Spoilers for The Walking Dead #119

Rick and his team have been out killing Saviors, making the world a safer place one dead body at a time, and by the start of this issue they’ve got quite a pile to burn. The war is making Jesus a little philosophical, but it’s really a judgment call as to whose reaction is the most well adjusted out of all of them. Casualties have come early, with Aaron and Ezekiel suffering the most visible losses. Aaron is redirecting his feelings into rage, while Ezekiel full on breaks down in front of Michonne. Other books might make this a time for an awkward attempt at a comforting hug, but Ezekiel gets a fist to the face for his honesty. If you wanted to make a case that our survivors have become too hardened, this would be your best chance. I probably won’t agree with you, and hey I liked that tiger, but I will admit it is interesting to see these vivid reactions to death. I got pretty used to how our group had come to terms with it, so after all this time it feels kind of weird to mourn.

Are Carl and Andrea anybody else’s favorite characters? I swear I feel more confident and secure just looking at them. Rick was feeling pretty confident too, so much so that he was genuinely shocked to find out how badly things went for Ezekiel and his team. I was sympathetic, until he had Michonne call out sick to the war meeting for him. That is just seriously childish Ezekiel. At the meeting, Rick cites being able to continually produce ammunition as their main long term advantage, and determines that his base of operations will be the Saviors’ next target. I was almost sure there’d be drama over whose community to fortify first, but Negan comes knocking, proving Rick all too right all too quickly. His peace offering of a captive turns out to be a zombie Trojan Horse, but he almost had me going there for a second, given how “reasonable” he’s been in the past. Negan gives the order to attack and that leaves us with our cliffhanger, but at least we only have to wait until January 22nd for The Walking Dead #120.

My rating: 3.5/5 – A typical issue of The Walking Dead, but average ain’t too bad for this title.

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