Horror Graphic Novels — The Walking Dead: This Sorrowful Life

“I’m not dying . . . think of it . . . scientifically . . . I’m just . . . evolving . . . into a different . . . worse life form.”

Rick Grimes, Glenn and Michonne are trapped in Woodbury ruled by a vicious man everyone calls the Governor.

TITLE:

THE WALKING DEAD: THIS SORROWFUL LIFE

WRITER:

by Robert Kirkman

ARTISTS:

by Charlie Adlard (penciler, inker)
and Cliff Rathburn (gray tones)

SERIES:

The Walking Dead — Vol. 6
Reprints The Walking Dead comics #31-36

PUBLISHER:

Image Comics

GENRE:

Graphic Novel (collection), Horror Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Suspense

DESCRIPTORS:

Horror, Zombies, End of the World, Survival, Psychological Studies, Life and Death, Disaster, Prisons, Criminals, Trust, Love, Leadership, Torture, Victims, Victimizers, Community,

CHARACTERS:

Rick Grimes, A Kentucky police officer who wakes up from a coma to find the world overrun with zombies.
Tyreese, An African-American father who swings a mean hammer.
Michonne, A mysterious African-American woman who survived alone among zombies for a long time.
Lori Grimes, Rick’s wife who loves him but doesn’t always agree with his ideas.
Carl Grimes, Rick’s son.
Glenn, A young Asian-American teenager and camp scavenger.
Dale, A older man who recently lost his wife. He owns an RV which is the camp’s primary shelter and rescued Amy and Andrea.
Andrea, Amy’s sister, rescued by Dale.
Carol, A young mother who is somewhat troubled in these troubling times.
Sophia, Carol’s daughter.
Ben and Billy, Alan and Donna’s sons.
Otis, A hunter who is living with Hershel for safety.
Patricia, She seems like a nice person and is Otis’ girlfriend.
Hershel Greene, Former veterinarian and now a farmer where his family lives in some safety.
Maggie Greene, Hershel’s younger daughter.
Billy Greene, Hershel’s youngest son.
Axel, In prison for armed robbery.
The Governor, The leader of the small community of Woodbury (His real name is Philip).
Dr. Stevens, The doctor who patches up Rick.
Martinez, A member of the Woodbury community appalled by Rick’s wound.
Alice, Dr. Stevens “nurse” who picks up thing very quickly, including medicine.

SUMMARY:

Rick awakes without a right hand. His stump has been medically treated. He learns what he can from Dr. Stevens and it isn’t good news. The people of Woodbury have traded their humanity for safety.

The Governor takes pleasure in raping and torturing Michonne, even letting Glenn listen to the brutalizing in an effort to break him. The man is a sadist who has turned his viciousness on outsiders . . . for now.

Martinez, one of the men who patrol the barrier, is sent by the Governor to “have a little chat” with Dr. Stevens. He encounters Rick instead. When he asks what happened to the hand, Rick gives him an earful.

Down a “warrior” for the staged gladiatorial fights, the Governor enlists Michonne with offers of less brutality and maybe even freedom. All she has to do is “play” fight with her opponent and let him win. She agrees, but in the arena she kills her opponent and destroys the surrounding zombies. This makes the Governor rather angry.

Martinez returns to help Rick escape. He expected just to help Rick but gets an entire jail break with Glenn, the doctor and Alice joining in. Michonne is released but refuses to leave. She has unfinished business and will join them later.

Rick, Martinez and friends try to escape while Michonne pays a visit to the Governor’s apartment.

APPEAL:

This book continues a multi-book epic as two entirely different communities collide. It began in The Best Defense and continues to at least volume 8 Made to Suffer. (I haven’t finished Made to Suffer yet so it may continue beyond that.)

This storyline will change Rick’s life forever.

Script writer Robert Kirkman has already proven that there is no such thing as a status quo in this series and over the next three books he’ll really prove it.

More than the previous volumes, Kirkman explores ideas in this epic. Two communities of humans, struggling to survive against the zombies, are a study in differences. Rick’s community is smaller than Woodbury and he knows each member personally.

The Woodbury community is larger and militant. Most people only know the leader as the Governor, and the community is run like a military encampment. People raise families but also have watch duty on the perimeter. Blood sports between humans with zombies surrounding the arena are staged for the entertainment of the populace.

The Governor’s rule seems to be absolute. Those who don’t naturally fall in line with his way of thinking are coerced and threatened. Rick’s leadership is by consensus and even when they try a ruling council, everybody seems willing to defer to him.

Both men have sworn to do anything and everything they must to protect their community.

This is definitely a character driven book. Kirkman has spent the last five volumes developing these characters so that when disaster falls — and it is falling now — you can’t help but to care. In particular, each character in the search party that winds up in Woodbury, continues to have their mettle tested severely. You are left wondering which one will break, which will survive and which — if any — will escape.

Although this graphic novel doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, it does end with tensions high and the promise of more problems to come.

One idea Kirkman returns to time and again is that the zombies aren’t the worst monsters that Rick’s community must face. In safety Behind Bars, it was a serial killer in Rick’s community that was the worst monster — now we have an even greater monster. The zombie threat, however, continues to be ever present.

NOTES:

This is a black and white comic with greytones.

The Walking Dead Book Three reprints The Walking Dead comics #25-36 in a 304 page hardcover edition.

The Walking Dead Compendium One reprints The Walking Dead comics #1-48 in a 1088 page trade paperback extravaganza.

READALIKES:

There are a lot of zombie graphic novel collections out there besides Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead Series. You might enjoy The Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics edited by David Kendall, and Zombie Factory: 27 Tales of Bizarre Comix Madness from Beyond the Tomb edited by Patrick O’Donnell.

However, these tend to be short stories which does not allow for tremendous character development. For a longer narrative, you might try Marvel Comic’s own zombie epic starring Simon Garth: Essential Tales Of The Zombie, v. 1, and then the story gets picked up again in an adult format comic with Zombie and then The Zombie: Simon Garth. This series tells the tale from a zombie’s point of view.

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Tagged as: Horror Graphic Novel Summary, Zombies