting as their relationship progresses, with Elodie maybe helping Michonne in battle, instead of Michonne having to constantly protect her.
After this however, we get what I feel is the weakest part of the Issue and that is the cliffhanger.
Mercer meets with another soldier named George and the two discuss overthrowing Governor Milton, only to see Siddiq has overheard this conversation.

I do not like this cliffhanger for two reasons.
Number one, if Mercer and George were not just blowing off steam and are actually planning to overthrow Governor Milton, then this is happening too quickly.
The group just arrived at The Commonwealth.
It would have been better to have them, and thus the readers, get a better sense of the community before introducing this plot line.
Number two, this cliffhanger seemed way too similar to the scene Issue 89 when Glenn overheard Nicholas conspiring to kill Rick.
However, this might not turn out so bad if Mercer is just blowing off steam and I really hope he is because Mercer seems like a good character.
Overall, Issue 177 was a good Issue.
It introduced us to some interesting characters like Mercer and Sebastian and I really liked where Kirkman took Elodie’s story.
But the scene between Maggie and Dante was kind of dumb considering the loss of logic on Maggie’s part and I did not like the cliffhanger.

The Commonwealth is run like a modern day government in Issue 176 of The Walking Dead… but that’s not a good thing.

In Issue 176 of The Walking Dead, New World Order Part 2, we got to see how the Commonwealth operates when Eugene and the others are taken to meet its leader Pamela Milton.
The issue picks up immediately after the shocking reveal of the previous one that Michonne’s daughter Elodie is alive and looking for her.
Michonne’s reaction to this was well done, with her wanting to see Elodie immediately, even going so far as to threaten Lance to see her but he wants them to meet Milton first.
Over the next few pages we get to see how The Commonwealth operates.
We finally get to meet Stephanie, who tries to talk to Eugene but is reprimanded by Lance, rather severely in fact.
After this, we meet Maxwell Hawkins and the leader of The Commonwealth, Governor Pamela Milton (I am sure it is not a coincidence that Kirkman decided to bring another Governor into the story).
It is through these two characters that we see how The Commonwealth is actually run like a modern day government… but that is not a good thing.
It seems that Milton and Hawkins only see people who were of elite status before the apocalypse as important to The Commonwealth.
This can be seen when Hawkins decides to have Michonne talk to Milton instead of Eugene (even though Eugene was the one who lead them there and is one of the most important people from his community) just because he was a science teacher while Michonne was a lawyer.
It only gets worse when Michonne meets Milton.
Milton views herself as bringing back civilization, even though Rick’s group has been doing this as well and wants Michonne to thank her for what she has done when she has not done anything to help Michonne yet.
She also seems to view people below her status as weaker because of how she refers to the soldiers guarding her as “brutes”.

These factors combine to show that The Commonwealth is run by elites and people who were not important before the apocalypse but are now, like Eugene, are of no importance to them, apart from doing grunt work.
This has pretty bad implications when you think about it.
Milton views her soldiers as “brutes” and soldiers are technically more regarded than police officers.
Rick was a police officer before the apocalypse so Milton might view him as lower than her own soldiers and therefore see him as an unfit leader.
Since Milton views herself as bringing back civilization, she will probably try to take over Rick’s communities.
I do not believe she and The Commonwealth are villains because they do have the best intentions but they will most likely be a problem for Rick’s communities rather than allies.
It has some very interesting implications for the future of The Walking Dead, which I like.
Then we get the final scene of Michonne reuniting with her daughter Elodie.
I was very surprised by this because I thought it would be at least a couple more issues before the two reunited but I am very glad it happened sooner.
It was a very touching moment and I cannot wait to see how their relationship evolves, considering the two have spent years apart thinking each other were dead.
Overall Issue 176 of The Walking Dead was a pretty good one.
We got to see how The Commonwealth is run, opening up some interesting story points for the future and got to see the heart warming reunion between Michonne and Elodie.