The Walking Dead Issue 179: Not a lot of Excitement but that’s not a Bad Thing.

Warning: This review will contain major spoilers for the issue.

In terms of action, not much happened in Issue 179 of The Walking Dead, New World Order Part 5.
This issue mainly serves the purpose of bridging the gap between the previous issue and the next one.
However, even though some people might find this lack of action boring, it is necessary for the story to have issues like this to build character and avoid abrupt shifts in the story.
For example, if they had put Michonne deciding to stay in the previous issue and then had the characters immediately returning to Alexandria, we would have got barely any time to see them interacting with The Commonwealth community and set up each of their beliefs on how it is run.
But, just because we did not get any action this Issue does not mean there was nothing interesting happening because we did get development for some characters like Magna.
In one particular scene, the final nail was driven into the coffin and it was confirmed that The Commonwealth works on a class based system with the upper class class in charge.
Surprisingly though, almost all the characters seem to believe a system like this is a good thing.
This is strange because, if you think about it, they came from a society that was almost a Utopia.
Rick built a system in Alexandria where everyone is equal and it does not matter who you were before.
If you remove all the zombies and outside groups, like The Whisperers, trying to kill them, then Rick’s society would be the perfect one so it is strange to see characters like Eugene seeing the upside to a class system.
It does make sense for Michonne, since she was a lawyer beforehand but for the others it was a bit odd, especially when they had just watched a member of the upper class assault someone and get away with it because of their status.
However, thankfully Magna comes in and, in a nice piece of development, seems to be the only one offended by this idea, no longer wanting anything to do with The Commonwealth.
After this, we get various small moments of the characters, escorted by Stephanie and Elodie, exploring The Commonwealth.
This was important because it allowed us to see the characters associate with those in The Commonwealth and get a feeling of how it works.
We even learn there are other communities out there that are part of The Commonwealth, like Greenville.
Afterwards, the group depart to Alexandria, with Michonne understandably staying behind to be with her daughter.
However, she does give her sword to Eugene, a decision I think she will come to regret because she may need it in the future, what with the problems of the class system.
Then, just like when exploring The Commonwealth, we get a series of scenes presented with single panels to show the passage of time as the characters return to Alexandria along with Pamela, Maxwell, Mercer and their soldiers in tow.
During these scenes we get a real sense of how bad the class system in The Commonwealth is.
Pamela sleeps in a big tent forcing the others to sleep outside and when she finally sees Alexandria she is very disapproving, declaring it “a s#*t hole.”
These scenes prove just how large Pamela’s ego is because she thinks of herself above everyone else.
The issue ends with Eugene and Magna riding ahead to warn Rick about The Commonwealth’s arrival and Eugene declaring they had better be as nice as they seem, “for their sake.”
I unfortunately found this cliffhanger to be rather pointless because, even if The Commonwealth does turn out to be bad, there does not seem to be a lot that the survivors would be able to do since the community has over 50,000 people.
They massively outnumber all of Rick’s communities combined.
This issue did have a few strange moments, like everyone agreeing about the class system having its advantages and the cliffhanger but, overall, I think it was a good one.
There may not have been a lot of action but it bridged the gap to the next Issue where we will finally have Rick meeting the new Governor.

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.

The Walking Dead delivers a shocking twist with its latest Issue.

Warning: Contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Issue 175.

Well, that just happened.
After much anticipation, in Issue 175 of The Walking Dead, we finally got to meet the members of the Commonwealth community.
Naturally, everything did not go according to plan, with the group being held at gunpoint at the end of Issue 173.
Two Issues later we see how these events play out with the group meeting representative of The Commonwealth Lance Hornsby, Negan’s skinny twin brother (I am kidding about that last part).
Lance seems like an interesting character and is not afraid to threaten violence, although this comes across more as being cautious than anything else.
Watching the confrontation between Lance and Eugene was very interesting because both had valid reasons for mistrusting each other.
Lance did not trust Eugene’s group because of the danger they posed and Eugene did not trust Lance because Stephanie was mysteriously absent from the meeting.
It will be interesting to see how this mistrust plays out in future Issues, especially with the huge twist we just got.
I think this may be the best twist The Walking Dead has given us because it is revealed at the end of the Issue that one of Michonne’s daughters is alive and living in The Commonwealth.

