[DaneBramage]

HMS-RAL

 

Holly Memorial Society-Roamers and Lurkers Division. Local 42069.

[DaneBramage]

and she thanked him for it?

LOL

[JesusMonroe]

Nice drawings, Koibito! I like the realistic look you're giving them

 

 

WTF with the Letter Hacks? It's like they got every 9 year old with a smartphone to email the questions.... 

 

Lol! Thought the same thing.

 

And I'm totally on the, "Olivia is fucking Negan" train now. It all makes sense

 

And its CROSSED go read it now.

Yes, sir. I'll look into it

[farswell7]

IF OLIVIA is sleeping with Negan my life will be complete! 

[jbhutto]

Solid issue 7/10

 

Some nice Euge side-action.  I've liked Eugene from his introduction and it's nice to see his 

character coming around (plz don't die!)

 

The synchronized Michonne / Jesus attack was badass as well.

 

Yeah, Negan's bullet dodging and "That fucker RIck is toast" endings are a little deja vu-ish

but eh.

 

I'm starting to think that Dwight left the arrow (sorry, bolt) unzombified just to spite Negan, and

not necessarily to help Rick. 

[gypsyrose]

Decent issue but The arc does seem rushed. Like someone else said I just can't put my finger on it. The art has been good though. I really like all the night scenes. 

[LucilleIsThirsty]

I thought that about Olivia and Negan aswell!! That would be nice, mmmmm, traitors.

 

 

But one thing that really bugs me is why Negan seems to have forgotten all about the fact that they will have to work together on a later date... and the fact that some people have to be alive for that to happen. Who else is going to collect all their food for them?

 

Second point, how come Mark and Amber are going somewhere together?! Amber basically said it was okey to scar him so she wouldn't have to work? Nice wife...

[supersutton]

Hi guys! First time poster, long time lurker. I've read and re-read TWD many, many times over the last few years and have held it to the highest esteem until AOW came along, and now I find myself less and less excited to pick up the book every release. A lot of people seem to be unable to put their finger on exactly what feels off about AOW, but I know what it is for me: the book has strayed too far from the core that made it work, and although I'm all for breaking new narrative ground in this series, I think AOW has literally blown the scale of the story up to the point where it's simply difficult to give so much of a shit anymore.

 

Violence always serves a purpose in The Walking Dead, but only if it's perpetrated by, or inflicted upon, characters we care about. I'm pretty sure I've seen this mentioned before, but Negan set a new precedent for violent acts in the book when he killed Glenn. Not only was it arguably the most visually arresting scene in the book to date, but it set an incredibly foreboding tone that has since been undermined. If you think about the dynamic of the scene, it was incredibly intimate - the symbolic metaphor for hope that had persisted throughout the entire series was smashed to pieces right in front of those he meant the most to, those he had a long, intricate history with. Basically, I think the book has suffered immensely as a result of his death - not because it was a badly portrayed or unnecessary death, but because Kirkman subsequently introduced so many moving parts to the story in reaction to his death that the tight, always potentially fragile and unspokenly intimate group dynamic of the survivors was diluted by all of additional characters and locations that simply weren't interesting or fleshed-out enough for us to care about before they all became involved in AOW. (Seriously, what was the point in introducing a pet tiger, only to kill it off ten issues later?) Now, AOW has expanded the conflict up to the point where we should be immensely excited because, on paper, it poses the biggest threat to the status quo of the survivors and the book as a whole thus far, because a war entails unavoidable death and destruction - but in reality, I just don't think Kirkman made us care enough about ANY of this before the war started. Before and during the war, we've seen Rick as a strategist, a commander and a beacon of hope for those united against Negan - but aside from a few characters like Jesus, we haven't actually seen him foster any sort of personal connection with ANYONE outside of his group. So why should we care when they die? TWD works best when it's an intimate examination of how people inevitably suffer in this world, and how they manage to overcome - or succumb to - the violence that is at times necessary to commit or endure to survive. The violence must be PERSONAL and have tangible effects on the mood and tone of not just the issue, but the arc that contains it and, further still, needs to do something interesting to the group of people we actually care about.

