Review

"Spread out! Whatever you do - Don't let them surround us" - Rick Grimes

Rick Grimes and his ragtag band of survivors have stumbled on quite possibly the best place to wait out the zombie apocalypse, a maximum security prison. Naturally they have to clean out the dead who are walking the cell blocks. Surprisingly our crew discover a group of four prisoners still alive with a mountain of food they are prepared to share.

Naturally things don't go as well as Rick may have envisaged, with more zombies than you can poke a stick at, psychos, death pacts, and Rick and Tyreese coming to blows. A few of Rick's crew will not make it to the final pages, Rick will come unhinged, and a new character, Michonne - who rocks, is introduced. Safety behind bars will prove transient as Rick faces entirely new dangers.

Book two like Book one captures two story arcs that featured in twelve issues of the comic. For your edification you get Safety Behind Bars and The Heart's Desire as our group of Survivors seek some resting space from the zombie apocalypse. Kirkman, while keeping the zombie quota on a high setting, takes time out of his busy schedule of action to explore some of the group dynamics, Lori's pregnancy, and issues of race and differing perceptions of life after Civilisation has ended. It's pretty heady stuff that should have our readers well immersed in the themes and concepts being thrown on the table.

In Safety Behind Bars Kirkman finally departs from the Romero scripture and breaks out on his own. While the Zombies are pretty much the shufflers we all know from the Dead movies, Kirkman goes a step further and categorically states that if you die of any cause then you will resurrect as a flesh craving ghoul. Now that's got to put a new spin on things. For sure one character turns due to being bitten by a "lurker", and even Rick's quick action with an axe to cut out the offending strain, isn't enough to avoid contamination, but the important point is Kirkman creating his own mythology with the resurrection mythos. It's pretty cool and no doubt will come home to roost later in the series.

I guess The Heart's Desire is always going to be remembered for introducing the Michonne character, who promises to be one of the more intriguing aspects in future issues. We're talking a former lawyer who wields a samurai sword in devastating fashion, who arrives with two de-armed and de-jawed zombies that helped shield her from any "roamers" who might take an interest, and who has a few Roos bounding around the top paddock. Michonne for sure is a few beers short of a barbeque, but at least she has her other personality to talk to.

Of course Michonne isn't the only one going a little crazy, what with Rick finally succumbing to the pressures and going ballistic. But of more importance is Thomas, one of the four prisoners, who is an out and out psychopath with an inbuilt hatred of women going down. After slaughtering Hershel's two younger daughters, Thomas bites off more than he can chew when he goes after Andrea. This story element throws up an interesting paradox for Rick and his views on maintaining law and order. He believes Thomas should be executed as taking a life is the highest sin imaginable to him, but how exactly does this sit when we know Carl killed Shane in one of the previous story arcs. At the very least it presents a moral dilemma that Rick appears unable to comprehend, to say nothing of his assertion that the zombies are "us"! So if killing in the name of is not to be condoned, then how does this sit with a very violent world where it pretty much dictates that kill or be killed is the driving metaphor for civilisation, and some would say that would be an apt epitaph as well. We all go a little crazy sometimes and Rick cracks as his view as a law officer comes into conflict with survival requirements. Kirkman is raising his zombie apocalypse to new metaphysical heights.

Kirkman is also heavy hitting the zombie angle through these two story arcs, well okay that's par for the course, but we now have this notion that zombies are always going to get in somehow. It's like they are an ocean working away at eroding the firmament, always present never resting. While Rick and team are happily disposing of zombies inside the prison gates, they have to contend with continued zombie break ins from outside the gates as well. As Romero pointed out, quite often it's not the zombies you need worry about, they are a force of nature, it's the surviving humans that can cause the greatest grief. At least twice in book two the zombie hordes breach the prison fencing due to the actions of one or more of the new inmates. A clear and present danger, Kirkman is ensuring we understand that even while the survivors are temporarily safe behind bars, it only takes a micro second for things to change.

While Book Two throws up some heavy themes it remains a rollicking good read as Kirkman continues to throw curve balls at Rick and the others. The Book is well paced with action coming thick and fast, some characters falling by the wayside, and Rick Grimes becoming increasingly pragmatic as survival is increasingly hard to ensure. If you like your zombie action on the decaying side of the street, then the Artists on The Walking Dead have you covered, the undead sure aren't getting any prettier as time moves on.

One of my concerns with The Walking Dead is that Kirkman may not be able to keep the narrative running, there's sound reasons why Romero doesn't produce a Dead movie each year, well beyond the financial. I like my zombie madness as much as the next dark genre desperado, but the danger lurking in the wings is that Kirkman will start to go stale, even well received television shows have a finite lifetime, note the passing of Buffy, The X-Files, and the apparent imminent demise of Dexter and True Blood. Horror is of course not alone in saluting its fallen Heros, Star Trek anyone! What Kirkman appears to be doing well is putting his existing characters under emotional pressure, Carol is another one who goes off the deep end, introducing new characters to keep things fresh, and of course killing off some of his former central figures to ensure we don't get too comfortable about the situation. While the immediate Grimes family seem safe from disposal, I'm not about to say the same for any of the other survivors, a couple have already gone at this stage.

So I had a high old time with Book Two, Kirkman cranks it up with the third and fourth story arcs, and am now well looking forward to Book Three, (already in the review queue). Like Romero, Kirkman is focusing on his characters more than the ever present zombie menace, and let's face facts here kids the living are infinitely more complex and hence entertaining than the resurrected deceased who seemingly have one aspect to their existence. If you like your zombie outings to cover more than simply blood and guts then dial into this series, you'll need to have read Book One before tackling Book Two, I'm giving Book Two an unguarded recommendation. I did mention this is like one huge graphic novel right? Kirkman has me wanting to invest heavy in the franchise, anyone know if you can get the action figures Downunder?

While some Downunder outlets will have the books, try your local Comic or speciality store, your best bet if off the beaten path is to hook into either eBay or Amazon for purchasing options. We're sourcing our review copies from Amazon.com, and at something like $25 (P&H included), that presents value for money considering you get a large hard covered book to enjoy.

Almost forgot to mention the actual package. U.S comic book sized, hardcover (digging the covers that feature a character coming up in the story arcs, black and white panels, with coloured reproductions of the comic covers at the back. Well rounded offering that will have you chomping on your neighbour to get a copy. Does that even make sense?