{"id":11601,"date":"2007-07-28T21:47:57","date_gmt":"2007-07-29T04:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2007\/07\/28\/bt07-a-review-more-appropriate-around-4-am.html"},"modified":"2007-07-28T21:47:57","modified_gmt":"2007-07-29T04:47:57","slug":"bt07_a_review_more_approp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/07\/28\/bt07_a_review_more_approp.html","title":{"rendered":"BT07 – A review more appropriate around 4 a.m. …"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

The Walking Dead: The Best Defense<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, Vol. 5 <\/i>(Image) [collects #25-30]
w. Robert Kirkman; a. Charlie Adlard<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Writing<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n New reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Art<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n Non-comics reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

The Walking Dead: This Sorrowful Life<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, Vol. 6 <\/i>(Image) [collects #31-36]
w. Robert Kirkman; a. Charlie Adlard<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Writing<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n New reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Art<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n Non-comics reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Zombies in comics have almost become a cliche, and Robert Kirkman writing about zombies as well — but Kirkman’s Walking Dead <\/em>series remains the <\/em>premiere post-zombie-apocalypse comic out there.  It’s done more, examine more about life-after-zombies than any other work I know of — and, honestly, it’s done it by doing what zombie tales are about.  Zombie stories are not about zombies, or fighting zombies — they’re about what life-and-undeath struggle means to the humans, to the ones left behind, and to what level of savagery — to the zombies, others, and themselves — they’re willing to descend in order to stay alive.  When do evil decisions become necessary, and even virtuous? <\/p>\n

Our band of humans in TWD have managed to hold up pretty successfully in a penetentiary, the supplies inside providing them with some comfort, and the fencing keeping the zombies out,  But when a helicopter crashes nearby, a rescue team the send discovers another community, equally secure, but not quite so benign.  Life and death struggle, lots of blood, and two of the most brutal torture sequences I’ve ever seen, sees the party’s escape back to the prison.  <\/p>\n

But there are traitors in their midst, now, and the nearby town will likely not leave them alone.  How far will  our protagonists go to be safe?  And while in a constant life and death crisis, is there room for ordinary relationships?<\/p>\n

This is really good stuff.  It’s not for the squeamish, and it’s not uplifting or entertaining.  It’s grim and gritty and reading the entire series to date would probably drive one to drink.  But it’s probably more solid literature <\/em>than 99% of what I’ve reviewed today — even if it is about zombies.  Except it’s not — it’s about people, <\/em>stripped down to Hobbesian state-of-nature decision-making.  Faboo.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(listening to: Yankovic, Weird Al, “Jerry Springer” from <\/i>Running With Scissors)<\/small>
(listening to: Serra, Eric, “The Severnaya Suite (Among the Dead \/ Out of Hell \/ The Husky Tribe)” from <\/i>Goldeneye)<\/small>
(listening to: “Over at the Frankenstein Place” from <\/i>Rocky Horror Picture Show)<\/small>
(listening to: Gold, Murray, “Clockwork Tardis” from <\/i>Doctor Who – The New Series – Original Television Soundtrack)<\/small>
(listening to: Pet Shop Boys, “Nervously” from <\/i>Behavior)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Walking Dead: The Best Defense, Vol. 5 (Image) [collects #25-30] w. Robert Kirkman; a. Charlie Adlard  Writing New reader? Art Non-comics reader? The Walking Dead: This Sorrowful Life, Vol. 6 (Image)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogathon","category-media-comics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15403,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/26\/bt09-w-is-for-wicked-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":11601,"position":0},"title":"BT09 – W is for Wicked (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 26-Jul-09 3:27am","format":false,"excerpt":"We've passed up the 5\/6 mark, if I'm doing my math right (which is problematic at this point). \u00a0 RThe Walking Dead, Vol. 7, \"The Calm Before\"\u00a0(Image) [collects #37-42] RThe Walking Dead, Vol. 8, \"Made to Suffer\"\u00a0(Image) [collects #43-48] RThe Walking Dead, Vol. 9, \"Here We Remain\"\u00a0(Image) [collects #49-54] w.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9278,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/07\/30\/bt06_and_there.html","url_meta":{"origin":11601,"position":1},"title":"BT06 – And There Shall Come … an Ending … to That Stack","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 30-Jul-06 1:25am","format":false,"excerpt":"Review code format (ranked 1-5, blah to faboo): [writing \/ art \/ new reader? \/ non-comics reader?] \u00a0 The Walking Dead: Heart's Desire (Vol. 4) (Image) [5\/4\/3\/4] (collects #19-24)...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7595,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/01\/28\/graphic_novels.html","url_meta":{"origin":11601,"position":2},"title":"Graphic Novels on Parade","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 28-Jan-05 10:46pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Time to catch up on recently read graphic novels (and up to forty words about each) ......","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15350,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/bt09-i-is-for-indefatigable-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":11601,"position":3},"title":"BT09 – I is for Indefatigable (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-Jul-09 3:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Invincible, vol. 8, \"My Favorite Martian\"\u00a0(Image) [collects #36-41] Invincible, vol. 9, \"Out of This World\"\u00a0(Image) [collects #42-47] Invincible, vol. 10, \"Who's the Boss?\"\u00a0(Image) [collects #48-53] w. Robert Kirkman; a.\u00a0Ryan Ottley\u00a0 Writing New reader? Art Non-comics reader? Invincible remains a steady and powerful performer. While on one level Kirkman is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15323,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/bt09-b-is-for-bygone-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":11601,"position":4},"title":"BT09 – B is for Bygone (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-Jul-09 9:25am","format":false,"excerpt":"First, a shout-out to Steve who faced a Blogathonner's worst nightmare: sitting down to the computer and finding it's not working. Yikes! He's worked around it, but nobody shouldd have to deal with that extra burden during the 'Thon. Consider giving him some sponsorship to make him feel better ...\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7828,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/08\/06\/bt05_in_the_clu.html","url_meta":{"origin":11601,"position":5},"title":"BT05 – In the Clutches of the Blogathon!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 6-Aug-05 9:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Hmmmm. Actually getting to the end of the TPBs....","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}