The Walking Dead (Spoilers)

[Jesus Monroe]

Greetings from the hilltop: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...eview&id=12116

This month's preview. Someone on here suggested that Rick will be in charge of the hilltop community soon, and I see that as a distinct possibility with what we see from those first few pages. I'm thinking maybe Rick suggests that they kill these "Saviors" in exchange for the Saviors' half of the food. I'm imagining something like the prison collapse in issue 100, but Kirkman is great at throwing curveballs. And I'm curious to see what the last page of compendium #2 will hold.

I began reading TWD in December of 2010, right after the first season ended. That makes me a new school reader, but we can't all be so cool. My library had the compendium, which I checked out with curiosity, not really expecting to like it enough to read over 1,000 pages. I read it in four days. The library had all the way up to issue #78, and I've been buying every issue as a single since then. The shift from having all that story in front of me to monthly waits has driven me bonkers sometimes, but that's life, I suppose.

I've been reading this thread for six months or more, so it's good to finally pop in and say hello. I hope to post once per issue, hopefully more.

[Huskie]

spoiler warning











There's actually a page longer preview on AMC's website and it does show Rick offering to take on the Saviors in exchange for an agreement with Hilltop

[ImpulseUCF]

re: LCS vs Digital - it's rough when a business model becomes obsolete. This hasn't happened yet, though, so let's keep that in mind. The sad reality is that if consumer desires shift to digital over print, it would be downright irresponsible for Marvel and DC NOT to pursue it, frankly. I like my LCS and I want it thrive, and I prefer print comics primarily right now, but the shift from print has been in effect for some time, and both Marvel and DC have a responsibility to their own stakeholders, too. What I'd like to see in the interim is for digital download codes to be included with the sale of print copies to kill two birds with one stone. I think most folks who buy comics probably do so physically and prefer to do so, so there would be no harm that way while those who prefer digital only have that option. I'm personally not interested in swapping to digital at the current price point, I'll tell you that for free. A digital comic isn't worth $4 to me, especially when I can get a movie for less than that.

re the issue - spoilers:

I'm VERY glad to see they didn't just gang up on Rick (yet, anyway). I think I like where this is going. Good on Kirkman for avoiding the predictable.

end of spoilers

[the goddamn batman]

not the best issue, but some pretty ominous foreboding there.

[Theozilla]

Very nice new status quo set-up issue. Very new proactive dynamic that Rick seems to be going for, I hope this new "larger world" setting stays in place for a while.

[capuga]

While this was mostly a setup issue for the Something to Fear arc, I still enjoyed it. I actually thought it was clever for Rick to volunteer their one real commodity (being bad asses) for supplies. I still can't decide it I think the something to fear will be Team Grimes or if they are about to walk into a bad surprise. Enjoyed Rick's being a little optimistic and giving Andrea a quick kiss. I also really liked the two page spread near the end with some of the major members of Team Grimes standing against the backdrop of the hilltop. Cool looking image.

My only complaint is that, while I liked Rick's speech at the end and think that he could be right, it just seems very similar to what he was saying about Alexandria. How come this place is so much better than what they have? Seems like he's got a little of the grass is always greener syndrome going on.

It looks like these Something to Fear issues are going to be epic.

[Deviancy]

re: LCS vs Digital - it's rough when a business model becomes obsolete. This hasn't happened yet, though, so let's keep that in mind. The sad reality is that if consumer desires shift to digital over print, it would be downright irresponsible for Marvel and DC NOT to pursue it, frankly.