Michonne reveal — Michonne sees a note from her daughter, revealing she is alive.

Michonne mentioned her daughters all the way back in Issue 139 so to see it come up again like this was great.
I can only imagine what the future holds for Michonne and the Commonwealth storyline.
And, what’s more, I actually think we may have already seen what a member of Michonne’s family looks like.
In Issue 139 Michonne says her children were in the care of her ex-husband.
What if her ex-husband is alive and is the Officer Mercer we see on the recently released cover of Issue 177?

Officer Mercer on the cover of Issue 177. Could he be Michonne’s ex-husband?

That would also be an interesting twist and give Michonne even bigger involvement in the story going forward.
Issue 175 was a great issue that did a good job of introducing us to some of the people of The Commonwealth.
I cannot wait to see what happens next, especially after that great twist.

Time for Eugene to die after this episode of The Walking Dead

Contains Spoilers for The Walking Dead season eight episode seven, Time for After

The Walking Dead has delivered another fantastic episode with its seventh episode of season 8, Time for After.
This episode was another Saviour centered episode, just like episode five and, just like that episode, it is one of the best episodes of the season.
Eugene was a particular standout of this episode, with actor Josh McDermitt doing a great job.
It was exciting to see Eugene’s character arc in this episode and I loved how it was symbolized.
When Eugene is having a conversation with Gabriel, (the same one they had in the comics, only much earlier) light is covering Gabriel, giving him an almost angelic look while Eugene is covered in shadow, foreshadowing him doing darker things as he helps Negan rather than his friends.
I also loved the scene where Eugene had an outburst at Gabriel after witnessing many Saviours die.
McDermitt gives his best performance on The Walking Dead in this scene.
However, although McDermitt does give a great performance as Eugene, I can’t help but fear that his time on the show might be over by season eight’s end.
It really does not feel like Eugene is redeemable at this point so I think it is likely he could die some time this season.

Another character given time to shine in this episode was Dwight, who had various interactions with Eugene.
Although these scenes were great, it did make me wonder why Dwight did not just shoot Eugene during their rooftop confrontation.
Dwight is clearly not above murdering Eugene and it would be pretty easy to make it look like an accident so Negan would not suspect anything.
Then we get get the second storyline of the episode with Daryl, Tara, Michonne and Rosita going to attack the Saviours, going against Rick’s plan.
Thankfully Rosita and Michonne do not go through with it.
I was really glad to see Rosita be against the plan because it shows how much she has grown since last season.
However, Daryl and Tara still went through with the plan and this possibly led to the Saviours escaping at the end of the episode.
I like Daryl and Tara but these two need to keep a clear head or they are going to get people killed.
The final storyline in this episode saw Rick bring Jadis and the trash people over to their side.
It was very exciting to see Rick be able to defeat a Walker and three of the trash people, including Jadis, while tied up.

Although, I was kind of hoping Rick would just kill Jadis because of how annoying she and her trash people are but whatever.
Then we get the closing moments of the episode where Rick sees, much to his horror, the Saviours have escaped.
And, if the trailers are anything to go by, the mid-season finale will be brutal.
There was also the announcement that there will be a big death next episode so we will probably get the question of what Rick was crying about in the first episode of season 8 answered.
There is also a spoiler floating around about who it is that dies and I hope it is wrong because I hate getting spoiled.
Overall Time For After was one of the best episodes of The Walking Dead season 8.
Like most of the episodes so far this season, it would not get on a top 10 list but it is still a really great episode.