Well, I'm finally back at it with TWD. So buckle in, it's time to drive through the zombie rampant pages of Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars. Or as I like to call it Volume 3: Send in the clowns.
Of course we start here with our rag tag group heading into the prison yard to start the clean up. They make quick work of the lurkers and set up a perimeter. The next day they get into the prison to wipe out some more of the undead when a wrench is thrown in their day, a door that is handcuffed shut. Rick and Tyrese exchange some campy dialouge to sell kirkmans clever ruse "oh what do you think we'll find behind this door Tyrese" "You trollin? More zombies duhzerz" They fling wide the mess hall doors to find four perfectly alive men sitting there nonchalantly eating and digesting.
I know it may sound like I'm being a bit harsh on this scene but honestly I love it. This is what TWD is all about, these situations that build to tension and drama. The men are all very polite and offer food to the new visitors, but there is a bit of a mix up. The men think Rick and his crew are a rescue team, and Rick being the ignorant small town bumpkin he is thinks the guys are prison guards… In prisoner jump suits (granted, there would be any number of reasons to want to change clothes). When the truth comes out the prisoners are disappointed and the regular cast is terrified.
This sets up a great scenario: what do you do? There is this prison that is a terrific spot to start a new more permanent life, but there were some other guys there first, namely; a drug addict (now clean), a thief (armed robbery), a tax evader (right…), and a murderer. They all seem like sane normal fellows, but this is a zombie-apocalypse, and you are never very far away from someone who is pants on head stupid.
We get our first glimpse of this with Tyrese's daughter Julie and her boyfriend whats-his-face. I touched on this in my last TWD review, this part is like nails on a chalkboard for me. While earlier in this very issue the teenage wunderkin (the boyfriend) had expressed an angsty anger and want to be a more crucial part of the team he and Julie decide the best way to achieve this is by mutual support, hard work and suicide. Yes, they bump uglies then shoot each other, well, he shoots her. They were supposed to pull the trigger at the same time but he was a bit… premature.
Tyrese is the first to arrive on the scene followed by Rick then… no one, curiously. After hearing a single gun shot in the middle of the first night in the prison with hardened criminals inside and zombies outside no one else thought to get out of bed!? Just the wind? Tyrese holds his daughters body then kills stupid McTardo boyfriend. The interesting realization they have after this encounter is that despite not being bitten Julie still turns into a zombie.
This is actually where the title of the series comes from. Rick realizes that the zombie bite only kills you, that no matter what, they're all infected. They are all the walking dead. It manages to feel heavy even though the cynic in me said "well duh" you can really feel how hard this hits Rick.
This shocker sends Rick on an epic journey to take care of some "unfinished business" and while he was gone nothing bad happened… oh wait…
So after they had found the prison Rick decided to go back and collect Hershal and his farming family fun factory. Hershal and his crew move to the prison and he is still recovering from his loss of children, when he finds out his little twin girls have been decapitated. Of course the big black prisoner who earlier confessed to being in prison for murder is shoved in a cell and locked up, and nothing else bad happens while Rick is gone… oh wait.
So Rick finally reaches his destination, the outskirts of Atlanta, where he digs up, talks to, then shoots Shane (who was a zombie, duh). Then proceeds to walk away in bad@$$ fashion saying he's "Not going to bury you again you s.o.b.". Totally awesome, keep the change ya filthy animal moment. While this is going on the surprisingly not disturbed after the death of his daughter and his own subsequent murdering of her boyfriend, Tyrese suggests they clear out the gym. Basically they get overwhelmed and Ty is left for dead. Cool beans.
So this is what Rick comes back to: the two youngest girls of the guy he just brought here swearing up and down that is was safe, were killed by someone, and Tyrese, his trusty number 2 was thought dead. Well as I'm sure you figured out Tyrese was not dead, just chillin in the gym with all the zombies he killed. The twins that were decapitated, however, were dead.
That night Andrea has a discussion with the fuzzy old man Dale, her lover… yeah… and there is a bit more foreshadowing. Dale mentions to her how the prison might not be so safe and so worth the effort. That there might be a group of crazy survivors that want it more. Food for thought, to be sure.
Cut to the next day, Andrea is taking care of laundry when in walks Thomas, he was the inmate convicted of tax evasion. Turns out he was also in there for being a little lier because he pulls out a knife and proceeds to try to fillet the poor girl while shouting things like "die b*tch" and "you disgusting wh*re". Their fight stumbles out into the court ward where Rick realizes who the real killer is then proceeds to BEAT HIS FACE TILL HE BREAKS HIS HAND. I'm not exaggerating, I cannot believe how messed up his hand was after this, bones splintering out and everything.
Rick lets him live (for now) and declares that if you kill, you die (see, he won't be alive for long). Most everyone agrees except Rick's wife Laurie, who is militantly opposed to everything he does at this point. Patricia, one of Hershal's bunch decides that Thomas was a cool guy and sets him loose, of course he instantly goes into rage mode and tries to strangle her spouting the same wh*re and b*tch stuff. Unfortunately for Darwinism Patricia survives as she is saved by Maggie (Hershal's daughter that Glenn is… ahem… with) who washes out Thomas' dirty mouth with a judicial application of hot led.
Everything starts to settle down at this point, and it looks like smooth sailing and no cliff hanger… but then! Dexter, the man they wrongfully imprisoned, accused of murder, and released without so much as a "my bad" had his druggy buddy sneak to the riot room and stock up on some guns and body armor. So the Volume ends with Rick at the business end of a shotgun and Dexter telling them they have to leave. Now.
All in all I liked this volume, it had some really great characterization for Rick, you see him reach this breaking point, and honestly you think he's hit rock bottom. Laurie just got annoying, even saying at one point she hates her husband (talk about projecting your guilt lady). True, there are several pants on head stupid moments, but at least they lead to some hard and heavy conclusions (they're all infected, you kill you die).
My only major gripes were with the teenage suicide (so they could be together forever... ugh) and the way that Thomas was written. He attacks any woman who comes within earshot, but doesn't seemed bothered by them at first? He controls his clearly uncontrollable rage? He would have sooner gone to an asylum for the criminally deranged then a prison. Honestly he was just a poorly written character and luckily only has to be put up with for a handful of panels. This issue follows the traditional format of pay-off, build tension, then end on a cliff hanger. It works well and the story continues to engross. Lets see how our survivors fare in Volume 4.
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