Walking Dead #102

Alright, X-Maniacs, first review of the week, and guess what?  I have it up and posted a full day ahead of schedule!  Crazy, right?  Since I was feeling somewhat productive today and got this review out of the way, I'll probably do 4 reviews this week instead of the three I said I'd do in the NCD post.  As for the identity of that forth review?  I haven't the foggiest notion...  I'll take requests, or I'll just go with my gut and post a review for something that I'm pretty sure will have people talking...  Hell, the mainstream media is already talking about it!  Anyway, that's later on this week, for now, let's tackle my first ever Walking Dead review!

Walking Dead #102:

Summary: We kick this party off with Andrea beating the hell out of the Savior the community had captured while Rick and his party were on the road(and getting Glenn killed).  Rick halts her attack and tells her that the Savior was off limits until he had decided on a course of actions.  As this comic goes on, we see that Rick has apparently had the fight taken out of him with Glenn's death and has come to realize that Negan and his Saviors are too large and too bloodthirsty a group to battle.  As such he calls a meeting of the community and tells them that he has decided to give in to Negan, would be releasing their prisoner and handing over the food and supplies Negan's Saviors had demanded.  Needless to say, many in the community are quite pissed by this turn of events(Andrea, Carl, etc), while others(surprisingly Michonne) understand that the best way to survive this may be to roll over.  With that, the meeting disbands and Rick lets the prisoner leave the gates of the community.  This issue ends with Rick pulling Jesus aside and telling him to follow the released Savior back to Negan, discover all he could about the Saviors and them quietly return to report back to Rick, while making sure that NOBODY knew what the two were really up to...

Thoughts: The last page of this comic took it from a good read to a really good read for me.  This issue had no real action(physical action that is), but had tons of character development, which is probably why I'm such a fan of this story, the development Robert Kirkman puts into every issue.  All issue long it looked like Rick had finally given up and has realized he's met an enemy he can't defeat.  That pisses off Carl, who wants to avenge Glenn's death, and Andrea, who still wants to fight.  Eugene tells Rick that he could probably start making ammunition with the right supplies, but melancholy Rick tells him they wouldn't need the bullets...  Michonne's part with Rick was extremely interesting too, as she revealed that she was also tired of the endless fighting and would understand laying down for Negan.  She also revealed that she blamed herself for the deaths at the prison during the Governor's attack, which was some AWESOME character development because I always wondered if Michonne blamed herself for not killing the Governor when she had the chance.  Personally, I always thought torturing but not killing the Governor was Michonne's gravest error.  So all issue long you have Rick as a defeated man.  And then the last page shows us the real Rick, the guy who has plans inside of plans, and realizes that Negan will just take and take until there was nothing left for his group.  Rick sending Jesus after the released Savior makes perfect sense since nobody in the group knows Jesus well enough to follow his movements, plus he knows the lay of the land and can see where Negan is holed up and what types of defenses he has.  As usual?  This was another very good issue of this series   Another in a LONG line of them.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

That's more like the Rick I know and love!