Charlie Adlard gets the opportunity to present some more zombie blasting action, and if nothing else, he deserves credit for capturing the one element that zombies have over every other movie monster: their ability to overwhelm a character with sheer numbers. There's a lovely little sequence in this issue where Otis arrives outside the prison, and he quickly finds himself swarmed by the zombies gathered outside. A great little follow up sequence shows Otis has spent most of the battle cowering by his wagon while the mystery woman took care of business. How can one not love the sheer impact of that gore covered shovel? The art also nicely captures the impact of this issue's big surprise moment as the close-ups of Rick's eyes as he studies the situation before he makes his decision is an amazing bit of artwork. The final page of the issue also has an undeniable impact, and I'm delighted to see this book's creative team is getting some recognition with a pair of Eisner nominations. Read Full Review

This issue is a very important one in that it introduces us to Michonne, a character who will become a major and iconic player from this point forward. Michonne enters the story, and two facts about her are made readily apparent. 1) She is a badass post-apocalyptic samurai with a sword. And 2) She has been alone for a long time except for her pet neutered walker companions. The Michonne Special reveals that these two walkers were once humans named Mike and Terry, who used to be Michonne’s boyfriend and his friend. Therefore given Michonne’s potent connections with her two undead traveling companions, the casual and unhesitating manner in which she disposed of them is a grim testament to her state of mind at the moment. Michonne has become very good at being self-sufficient, and therefore she will not form emotional attachments easily. However, her cool demeanor is not so chilly that she turns away from a stranger in need or shuns the opportunity to live with others in a safe (well, relatively safe) haven such as the Prison. This is a character who is as interesting to explore as she is iconic to behold. She’s truly one of Kirkman’s most original and praiseworthy creations, and the story moving forward is better with her in it.

Now let’s talk about Rick and the new stone-cold killer he is becoming. A few issues ago, Rick sentenced another man to death. But after that initial verdict, he seems to be more at ease in rendering it again. What is so compelling about the trajectory of Rick’s arc in this issue is that the reader can literally see the gears turning in Rick’s head as he analyzes the situation and decides to covertly execute Dexter. Even more compelling (and somewhat disturbing) is the fact the we can almost completely justify Rick’s heavy decision to kill Dexter.

Two major missteps on Dexter’s part sealed his fate and made his life forfeit in Rick’s reckoning. 1) During Dexter’s initial tour of the prison, he purposefully kept the armory’s existence to himself. This would indicate that Dexter was at least toying with the notion of not playing nicely with the new arrivals right from the start of their association. This does not make Dexter evil by any means, and it is even understandable that he would go to some lengths to provide a way to fight back against Rick’s group if things went sour. It’s even something Rick might’ve done in a similar situation. However, Dexter’s initial deceit when combined with his second fatal misstep meant he was simply too dangerous to keep alive. So what was his second misstep? 2) When Rick saved Dexter’s life during the zombie attack, he was testing Dexter to see how he would respond. It was a test that Dexter mortally failed. Instead of thanking Rick and realizing that it was better to join forces with the living rather than kill them, Dexter remains antagonistic of Rick and even comments that saving his life was a stupid thing to do. Rick Grimes is a lot of things, but one thing he is not is stupid. Rick gave Dexter an out, and Dexter squandered that chance and paid for his stubbornness with his life. As a broken Andrew wanders off distraught into the sunset, we cannot help but think for a moment that just maybe Dexter and Andrew could have been very solid and capable additions to the group had the situation played out just a bit differently.

While we can justify Rick’s decision to silence the threat Dexter might have posed, it is clear that Rick does not enter into this new level of brutality lightly. That last page of him in the issue illustrated what a heavy toll this has taken on him. He still WANTS to save as many people as he can and remain a moral center for his group. But he also is willing to KILL for his group as well should he feel there are no other options. While Rick may kill with less hesitation as time goes by, I do not believe he ever gets to a point where he ceases to carry the heaviness that comes with it. And that is precisely why Rick is able to hang on to his humanity through all the ups and downs. more