Comic-Caps: The Walking Dead #7-12

31 May

Robert Kirkman – Creator, Writer, Letterer
Tony Moore – Penciler, Inker and gray tones
Cliff Rathburn – Gray tones

Previously on The Walking Dead
Office Rick Grimes is shot in the line of duty and reawakens from a coma months later only to find the world is filled with the living dead. Rick goes to Atlanta to find his wife and son, he does and is also reunited with his partner Shane (who banged his wife). Shane is angry Rick is back because he wants Rick’s wife to himself and tries to kill him but before he does, Ricks son Carl shoots Shane. Lots of people also get eaten by zombies.

Chapter 2: Miles Behind Us (#7-12)

Issue 7
At Shane’s funeral Lori flashes back to when she, Carl and Shane were making their way to Atlanta and one night where she and Shane bumped uglies.

After the funeral Rick tells everyone that they’re moving to find somewhere more secure, they get into Dale’s RV and head out onto the snowy roads of Atlanta. After a while they come to a car blocking the road and just after moving it 3 figures come out of the snowy wilderness, Rick draws his gun but a voice begs him not to shoot. The voice belongs to Tyreese, who is travelling with his daughter Julie and her boyfriend Chris.

As it’s dark and cold Rick decides to camp where they are for the night and asks if Tyresse would like to stay with them. The next morning Rick and Tyreese are talking about their situation and what they’ve been through until Rick spots a couple of walkers which he and Tyreese deal with quickly.

That night everyone is around the camp fire, Carol and Tyreese are flirting and Lori starts to walk off, Rick catches up to her to find out what’s wrong. Lori reveals that she is pregnant.

Issue 8
Lori and Rick head back to the camp and Lori tells everyone the news. Dale speaks to Rick and asks as he’s only been with them a month, could it be Shane’s? Rick shouts at Dale and tells him that he;s thinking the same thing but can’t deal with that right now, his priority is making sure Lori and the baby will be okay.

As they drive along to come to a stop outside a gated community called Wiltshire Estates. Everyone splits up into teams and starts checking one of the houses for zombies and food. Rick gets overpowered as he opens a cellar door and is saved by Tyreese charging and shoulder tackling them off of Rick, as they start clearing the dead zombies from the house Tyreese tells Rick that he was in the NFL for 2 years.

As the night is drawing in Rick decides it’s best that everyone stays in the house but upstairs, when it’s light tomorrow they’ll check the rest of the houses. Rick asks everyone to pair up as there’s not much room. Donna finds some extra blankets and starts handing them out, she approaches the room of Andrea and Dale but finds them keeping each other warm.

Speaking of warm, the snow is starting to melt outside which reveals a sign that was placed outside the gate which reads ‘All dead. Do not enter’.

Issue 9
The next morning Rick splits everyone into 3 groups, Andrea and the kids stay in the house they’ve secured and the other 2 groups go looking for supplies. Rick heads over to the RV to pick up his gun and everyone else starts checking the houses. As Rick gets out of the RV he spots the sign ‘All dead. Do not enter’ but before he can warn anyone a zombie comes out of a door and takes a chunk out of Donna’s face.

Rick shouts to Allen to not shoot but it’s too late, the gun goes off and the undead start coming from everywhere. Everyone high-tales it to the RV except for Chris and Julie. Rick and Tyreese run to the house and get to them but they become trapped as the house becomes overrun. They climb out onto the roof but hundreds of zombies await them down below, suddenly with Dale at the wheel, the RV splats the horde and Rick, Tyreese, Julie and Chris jump on top and they get the hell out of there.

A few miles away from Wiltshire Heights they pull over to make sure everyone is okay and do an inventory of their food, which is pretty much non-existent. Rick, Tyreese and Carl head into the nearby woods to start hunting, they pause as they hear a noise up ahead, suddenly a gun fires and Carl drops to the floor.

