The Walking Dead, Volume 08: Made to Suffer

Well that was bleak.

It's always been one of The Walking Dead's main strengths that it doesn't shy away from the consequences of the situations into which its characters are placed. When you're under attack from overwhelming numbers and bullets are flying, there is no miraculous escape.

I respect the series for that and it means the storytelling has a much more dynamic structure than most ongoing series; as in life things don't subtly evolve, they settle into something that in retrospect looks like stability – but only once some huge event (a birth, a redundancy, a massacre) comes and throws things off in a completely different direction.

This is the massive end of a massive chapter of The Walking Dead and the significance of the events show more perhaps masks the fact that there isn't much substance to this volume beyond death – but given there are now many, many different lumps in which to consume the series I'm sure that's a feeling you only get if you're reading it in these six issue chunks. In any larger volume this will more obviously be a denouement than something that is satisfying in its own right.

With only two of the main characters definitely surviving, I've genuinely no idea where the series goes from here. That's terrific storytelling, but it might also mean I have to go and listen to some happy music for a while. show less

Made to Suffer, the eighth volume in The Walking Dead graphic novel series, is by far the very best one - at least in terms of shocking deaths. In the past, Robert Kirkman has managed to surprise us repeatedly with his ability to kill off characters that we think of as safe. In Made to Suffer, it's not just the quantity of deaths (it's a truckload), nor the specific people he kills off (even the most cynical horror fan may find themselves surprised by the end of this one), but both - mixed with his continuing need to present the horror of man even in the face of the monsters.

Made to Suffer is written much in the style of a last book in a series. High death count, no one is safe, end of an arc showdown. The Governor finally comes calling show more and while the survivors were prepared for him, no one could be fully ready to deal with his amount of sheer crazy. At the end of Made to Suffer, we don't know all the specifics about who lived, but we certainly know who died, on both sides. Multiple long term characters are killed, unceremoniously, right along side newish characters. I say newish because we haven't really had a newer "good guy" character since the survivors moved to the prison.

I'm slightly wary about how things are going to play out now that the group of survivors has dwindled to such a small number, but I have faith in Robert Kirkman and The Walking Dead. I can't believe he would have written such a mind blowing, game changing volume if he didn't have a plan for those who remained. Made to Suffer is one of the very best in The Walking Dead series thus far. show less

I get the feeling that Kirkman had played out the prison scenario and needed to inject some excitement into his narrative, so he went all Game of Thrones, killed off some unexpectedly major characters, and waited to see what would happen next. And it got my attention, I'm definitely ready to follow him into the next volume.

[Full review here: http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-walking-dead-volume-8-made-to.html ]

This was so... Dark....

In this volume absolutely no-one was safe. I was utterly shocked at all of the deaths. I was expecting a showdown as I had seen the HBO show, but I was still aghast at how it all went down.

It is pointless to get attached to any of the characters, as you are never prepared for what happens to them. This would be exactly what would happen if the zombie apocalypse happened, people are savages. Absolute savages.

Holy f***! Do. Not. Get. Attached...to anyone. The final battle between the prison community and the Governor's Woodbury fighters is brutal and proves that no character gets a free pass to safety.

The Governor gets patched up after Michonne's "visit," Woodbury finds the prison and attacks repeatedly, Rick is hit but recovers to find half the group gone and grabs whoever he can to get out before Woodbury breaches completely, and two terrible casualties lead to the Governor's end. Such a hectic installment - the stakes are extremely high since the Woodbury people are so well armed and it's such a loss to give up the prison. And then one of the saddest moments in the series take place in this installment too - not sure if it's even possible to read this with dry eyes, but at least the Governor makes up for it a little. A "segue" installment that makes the reader wonder, "Where do we go from here?"

This one has probably been my favourite so far. The attack on the prison is told in such a gripping way and the art is amazing as always.