Zeb Larson reviews The Walking Dead #149…
The devil on your shoulder.
Ever since the “public” discovery of the Whisperers and all of the killings in Alexandria, The Walking Dead has moved very slowly. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but we’re sort of at the point where something needs to happen, or I’ll be writing the last five issues off as sort of a wash. In this issue, Rick decides to listen to the devil on his shoulder about what to do regarding the Whisperers, while the other elements in the community still deal with the fallout from what happened. Does it work? In parts. I will be discussing spoilers, so consider yourself forewarned.
Rick tells Negan that while he doesn’t want to let him out of his cage, he needs his help dealing with the Whisperers. In a long and very profane dialogue, Negan outlines why he thinks the Whisperers are a blessing in disguise: they’re the perfect threat for rallying a community. Lydia and Carl make it to the Hilltop, where they go into hiding, and Maggie is told that things aren’t calming down about the Whisperers. Some disgruntled survivors, including Morton, meet with the grieving Vincent and Julia. Elsewhere, Dwight announces that he can no longer lead the Survivors, and he goes to retrieve Lucille when he leaves. When Rick goes to see Abraham, he tells Abraham his plan: he wants to make an army.
Unsurprisingly, the strongest part of this issue is between Rick and Negan, the moral leader and the strong leader. Negan is right that creating a threat is a time-honored leadership stratagem, and Rick has the good luck to have a genuinely sinister “other” to play the bad guy. And it makes sense that Rick wouldn’t let him out of his box (as much fun as that might have been), because he would have risked half the communities and the loyalty of Dwight. Rick’s plan is also an intriguing one, because we haven’t seen a large, organized force like an army take on a mob of zombies. The survivors in World War Z eventually pull it off, dramatically reforming their tactics to focus on systematic headshots and disciplined killing. Is that what we’re going to see? Or is this a device by Rick to help people calm?
So, if those are the good parts of the issue, the rest isn’t as interesting. Carl and Lydia have been a dull pair for a few issues now: she’s screwed up, he’s comforting, they move on. Dwight’s problems with the Survivors are interesting, but we don’t know any of the people there yet, so it’s hard to have an emotional stake in that narrative beyond Dwight. And while I admire a series for having a sprawling cast of characters, I honestly had to consult a Wiki to remember who Vincent and Julia were. The sprawl is getting to be problematic: either the series has to be spend less time with Rick, or it needs to chase few subplots.
I’m going to try and focus on what worked in this issue, because I’m curious to see where it will go. Negan isn’t a free man yet, but he’s still in an influential position. Is he right this time, or is this just another act by the devil?
Rating: 7/10
Zeb Larson
Originally published December 17, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