Issue 10
Rick lunges at the man who just shot his son and puts a gun to his head but just before Rick pulls the trigger Tyreese shouts CARL’S NOT DEAD! The man who shot Carl tells them that his farm is nearby and the guy that owns it can help. Rick tells Tyreese to tell everyone what happened and to get them to meet him at the farm, Rick picks up Carl and runs.

The man who introduces himself as Hershel Greene informs Rick, Lori and the rest of the group that Carl will be okay, the bullet got lodged in his shoulder so nothing vital was hit.

While Hershel’s daughter Lacey shows the group around the farm Rick and Lori sit by Carl’s bedside and Andrea tries to talk to Allen about needing to be there fir his sons, which doesn’t go well and ends with Allen repeatedly telling her to f**k off.

A few hours later Carl wakes up and is in good spirits and everyone gets together for a much needed meal. After the meal Maggie and Glenn come to a friends with benefits agreement, Tyreese tells Chris and Julie to keep their hands to themself, to which Chris creepily tells Julie he wants them to be together for the rest of eternity and Hershel tells Rick they are more than welcome to stay whilst Carl gets better.

Hershel tells him there’s not much room in the house so they will have to sleep in the RV still, Rick asks about the barn, Hershel responds ‘The barn? You don’t want to go in there, trust me. That’s where we keep all our dead one.’

Issue 11
Rick and Hershel have a full blown argument over Rick’s killing of the sick people and Hershel’s keeping the zombies in the barn in case they get better. Hershel reveals that his son is in there and he can’t let him go. It takes Tyreese to come in between them and get them to cool down.

The next day Rick apologises for the way he reacted and asked Hershel if any of his family would like to join the group with gun training. During the training Hershel comes over and tells them to stop because they are shooting bullets into the Thompson’s house, Rick asks, ‘Aren’t they in your barn?’, ‘That’s not the point’ Hershel retorts.

Just then a zombie staggers across the field, Rick aims his gun but Hershel stops him and says they will lead it into the barn. As Hershel opens the barn he’s knocked back and to the groung by the occupants, his son Arnold runs to his rescue only to be bitten from behind. Lacey tries to run to her brothers aid but is set upon by several of the walking dead. The group goes to work and dispatches of the zombies but Hershel takes the gun from Maggie and puts his two sons out of their misery.

Issue 12
In the aftermath of Issue 11, Rick and Allen are cleaning up the barn so his groups can move in but Rick is frustrated and goes and speaks to Hershel about them being able to stay in his house. Hershel blows his top and tells Rick to go, he blames them for the loss of his sons and daughter and is not to thrilled about Glenn and Maggie sleeping together either.

He puts a gun to Ricks head and tells them to go, they pack up their stuff and hit the road, except Glenn, he and Maggie are in love and he doesn’t want to leave her. After several days the group have no food left and can’t find anything to hunt. In a last desperate bid to find something everyone splits up and goes in search for something, anything that can help them.

Dale and Andrea find something and rush back to the RV to honk the horn to signal the rest of the group to head back as they’ve found something. They lead everyone to what they found just over the hill top. A prison.

Final Thoughts
Well things moved pretty quickly in this one and we’ve lost a few people too. Maybe Shane was right, maybe they should have stayed put. Allen has started to pick himself up since Donna’s death but I don’t think the hatred he feels towards Andrea is dissipating and I can see something blowing up soon.

I loved the writing for Rick and Hershel in this one and hope we get to come back to Hershel again soon, especially as Glenn has left the group to stay with Maggie. Speaking of the group, they found the prison! If you’ve seen the TV show you’ll know some of what’s to come but oh boy, some shocks are in order.

And what the heck is going on with Chris and Julie? Are they planning a suicide pact or trying to organise a time and place to have sex? All I know is, they creep my the hell out.

Next week I’ll be recapping Robert Kirkmans Invincible comic, carrying on from where we left off with the Perfect Strangers story arc covering issues 9-13. I’ll be back with more of The Walking Dead the following week where I’ll be recapping Chapter Three: Safety Behind Bars covering issues 13-18.