So far, both the saviors and the survivors have come into direct conflict multiple times and made numerous fuckups, but the only people who have suffered are redshirts and a few reasonably unimportant characters like Holly and Spencer. Additionally, my suspension of disbelief has been ruined more times during the saviors/AOW arcs than it was reading the ENTIRE book up to that point. Reading 124 reaffirmed this for me - Negan has simply dived out of the way of bullets too many times, and it's bullshit narrrative-serving tactics like this that've ruined potential of the arc reaching the same level of tension that, say, the prison arc did. Wars are planned with an end in sight. The prison war wasn't, and it felt organic, fresh and wholly unpredictable as a result, a feeling that complemented the thematic trajectory of the series as a whole very well. AOW simply feels like Kirkman working towards an endgame, which removes that palpable sense of urgency from reading it. It's simply not intimate anymore. I can honestly say I've been less affected by everything that's happened in AOW than the scene where Rick disembowels the rapist off-panel while Abraham and Carl watch, because that was terrifying. When the shit does hit the fan in AOW, we will have been waiting for so long and it will be carried out on such a grand scale that it will feel wholly underwhelming.

 

 

... Reading back over this I'm not sure I put my finger on it either. But dude, 124 pissed me off something fierce.

[moop420]

This arc should be called "All Out Eugene!" The Euge has really stepped his game up.

 

Not looking good for Nicholas. Another B-lister bites the dust.

 

I do have to say though, I've been rereading the whole Alexandria arc and Denise has grown in major stature in my eyes. Tough, smart, and doesn't shit from anyone. Works miracles to save Carl. Has the most boss death in the whole saga...getting bite, knowing he's a goner, and still manages to save Heath when he looked like he was a goner. I'd like to see that fucking pretty boy Doctor Carson save someone from bleeding out after he has a chunk of his bicep betting off.

[Neganite]

The big twist in All out war will be that Negan gives up because Olivia has domesticated him with nice food and some good lovin!

[Neganite]

Oh and Gregory is still alive, I guarantee that fucker is going to survive this war!

[samus88]

I am still pissed that Kirkman stole that zombie idea from countless previous zombie works. Really, dude?

[moop420]

Having Gregory survive would be pretty sweet. Since Nicholas looks like he's about to shuffle off the mortal coil we need someone to inherit the title of 1# douche that has been passed from Douglas to Spencer to Nicholas. I'd rather the title go to a pureblood Alexandrian, but the ASZ survivors appear to be fresh out of douches.

[Neganite]

Isnt everything 'stolen'. Being bitten, destroying the brain, its all been done before. Kirkman might have seen the idea elsewhere, but to me its just a logical thing to do to 'evolve' the weapons in the ZA.

[Mr. NomNom]

Then why not shoot Rick in the leg? It reminds me of the scene in Dumb and Dumber when Harry is given a bullet proof vest and tossed into action. Afterward, he asks what happened if he were shot in the head and was told by the police it was a chance they were willing to take.

I can see Rick asking the same question, and I'd lol hard if Dwight says it's a chance he was willing to take

Because the chances of missing an artery or not ripping a muscle would be difficult. He aimed i'm guessing where he was missing major organs and all that. Daryl in the show had an arrow go through him. Around the same spot . The man has one arm...I don't want him missing a leg. He'll be useless...unless he sits at a desk barking orders.

[Mr. NomNom]

I am still pissed that Kirkman stole that zombie idea from countless previous zombie works. Really, dude?

Who doesn't steal ideas from other zombie books/comic? Everyone takes someone else's idea and implements it into their own story. It happens. I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner like it did in WWZ.

[marsyao]

I would guess the bolt Dwight used to shoot Rick is not poisoned, but I can not get Dwight's motive, on the one hand he betrayed Negan, he killed bunch of Saviors and he saved Eugine, if Negan eventually know any of these, he would be a dead man, on the other hand he shoot Rick, even he did not use a poisonous arrow, still he seriously wounds Rick, Rick does not trust him at the first place, now this action would make thing even worse, I do not think Rick would later thank him for shooting him just because Dwight could have made it much worse.

[DHeav60]

I wish they didn't have so many gun battles for the simple fact that it's fucking ridiculous that Negan NEVER gets shot. Literally everyone around him drops like flies yet he continues to be untouchable. 

 

Kind hard to have a war without gun battles....

 

And from what I gather - Negan recognizes the danger of being exposed to the light almost immediately, and runs as fast as he can.  While he orders the other saviors to fall back, their reactions are much slower which makes them easier targets.  If you're a shooter trying to take out the saviors - you probably go for the stationary targets first. 

