Review: The Walking Dead 83

Non Spoiler Review:

It's been awhile since a two page spread stopped me dead, but this penultimate chapter in No Way Out blew the entire storyline, and the series, out of the water. I'm not exaggerating about the lasting effects of this month's shocker—not since issue 48 have I been left with such a disturbed and angry feeling, and nothing is going to be the same after this.

The infestation of Alexandria leaves Rick to choose to make a run for an escape, probably one of the worst decisions of his life. The action never lets up, and the art keeps up to the story requirements, delivering a hodge-podge of scenes showing the situation throughout the community amid panels of zombie hordes—ending on a dumbfounding two page spread that will provide a lot of analysis in the month to come while we await the conclusion.

Kirkman delivered. It doesn't get better than this. 

Spoilers Now!

Rick quickly clarifies his remarks about protecting his child above everyone else's...though that doesn't mean he'll abandon the rest. Jessie is quick to convince to come along and make their escape if they can somehow help out the others after they're safe. Rick is in agreement and brings a call back to the early days as he hauls in a zombie off the porch and proceeds to chop it to bits with the intent of smearing the innards on them and walk through the swarm.

Meanwhile, Michonne confesses her love for Morgan at his bedside, explaining how it's difficult for her to show any emotion lest she get hurt. Unfortunately, Morgan has already died. She comes down to see the arrangements being made to depart, but Maggie won't leave. She has a bad feeling too that it's all going to go south if she steps outside, and she knows both she and Sally aren't fast enough to make a run for it.

Abraham and Rosita have taken refuge and appear safe. Holly has managed to climb on to the roof of one building. Douglas is struggling with the idea of shooting himself in the head. And outside, Andrea and Glen decide they'll break off into groups and begin leading streams of walkers away from the walls and double back over and over again until they're thinned out.

Suited up in entrails, Rick and company begin to head out. Michonne is leading the doctor, Denise, back to her house as she doesn't want to abandon everyone. Ron begins to panic, though, and all of a sudden a chain of dominos begins to fall—he's bitten and pulled into the swarm. Rick orders Jessie to let him go, but she can't leave her son. She pleads for Rick to come back for them. But she has hold of Carl's hand, and as she's dragged into the zombies, Rick chops off her hand at the wrist with an axe (!) to free his own son. All the commotion has drawn a lot of attention. Michonne returns for some sword slashing, and by now they're by Douglas' house, who comes out to help, firing his gun wildly as the walkers surround him.

There's a big sense of dread as the bullets start flying and Douglas goes down under the bites, and then we get a two page spread of Carl with one side of his face (and eye) blown off. He falls over. Rick picks him up, sees he's still alive, and plows through the swarm back to Denise's house, asking her to save him.

The Verdict:

What to say after that? It's been awhile since I've been so horrified by an ending (Lori's death). When the bullets started flying I was expecting Michonne to take a hit, but not Carl, and surveying the damage, it's going to be interesting to see what exactly can come of this. He's seriously mutilated if he even has a hope for survival at all. At this point I can't fathom a series without Carl.

More so, I was furious with Rick. He's seriously bat shit crazy, and this time he has an incredible amount of blood on his hands to cope with for his bad decisions. I can't begin to imagine where Kirkman's going to go with this and the huge amount of guilt he's going to have. Phew. I'm agitated just writing it.

As expected, the cast is getting a serious trim—Morgan (the longest running character aside from Rick), Douglas, Jessie and Ron, to start. Whether the others around Alexander can manage to survive this, or Andrea and Glen's plan succeeds, it will be a different series when the dust settles.

But that means it was perfect Walking Dead. Seriously disturbing, and made even more intense given I picture these story lines playing out on the TV series now. This one can't be missed!