The Walking Dead, Volume 05: The Best Defense

The Best Defense, the 5th volume in The Walking Dead series, introduces The Governor, a man who seems poised to become a villain more dangerous and deadly than any zombie we've seen thus far. The character is intense, and more importantly, unpredictable.

When Rick, Glen and Michonne (who I still dislike immensely, although she definitely grows on me in this volume) leave the safety of the prison to check out a downed helicopter, they're brought to The Governor. What he does to each of them is unnervingly messed up. Robert Kirkman never fails to surprise and between the The Governor's form of entertainment and the punishments he doles out, I found myself in a constant state of shock.

Is it just me or is Lori becoming the most aggravating show more woman left on the planet. She's cold, whiny, and extremely judgmental of everyone around her. We all know Carol is sort of useless without a man in her life, but Lori's reaction to her suggestion is over-the-top harsh. When a simple no could suffice, Lori must go that next step and just about ensure Carol's next suicide attempt. Some friend.

I am so in love with this series. I find that I care about many of these characters deeply and I'm never disappointed in how the story plays out. This may not be the post-apocalyptic zombie world I'd want to live in, but I love every new installment so much more than the last. show less

Most comic series sag at some point, and the author introduces some fresh situation to keep it lively. Here the fine folks who are living behind bars to stay safe from the zombies see a helicopter fly overhead, and three of them go to investigate it.

What follows is as horrific as the Zombies who lurk outside the safe gates of the prison. Any possibly more dangerous.

If there were an apocalypse, what would happen to basic human behavior. The answer in this part of the series is not hopeful.

I like this series, but it's hard to read. Such unrelenting horror and sadness makes me want to hold a puppy or something. I feel like the underlying theme of the story is that people are, deep down, just awful.

I'm ripping through these as fast as I can. I am fascinated by Kirkman's take on humans in survival mode as much as I'm fascinated by the story itself.

Okay, up to this point the characters, their ethical confusions, their fights and their priorities were driving an interesting story. This issue, however, degenerated into a catalog of suspense/action/HBO series tropes: raping the tough chick, abrupt limb loss, evil leaders with henchmen who like power tripping, gladiatorial combat, etc., etc. I'll read the next issue in hope that the author was setting up an interesting ethical situation or at least some discussion (heretofore absent) of the science of zombiehood, but this ish was just ick for ick's sake.

The gang starts to get comfortable and relaxed in their prison home. One day they see a helicopter crash and follow it to discover a nearby town, sheltered from the zombies and run by an evil man known only as The Governor. Also Carol weirdly keeps hitting on both Rick and Lori.

The graphic novel Governor is less scary than the TV one, I think. Mostly because the TV one takes longer to reveal his secrets. Either way, this was a really good one.

Agh I hate the Governor! I thought I hated him in the tv series, but little did I know AMC downplayed what a royal ass he is. More than that he's also a sociopath and really shouldn't be leading a town. Even his own people know that. Fuck! Considering the fact that his three captives are main characters I'm gonna hope that they all make it. I really love Glen and Maggie. Rick is too big of a character to die and the Governor already said he wants him alive. But Mishonne, I don't know. I really like her in the show, but she went down on Tyresse, while he was with Carol. Which thinking about it now is more his fault for not stoping her, but she had walked in on them, so she would have known. Oh well I'll just have to wait and see.