 

Also, and I'm feeling like a broken record here.... but I don't understand why people are surprised that Negan isn't killed by a random bullet.  If Negan dies, the war is over.  Thus, he will not die until the war is over which means he will survive #125 and be killed in #126.  Bet on it

[JesusMonroe]

Also, and I'm feeling like a broken record here.... but I don't understand why people are surprised that Negan isn't killed by a random bullet.  If Negan dies, the war is over.  Thus, he will not die until the war is over which means he will survive #125 and be killed in #126.  Bet on it

Because war stories can still be told when a main villain or main character dies. There was never a guarantee that Negan would die in 126. It could've been in 123 for all we knew

 

And the main criticism that people are having about Negan not being killed is the fact that the plot is literally bending around him for the purpose of him living. It made sense that the Governor lived because Michonne wanted him alive and suffering and she healed him as best as she could so she could torture him longer. Every encounter after that was the Governor in a suit of armor and a tank

 

Negan doesn't have that. He's walking in fields of gunfire with a melee weapon. Negan can live until 126, but it should be more plausible

[theblackboxlies]

He should have at least been wounded or grazed by a bullet at this point. The most is a bite + a couple punches from Rick and getting in a scuffle with Jesus. 

[Dead Gov Walking]

Kirkman said the show hasn't altered the way he writes, right?

So why does it feel like Negan has "The Governor season 3 syndrome" where bullets seem to avoid him like the plague

[DaneBramage]

Negs may have a kevlar/armored vest under his shirt. I have always thought that his chest was disproportionately large. Also I'm not pissed about the use of gunked up weapons. Biological warfare was started (IIRC) in the early Medieval times using disease to weaken the enemy.

[DHeav60]

Because war stories can still be told when a main villain or main character dies. There was never a guarantee that Negan would die in 126. It could've been in 123 for all we knew

 

And the main criticism that people are having about Negan not being killed is the fact that the plot is literally bending around him for the purpose of him living. It made sense that the Governor lived because Michonne wanted him alive and suffering and she healed him as best as she could so she could torture him longer. Every encounter after that was the Governor in a suit of armor and a tank

 

Negan doesn't have that. He's walking in fields of gunfire with a melee weapon. Negan can live until 126, but it should be more plausible

 

I never said that the villain always has to die at the end.  But the circumstances of All out War deem it so.  Both Rick and Negan are the lynchpin to their respective armies.  Either one of them falls - and the war is over.  That has been clear for the beginning. 

 

I get having criticism at the plot bending around Negan surviving... but Kirkman as ALREADY admitted doing this with other character deaths - like Glenn.  You mention the Governor and that's another good example.  You can say that Michonne specifically left him alive... but one could say that he was left alive specifically to fit the story arc and have a big assault on the prison (which is probably what Kirkman had planned from the start).   Nobody seemed to care that bullets danced around TG.  Andrea - a deadeye sniper had multiple chances at him and always seemed to miss.  Like it or not - the characters deaths are timed specifically and purposely.

 

Also when talking about TG - fact of the matter is Michonne left him for DEAD.  She didn't kill him outright, but any logical person could have assumed that he wasn't going to survive that.  Did anyone complain at the highly unlikely ability of drunken Bob Stookey to be able to save TG's life?  So people shouldn't be that surprised when Negan's arc is written the same way. 

[JesusMonroe]

I never said that the villain always has to die at the end.  But the circumstances of All out War deem it so.  Both Rick and Negan are the lynchpin to their respective armies.  Either one of them falls - and the war is over.  That has been clear for the beginning. 

 

I get having criticism at the plot bending around Negan surviving... but Kirkman as ALREADY admitted doing this with other character deaths - like Glenn.  You mention the Governor and that's another good example.  You can say that Michonne specifically left him alive... but one could say that he was left alive specifically to fit the story arc and have a big assault on the prison (which is probably what Kirkman had planned from the start).   Nobody seemed to care that bullets danced around TG.  Andrea - a deadeye sniper had multiple chances at him and always seemed to miss.  Like it or not - the characters deaths are timed specifically and purposely.

 

Also when talking about TG - fact of the matter is Michonne left him for DEAD.  She didn't kill him outright, but any logical person could have assumed that he wasn't going to survive that.  Did anyone complain at the highly unlikely ability of drunken Bob Stookey to be able to save TG's life?  So people shouldn't be that surprised when Negan's arc is written the same way. 

