The Walking Dead, Volume 32: Rest in Peace

When I heard the comic was ending, I was surprised, but OK with it. I wasn’t sure if I was that interested in the Commonwealth storyline or if there was really much more story to tell. It seems Kirkman had this planned as the end point for a few years. Without his heartfelt letter to the reader at the end, I would have rated this four stars. But his final words for the readers got me, people, and made me want to give that man a hug.
I have immensely enjoyed Charlie Adlard’s artwork throughout the series. This last installment had some really powerful spreads—more than once I turned a page and found myself exclaiming aloud.
“Why are you swearing?” my husband asked, silly man.
I’m very happy with how this ended, all of it, who show more survived and who didn’t make it. It’s a bummer Rick went out the way he did—killed by a vengeful punk instead of dying in battle—and Carl finding him as a zombie was a shock I should have been prepared for but wasn’t. I still thought killing him off was the right move.
Herschel seems to be the Kylo Ren (OK, maybe not that bad) of the story, and that was surprising, but I loved the ending Carl got after the time jump. I’m curious to know how he ended up with Sophia, but I was happy with that too. His relationship with Lydia was kind of creepy.
There were a few bumps along the way, but I have really enjoyed this series, and I’m glad to have seen it through to the end. show less

I never actually watched the TV show, though I had plans to check out the early seasons. Back then, AMC was on fire with a bunch of great shows at the same time. What killed my interest was hearing that AMC planned to drag it out to 20 seasons, as long as it stayed popular and profitable.

So, what about the comic series? What if it got dragged on too? To keep it simple, I quit reading and forgot about it. That was four years and four months ago. The last volume I picked up was the 28th.

I ended up thinking about the series again last year when I stumbled across another zombie story: a manga called I Am a Hero. I’d heard it was good, but with a terrible ending. Before jumping into something new, I decided to check what was up with The show more Walking Dead comics. To my surprise, it had actually wrapped up. I only had four volumes left, so I figured, why not? The pacing was solid, even if not much was happening. There were lots of new characters and the story was clearly building up to something—I enjoyed it. Sure, it might’ve been tighter if it had focused on fewer characters, but hey, it wasn’t bad.

Then came the final volume. Some people think Kirkman either rushed it or didn’t know how to end it. Honestly, I think it’s the latter, and his afterword backs that up.

Kirkman always knew how he wanted the story to end, and it was dark and depressing. But in 2013, he decided to switch things up for a more optimistic, happy ending. Yeah, maybe we got more good stories along the way like he said, but that original ending would’ve packed a punch and fit The Walking Dead’s world perfectly.

I get why Kirkman went with the hopeful ending—it's probably more appealing in general. But for me, what really matters is which ending tells a better story. If you start the series with either ending in mind—a bleak, horrifying one or a happy, hopeful one—the abandoned dark ending just makes for a more compelling story. Even if someone just read both endings on their own, they’d probably be more intrigued by the sad one and wonder, “What happened here?” show less

After 15 years of reading, this is not an ending I can love, but it is all certainly fitting. The cast has become too sprawling to give everyone a decent send-off, so the focus of the final chapters has to be Rick and Carl...and has anyone ever really liked Carl enough to want him to be the focus of anything?

I really appreciated Kirkman sharing the warts and all rationalization of ending the series at this point in his afterword.

SPOILERS!!!!





I will admit that I was not caught off guard by the ending of the walking dead story. I had the ending spoiled for me before I picked up the final issue. I found the ending quite satisfying. I was sorry to see Rick be taken out by such a menial threat but I think in the end it rings quite poetic. And he hasn't been the same Rick for a long time so there is that too. I enjoyed this series immensely. I was always frustrated by the ending of Romero's Dawn of the Dead (the first zombie movie I ever watched) when they take the helicopter to nowhere. I always found this ending to be equal parts frustrating and thought-provoking. Well now I have a story that carries on past that, years and years into the zombie apocalypse. How do show more people change? What do they value? What are they willing to do to survive? I found it fascinating to discover that Kirkman had intended to end the run of this series back when they first arrive at Alexandria. In a way, the original story that Kirkman was telling ended there. I love the imaginative turn that the series took after the arrival at Alexandria. King Ezekiel and Shiva, the completely over-the-top introduction of Negan (RIP Glen), the war with the Whisperers. These storylines are iconic in the run of the walking dead but I don't think anything gets better then the series from the beginning to the Rick's rousing speech to Alexandrians after they defeat the walker horde in Alexandria. It is tight, well told, and full of deadly surprises and situations. If you read any part of the story, read Volumes 1-14. show less

Not the ending I expected, or even necessarily wanted, but I think it was mostly the one that was needed.

The last chapter with Carl was a little drawn out, and the hero worship of Rick a touch over the top, but overall, the message came through loud and clear: forget the past at your peril.

16 years later, the Walking Dead finally stop walking. Well done, boys, well done.

And that’s that.

A very fitting end to an overall good story. I really appreciate how hopeful it is, too. From a series that started out as grimdark as TWD to have its creators really acknowledge the power and a need for as happy ending as they could get for these characters makes me really glad. I would’ve hated if it ended with a total obliteration of human race as was Kirkman’s earlier plan.

Man, what a journey.

When you run out of shocking character deaths, the only thing left to kill is the series itself. Kirkman impresses with the ability to cram in one final repetition the exact same plot beats and twists that have been repeated for the last decade in this last volume.