Here we are again, back to the world of the living dead in the 4th installment of Robert Kirkman's Zombie magnum opus. With the cliff hanger ending of volume 3 I couldn't wait to tear into the 4th volume, and I'm sure you're anxious too! So here we go, grab your gun, axe, or blunt object!
As you probably recall volume 3 ended with our main man Rick about to floss with some buck shot. Of course Kirkman being the coy devil he is starts out volume 4 with a character we've never even seen before wandering around with two zombies (sans arms and jaws) chained to her. We eventually learn that this is Michonne, a slightly crazy katana wielding seductress who wholly and completely kicks butt. Now, I say slightly crazy because she is no where near pants on head stupid but… well we'll get to why she's a bit unbalanced.
So Michonne has been walking around looking for a safe place to stay when she stumbles upon Otis, on his way from Hershal's farm to the prison. She saves Otis and they start heading to the prison. Cut to Rick talking to Dexter, he asks him where he got the shotguns and Dexter does a mini monologue about Andrew sneaking into the riot gear room that he didn't tell Rick about in Cell Block A blah blah blah then BAM Zombies. See, cell block A had not been cleared, so Andrew (the druggy) had unwittingly released all heck upon them.
Everyone takes to arms and starts killing the Roamers when Rick notices one is about to go all Solid Snake and stealth kill Dexter. Being the upstanding chap he is Rick shoots the zombie and Dexter says something about how that "doesn't change anything, a smart man would have let it get me". Rick glares at him, then continues killing the mindless hoards. When they are just about finished Rick, being the upstanding chap he is shoots Dexter in the head and blames it on friendly fire "someone must have accidentally hit him"
This little display was not noticed by anyone, save Tyreese who basically just shrugs it off as a necessary evil, which it was. The thing is this came literally moments after the You Kill You Die rule Rick handed down (though this is covered at the end of the volume). Volume 4 really starts beating Rick to the ground mentally, but I'll get to that later. Andrew, not wanting to face any of the people he betrayed simply runs out of the prison and into the wild. Patricia, the role model of responsibility who tried to release Thomas now hangs her head in shame AGAIN because she apparently helped Andrew and Dexter… wow… and they let her stay.
Life seems to start settling down a bit and eventually they decide its time to search a bit more of the prison, and since cell block A was just recently flushed, they figure that's a good place to start. Alan, who we have hardly heard from AT ALL randomly appears and is eager to help. Several characters add some exposition saying that he's been doing much better lately (if you can't recall, his wife died and he couldn't take care of his own two kids he was so grief stricken) that he's been much happier and lively, and is only one day away from retirement… ohwaitohnooooo!
Yes, just like Kirkman did with Alans wife he tried to make the character likable and human just moments before a zombie munches his ankle. Again this was another silly attack. Alan gets spooked by a zombie and has to take a breather right outside a dark open door way. While standing there in this abandoned cell block he can't manage to hear the sound of a zombie not walking, but pulling itself out of the room because it has no legs. So yes, he gets bitten.
Alan is rushed out of Cell Block A and is starting to panic. In his panic he says that he can feel himself becoming one of them. Rick says that's not how it works and then he realizes that it really isn't. The bite only kills you, it doesn't turn you. So Rick decides the best thing to do is cut off his leg under the knee. Everyone begs him not to do it but he does anyway.
The rest of this volume is just a bunch of drama and arguments. Basically Tyreese cheats on Carol with Michonne and Carol sees it happen so she breaks up with him then slits her wrists in front of her daughter. Rick goes to tell Tyreese about it and walks in on him just as Michonne throws down a surprise kiss. At this point the main attraction starts.
In one corner you have Rick, who is seriously starting to lose it, and in the other corner you have Tyreese, who is also about to lose it. Rick starts yelling at him about how it's his fault if Carol dies. He continues with this winner, that Ty actually likes all the death. Yeah, wow, he brings up how he killed Julia's boyfriend and now his girlfriend. Tyreese responds in kind by telling Rick that he has lost it and that HE is the one who likes killing, and that's why he shot Dexter and "mutilated" Alan.
The war of words turns into fisticuffs and Rick passes out and falls a full story onto his back (but says Ty pushed him). He wakes up after more than a day of being unconscious to find Carol who thanks him for defending her by kissing him right on the lips! Rick tells her to cool, then Dale comes in to lay down the facts.
Basically the screaming fit that Rick put on showed everyone that maybe he wasn't so suited to be the leader, so they formed a comity of four (Rick, Dale, Tyreese, and Hershal) to make the decisions. No women you say? Thats the way the women folk wanted it, Dale explains (pardon my lol). Ol' Rick takes it like a champ, goes out to the field to apologize to everyone and then… yells some more... yeah... He spews a bunch of stuff about how everyone is crazy because that's the requirement of the world they live in and that things will never be the same. At this point the statement about "you kill you die" was retracted and supplemented with "you kill you live". The issue ends with Rick echoing the words "We are the walking dead…"
So that's Volume 4, honestly I both like and dislike this issue. It shakes up the normal formula and gives us something (relatively) new. All the drama now is internal, this is all from the permanent cast, though honestly as you'll find out the word permanent means little to Kirkman. The drama was nice but at times goes a bit over the top. Rick seems to go completely insane by the end, he goes from reasonable to lunatic in a few pages. Also there's the fact that this was certainly not a cliffhanger. I didn't feel the urge to run out and pick up volume 5 because of 4's resolution. I knew Kirkman would keep things interesting but the end just didn't have that Lost factor when the credits roll and you're left saying what!? In my mind all I could think of was the next issue being about whether or not anyone would really ever trust Rick again. Lame.
Personally I think the best way to end this issue would have been with *spoiler incoming* a helicopter haphazardly flying over the prison or in the distance. That would have been an awesome dramatic conclusion and make Rick rethink what he just said about nothing ever being the same… oh that and it happens within the first half of the next book. Speaking of which, I'll get on to Volume 5 next time, and the introduction of one of my least favorite characters. So till next time Govn'a.
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