9.5
The Walking Dead is generally a very entertaining series. It’s quite heavy and dark at times (in fact, 90% of the time), but the entertainment value is always present. This groundbreaking issue, however, is not one that should entertain the reader. Unless said reader happens to be Ramsay Bolton from Game of Thrones. Rather this issue is saturated like no other issue to date in an almost noxious darkness. Reading it is unpleasant and stomach-churning and visceral. I wanted to put it down at times and just skip to the next one. Some readers may even use this issue to re-evaluate if they really want to continue reading a series capable of depicting something so brutal. Judge the issue for its graphic revenge-torture or praise it for its raw boldness, but the undeniable fact is that it succeeds in making the reader feel something undeniably poignant. Whether we want to be there or not, we are in that torture chamber as well right along with Michonne and the Governor. Kirkman allows us no other vantage point in his almost claustrophobic depiction of the gory scene.
As this issue does not beat around the bush, nor will I mince words here. The hideous elephant in the room throughout the whole gut-wrenching exchange between Michonne and the Governor is Rape. I speak as one who has been fortunate enough to never experience such an inhumane crime inflicted upon me, but I would wager that those who have been violated in such a vile way can identify with Michonne’s vengeful payback montage. We live in a world where society is still intact, the dead are not walking, and yet rapists so frequently get away with their disgusting acts with little or no consequence. So there is something supremely fulfilling in seeing Michonne execute the kind of eye-for-an-eye justice/revenge/whatever-you-want-to-call-it on the Governor that is so often lacking in our world. While the institutions in a fully functioning pre-Apocalyptic society all too often afford an avenue of escape for the rapist, the same does not hold true in the Apocalyptic hellscape that Michonne inhabits. Whether we allow that Michonne went too far (she did) or not, there is no denying that there is something extraordinarily potent about a woman taking back her power in such a raw way.
However, while it is easy to adopt an “I hate rapists and all of them deserve to burn in Hell” attitude, does such hatred (merited as it may be in most cases) bring more healing or harm? One can understand why Michonne did what she did to the Governor, but make no mistake. The result of her actions is that TWO broken individuals were left suffering in the aftermath. The Governor was violated in about every physical way that one can be violated, but Michonne compounded her psychological trauma due to rape by adding a bitter dose of revenge to the turbulent mix. Michonne repaid evil with evil, and such vengeful tactics have an appearance of justice but usually end up causing more harm to the dispenser of such “justice.” The Governor might truly well have deserved every mutilation inflicted on him, but such mutilations will not add up to any sort of lasting peace or healing for Michonne. After tasting so deeply of such bitter darkness, the repugnant taste will linger in her psyche for quite some time. The Governor had all of this coming to him, but it is tragic that Michonne had to be the vehicle that such retribution came through. Vengeance is satisfying in the moment, but it is always a fickle traitor afterwards. Michonne’s brutal retribution is as understandable as it is regrettable. Taking this whole wearying issue into account and the horrors (both psychological and physical) inflicted on Michonne and the Governor, I cannot think of any more compelling work of fiction that so soberingly showcases the lasting damage that rape can impart to all who are involved. more
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