It hasn't been that clear from the beginning. The Saviors worship Negan and I could see them going all out against Rick if Negan fell, not even having any regard to their own lives. It could even be a cool plot twist if Negan was killed halfway through by Dwight and then Dwight picked up the torch

 

Kirkman decided he wanted Glenn to live another 25 issues. However, Glenn wasn't in life or death situations every issue from 75-99. His survival wasn't implausible in the slightest. For the Michonne thing, you seem to be missing my point. Of course Kirkman wanted the Governor to attack the prison from the beginning. Kirkman also probably wanted Negan to attack Hilltop from the beginning. The difference is that it makes sense for Michonne to leave the Governor alive while she was torturing him (and Kirkman confirmed that Bob didn't do much to heal the Governor. It was mostly Michonne trying to keep him alive), so it still fits with the story for the Governor to attack the prison without having to suspend disbelief that much. Negan's life has been in very present danger 104, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 120, 123, and 124. His life could've also easily ended in 103, 107, and 119. You can only roll the dice so many times before it starts getting a little absurd. With Andrea and the Governor, she never had a chance. During the first assault, everyone targeted her and she was shot in the head. When the Governor had Tyreese held hostage, it was Billy in the guard tower. People weren't complaining that Andrea could've killed him because she really couldn't have

[DHeav60]

It hasn't been that clear from the beginning. The Saviors worship Negan and I could see them going all out against Rick if Negan fell, not even having any regard to their own lives. It could even be a cool plot twist if Negan was killed halfway through by Dwight and then Dwight picked up the torch

 

Kirkman decided he wanted Glenn to live another 25 issues. However, Glenn wasn't in life or death situations every issue from 75-99. His survival wasn't implausible in the slightest. For the Michonne thing, you seem to be missing my point. Of course Kirkman wanted the Governor to attack the prison from the beginning. Kirkman also probably wanted Negan to attack Hilltop from the beginning. The difference is that it makes sense for Michonne to leave the Governor alive while she was torturing him (and Kirkman confirmed that Bob didn't do much to heal the Governor. It was mostly Michonne trying to keep him alive), so it still fits with the story for the Governor to attack the prison without having to suspend disbelief that much. Negan's life has been in very present danger 104, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 120, 123, and 124. His life could've also easily ended in 103, 107, and 119. You can only roll the dice so many times before it starts getting a little absurd. With Andrea and the Governor, she never had a chance. During the first assault, everyone targeted her and she was shot in the head. When the Governor had Tyreese held hostage, it was Billy in the guard tower. People weren't complaining that Andrea could've killed him because she really couldn't have

 

I think it has been pretty clear from the beginning that Negan and Rick are both essential to their respective groups.  Negan is a cult of personality type, and has been shown to be one of the smartest, and adept survivors of the ZA.  His men on the other hand - are mostly brainless grunts.  There's no way that they could continue being "The Saviors" without Negan, even if they wanted to.  Furthermore, it's already been shown that FEAR is a big part of what keeps the Saviors in line.  Negan dies, suddenly no one fears having their face melted with an iron - I don't see how the remaining survivors would continue to plunder other communities in his name.  Rick on the other hand - People genuinely like and respect him, and survivors could potentially keep fighting without him - but as Jesus said to him in #114 "All this falls apart without you".  That's the truth.  BTW, Rick has "dodged" an ENDLESS supply of bullets throughout the entire series and nobody seems to bat an eye at that.

 

As for TG - Before Andrea was targeted by TG's army She shot TG and the bullet miraculously bounced of his riot suit.  High powered rifle rounds would penetrate that fucker quite easily... plus, isn't Andrea a sharpshooter?  Couldn't she have just shot him in the face?  Why didn't she?  You see - it's the same argument that people make with Negan.  Ok - Negan has been in more of those situations, but still the principle remains the same. 

 

You think Negan dying and Dwight carrying the torch would be cool?  That sounds kind of lame to me.  Especially when you consider that virtually ALL of Dwight's backstory is about how he has been tortured by Negan.  Negan stole his wife, ironed his face, and then rubs in the fact that he continues to fuck Dwights wife on a regular basis... and you think Dwight would want to become the NEW Negan after Negan died?  That makes no sense to me. 

 

It's a comic book.  They are going to forgo quite a bit of "realism" in order to to make the story arcs fluid and keep the desired pace.