The Walking Dead, Vol. 6: This Sorrowful Life by Robert Kirkman Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Walking Dead, Vol. 6: This Sorrowful Life
Book Review: Back on its Feet
Summary: 4 Stars
Time flies when you're having fun.
When we last checked in on trooper gone feral Rick Grimes and his merry crew of survivors, three of them---I'll call them Rick, Katana Chick, and Baldy for simplicity---had been dragooned by the thugs of a rival local warlord, the psychopathic "Governor" (who bears an uncanny resemblance to splatter-meister and all-around zombie dude Tom Savini).
The Governor's little welcome-wagon goons bore great tidings of glad joy back to their little fortified village, where the advent of three guests meant one thing: new meat for their homegrown little gladiatorials, where they dropped two combatants into an arena, added in some zombies, and mixed well! Place your bets! We don't need another hero!
"Best Defense" wasn't anything trailblazing or genius---indeed, it owed far more to "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" than anything Romero created--- but it was a welcome escape from Charlie Adlard's increasingly indifferent artwork (maybe the prospect of bloodsports quickened Adlard's blood and steeled his brush) and the tedium of what had become a zombified soap opera trapped behind bars. Hell, it got the characters (and the faithful, bored readers) outdoors for some fresh air.
No, "Sorrowful Life" doesn't bring to bear anything new, but it's fun just the same. Payback in this one---particularly for the atrocities inflicted by the Governor in his, um, 'complicated' relationship with Katana Chick---well, payback has been a long time coming, but come it does, as Katana Chick introduces her new best buddy the Governor to the joys of well-tempered Japanese cutlery.
That's really not the question, though, is it?
The real question is this: as you watch the arena battle play out, as you watch Katana Chick take her stand, samurai swords poised to slice and dice, as you glimpse the crowd's fevered reaction---can you deny they've got Metallica's "Sad But True" amped over the arena's loudspeakers? You know they do.
Anyway, even though at journey's end we're back where we started, Kirkman has advanced the story to the very edge of a major confrontation---derivative, but blood-spattered and tasty nonetheless. Hopefully Kirkman will get more adventuresome (and Adlard tighter) as things progress, but in the meantime, the last few issues of "Walking Dead" have been pretty dry, and this gets the juices flowing and fills the bill.
For now.
JSG
Book Review: Good but not the best of them
Summary: 3 Stars
The 6th book in Kirkman's excellent story about a group of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by the dead. It stays true to the fans. If you're reading this review, that probably means you're one of them and you've read the firt 5 books, if that is the case then this review doesn't really matter. You're going to buy "This sorrowful life" anyway, that is if you liked the first 5. And that is excactly what I recommend you do. It's not the best of them but that doesn't mean it's not good. 3/5Book Review: Just keeps getting better...
Summary: 5 Stars
Getting this book was a little slow due to the delays but as soon as I got it and read it I was totally satisfied.
In my personal opinion vol. 6 of Walking Dead is probably the scariest one I've read. Not for reasons you might think, either. Zombies take a back seat in this volume and the real threat of the story is...you guessed it...humans. The evil things people do to one another just to quench their bloodlust is terrifying because it's real and it happens every day.
It also asks the question: just how far would the characters go for revenge and to keep their loved ones safe and what price do they pay when they have to live with their decisions.
To be honest this has been the first volume to actually make me squirm in my chair and cry out in a (somewhat) sympathy pain. The scary thing about the violence in this volume is you almost crave it. The way Kirkman writes his characters you feel their pain as well as their thirst for revenge. It almost puts you in the story and brings you to the same scary dark place that the characters go to.
If you haven't read Walking Dead don't be a dope and read this volume and if you have been reading Walking Dead and have been trouble by the violence and disturbing subject material...well...you might want to switch to reading Invincible because this volume takes it to a whole new level. Plus I have a feeling things are only going to get worse for Rick and his gang.
Book Review: Going Savage for Civilization's Sake
Summary: 4 Stars
Most of the folks here already know that The Walking Dead saga is a compilation of stories by Robert Kirkman that expand on the story that is well know to any zombie movie fan. The main story. The one started in earnest by George Romero in 1968 with Night of the Living Dead [and was later remade in 1990 (the version that I prefer) by Tom Savini (with Romero oversight)]
The Walking Dead Volume 6 continues the story of former Normal-World Police Officer Rick Grimes and those that he comes in contact with in The New World...a world that has been over-run by zombies.
Volume 6 begins after many months have passed since The Walking Dead epidemic started, and all of the characters are now reluctantly beginning to accept that their home is not the only thing that's new. Their entire existence is new: New families. New friends. New daily routines. New rules to live by. New World.
And venturing out into The New World is dangerous. The confines and security provided by the characters' new home (established in Volume 3) are less than safe. But outside the gates await unfathomable chaos and horror; hordes of the undead, along with other survivors in desperate situations that will do the unthinkable to stay alive (or entertained).
Volume 6 is much less about zombies and more about what happens to society, its morals, laws and standards when government is lost and the planet becomes mostly uninhabitable.
I'm not a regular comic book reader. But I was drawn to The Walking Dead by the volume releases that bring the convenience of being able to get several chapters of the story without the month to month waiting for each issue. And I am now hooked.
The volume releases of The Walking Dead are like reading a screenplay with storyboards of a version of Night of the Living Dead that began simultaneously, but in a different part of the country. Yes, it's kind of a rip-off of a story (stories) already told, but the key is that it's done very very well. The zombies are true to the original Romero creation: slow and stupid as opposed to the 28 Days/Weeks Later (2002 & 2007) or 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead fast and thinking zombies.
Each volume takes under an hour to get all the way through, and they leave you wanting more. So it's bittersweet to now be caught up to where I'm through all of the released material, and now have to wait for the subsequent volume releases.
Volumes 1 - 5 are all also available individually. A hard cover (Book 1) combination of Volumes 1 & 2 is out The Walking Dead Book 1 (Walking Dead) and a hard cover (Book 2) combination of Volumes 3 & 4 also came out this year The Walking Dead, Book 2 (Nos. 13-24). Book 3 (Volumes 5 & 6), is listed on Amazon for presale as of this writing The Walking Dead Book 3.
So anyone in need of a very well done zombie fix that you don't put into your DVD player should absolutely get down with The Walking Dead sickness. Add it to your cart, but be sure to start with volume 1 and read them chronologically.
Book Review: On the Decline?
Summary: 3 Stars
I tore through this TPB in the shortest amount of time of any of the series so far. My personal taste runs toward graphic novels that reward a slower pace through the dialog and art. I sometimes find Adlard's rushed style disconcerting for the wrong reasons, and it's hard to tell some of the main characters apart sometimes - Tony Moore's quirky characterizations are long gone. There was a crazy captivating fresh take on the zombie story when this series started out, and a real clarity to the characters of the ensemble cast. To my mind that originality is starting to be replaced by a whiff of Steven King.
Not that there's anything wrong with that... ;-)
This isn't a negative review, but I think this one's my least favorite in the series so far.
That's OK. I'm sure there are a lot more to come.