Had a talk with a store owner today and he brought up a good point, he said his store just has far too many customers who only want physical. And although he's just one store owner, I imagine if he has a strong loyal customer base, many of the other stores do as well. He also said some of the big two's titles, they already come with codes that allow customers to download a free digital copy. But the best news I heard today was that TWD back issues are still going up in value, and supposedly this trend started even before the show. And other than a few Debbie Downers, no one really sees the bubble bursting unless Kirkman ends the title, or passes it off to another writer, which judging from what he's said in the past will never happen. In other words, if a few want to be trade waiters, more power to you because it doesn't appear trade waiters are a risk at all to back issues going up and up and up. For a moment I think I fell for the digital hype and saw it as a threat, but I think it really is all hype. I mean for the last month I've had to actually stand in a line at the cs's I go to, and more indie book shops are popping up, and although CD sales are in the toilet, vinyl only stores are popping up and the format is really enjoying a solid resurrection.

[Huskie]

To those saying this was a boring issue, I thought it was great. Setting up some very big things. One of the best things about Walking Dead is the pacing. The book is more of a character examination than a zombie story imo and this really brought up the potential of some great stories and great character interactions. Also, this issue is the one that made me like Jesus. Now, I don't see him as a random badass character that Kirkman made up to get some excitement, but as the guy who's doing everything in his power to help his people because everyone else around him is too scared. I think he has the potential to be my fav character since Tyrese.

[ImpulseUCF]

Cool issue. Jesus is like Rick if Rick's group was a bunch of pussies, LOL. I'm afraid we'll have some major casualties for Team Grimes. I always get filled with dread and foreboding any time Rick gives an uplifting speech.

re comics - I don't think digital is an immediate threat now; it's too new, people still like physical copies/ownership (there's a lot of the residual collector attitude amongst comics fans), and I don't think the price point is right yet. It's something to keep an eye for in the future, and my thought of including free digital codes with physical copies is a way to work with the LCS community in addition to pulling in the digital only crowd without forsaking one or the other.

[Huskie]

When copies cost what a digital song costs vs 4 dollars for a hard copy, I'll go digital. Until then, I'm not going to pay the same price for something downloadable.

[the goddamn batman]

plus the entry price point on a tablet is still high enough that nobody is going to spend that and figure it'll pay for itself in saving on the digotal copies, since there is no price difference between digital and physical.

[ImpulseUCF]

Right, and that's exactly why this is not a pressing issue today. As tablets become more pervasive and when/if the price point comes down, either $1-2 an issue or a Netflix or Spotify style subscription service, then we have an issue. Even so, I will still buy certain things physically i.e. Walking Dead. :)

[capuga]

The minute comics become all digital is the minute my 80+ titles a month pull list drops down to about 5 that I can't live without. I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE reading digital comics. Hate it enough that a very major hobby for me would basically just disappear.

[Jesus Monroe]

How many people does Rick have to fight for him? Abraham, Michonne, and Andrea make up the core of his army. Glenn's pretty tough, but his wife and daughter are a distraction. Rosita's probably pretty tough from being on the road with the Grimes crew. Holly and Heath are pretty brave. Aaron doesn't even like going outside the wall. Spencer's a coward. Nick isn't trustworthy. Father Gabriel will run at the sight of trouble. Eugene, hopefully, is reloading ammo. Plus he'll have Jesus plus a few others.

These "Saviors" could be like the biker gang from Dawn of the Dead, though. They could have 100 guys like Abraham. It could also be possible that those scavengers they massacred back around issue 78 could've been part of a Savior search party.

It's cool that compendium 1 ended with Rick's most painful moment, while #2 will end with him at his most hopeful.

I want Glenn, Eugene, Michonne, and Carl alive at the end of this next arc, or I will be furious. I'll be sad if we lose others, but I'm pretty attached to those four.

I could never switch to digital comics. It's not the same as getting the news digitally. Then again, I still have a VCR.

[neverender]

I've been reading the TPBs at Books a Million to catch up to where the story is right now, and I finally bought my first issue of TWD today. (#96)

I thought it was a fine way to end the arc, and I really hope this Network works out in the end.

To reply about the digital comics, I too wouldn't switch to digital comics if they threw physical comics out the window. I love collecting and I would hate to lose that hobby, unless you could actually download the digital comics you bought to keep them on your desktop. (So you can actually feel like you own the comic.)