October 31st is going to be awesome. No, not because of Halloween, the awesomeness of the night is going to be thanks to the premier of The Walking Dead TV series on AMC at 10 pm. I cannot wait for this. I've read every single press snippet and watched every clip available. I stood in awe of the extended trailer at Comic Con. Honestly, this is the only reason I would want to have TV right now (which I don't, and won't).
While reading one of the press releases I came across an interesting bit of information. Robert Kirkman was interviewed and was talking about how he loves helping with the TV show because he can write for characters he loved, favorites of his, that have been dead for a long time. He proceeded to name two characters, the first I won't spoil (yet… duh) but the second caught me off guard. The second character he named as a favorite was… The Governor.
To understand my distaste for those words and this character read on. Volume 5 here we come.
Volume 5 opens, as you may recall from my last review, where I felt volume 4 should have ended. Well to be exact we open to Rick and Dale checking out cell block A and chatting about the gas generator they found. It is decided that the gas required to run the generator should come from the cars outside the gates in the prison parking lot. Apparently none of them ever played Left for Dead because they clearly have no idea that turning on the generator will alert the horde.
Glenn pops up with some riot suits and they decide to put them to the test while they run the gauntlet. While getting the gas they see something that either probably never thought they would see again, a helicopter (perfect spot for a cliff hanger if you ask me…). This part always made me think of Reign of Fire. Just that amazement to see something, anything, in the air. The panel is brought down by the ridiculous angle, however, because Adlard can't draw from a low point. The image is set low, looking up at the two characters with their eyes on the sky, it just looks silly.
Rick and Glenn rush back to the prison, get a car and head to the area that the helicopter appeared to go down in. Of course, to add a little tension Rick forgot to tell his wife he was leaving. Just as they're about to leave Michonne shows up and tags along. They make it to the crash site and make the unsettling discovery that someone else had come and claimed the occupants of the whirly bird.
Instead of regrouping back at the prison Rick decides to fight the daylight and head in the direction of the footprints they found around the crash site. This eventually leads them to the "Last little town on earth" Woodbury. The town seems nice enough at first, Rick and his crew get saved from a zombie attack then taken on a nickel tour by "the governor", a self appointed leader who took charge after all heck broke loose with the zombies and all.
The Governor explains why Woodbury is special and how he takes his title as sort of a joke. He then shows our three heroes a gladiator style arena where two men fight while surrounded by zombies, which they call 'biters'. A part that really bothered me was that he said they hadn't had any new people in months, except for the couple in the helicopter. Then just a page later he explains that the zombies in the gladiator arenas used to bite more until they started feeding them, and of course when asked what they feed the biters the governor replies "well stranger, we feed them strangers." Little continuity please? seriously it was a page earlier that he said there hadn't been a stranger for months. Why would he lie and then instantly tell the truth? Did they literally just start feeding them that night, starting with the people from the helicopter?
Really it was all just a set up because then you find out that the friendly exterior of the Governor and his welcoming nature was all a clever ruse! Turns out he's pants on head stupid EVIL. He is absolutely beyond a trace of humanity psycho. The Governor proceeds to grill Rick, Glenn and Michonne about where they are from. Getting no response from Rick he does the civil thing and cuts off his right hand. Let me run that past you again, the main character of this epic, long running zombies series just lost his right hand, and this ain't Star Wars, he's not getting it back. Michonne gets pissed and bites off old Gov's ear and then everybody gets upset.
Rick awakes in a makeshift clinic and we meet a friendly doctor and a friendly nurse. Here we learn that most people in Woodbury aren't naive and that they actually know how crazy the Governor and his evil henchmen (because obviously he has to have evil henchmen) are. Glenn, in the mean time, was keeping busy by passing out at the sight of blood and soiling himself. Michonne really got the short end of the stick though (no pun intended…. honestly that would be horrifying…) because mr. sunshine and smiles himself decides to torture her into talking.
While all this craziness is going on back at the prison people are worried and no one shows this more than Laurie who is once again livid with her husband. Carl, her son, reasons with her and tells her not to worry and Carol just keeps being crazy (if you remember in the last volume she wanted to marry Rick and Laurie).
Meanwhile, back at Woodbury, Rick is told that Glenn was let loose so he would run back to the prison. The Governor boasts that he knows all about the prison and that Glenn will lead them right to it. Obviously nubby McNohand is terrified at the idea that the governor will find his wife, son and friends. The last few pages are of a person in a riot gear suit running toward the tall gates of the prison. The person, as it turns out, is actually Tyreese and not Glenn. Ty had gone looking for them.
The very last panel of the book is a full page in which we see the Gov talking about how soon they will find the prison. Basically if it went on one more page we'd be treated to a long maniacal laugh. It's not a great cliff hanger but it gets the job done. Although after I endured all the stupid that was Woodbury I have to admit the main reason I went after Volume 6 was because I wanted to see the Governor die.
I hate the character of the Governor because he's such a shallow stereotype. Of course the only person to rise to power would be a complete psycho and of course there a gaggle of crazies that will support him no matter what. He keeps severed heads in his apartment, has a zombie daughter he (probably) abused, and cuts off limbs on a whim. Also he's immortal, but I'll get to that in future volumes. I honestly can't believe he was one of Kirkmans favorite characters (and I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who really like him). I just can't stand how simple and two dimensional he is. Even though he appears over the course of 5 volumes his character is never expanded on. We just have to buy that he's evil and crazy and take it at face value.
Although brought down by the presence of the Governor volume 5 is relatively good, though I do find it a bit weak. Zombies are not in this book as often as I'd like but that's not really my complaint. This issue tries almost to hard to be edgy. Rick doesn't answer a question, first thing he does is cut off his hand, it's stupid, nonsensical, and not the least bit tactical (which they try later to convince us the Governor is tactically minded). Then to "up the ante" Kirkman throws in Michonne being tortured and raped. It's not edgy or artistic, it's just stupid and makes ol Gov out to be so over the top evil there's no coming back. I mean honestly, they might as well have elected the devil to run the town.
Still, even with the somewhat stagnent Volume 5, brighter days are ahead for The Walking Dead, although not before another heapin helpin of the Governor. So next time we'll devour volume 6 where we find out how stupid the Governor is, how pissed Michonne can get, and that doctors are idiots. Stay Tuned.
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