Zombies can talk.

And I loved Negan trying to trick Magna's group and Magna's like, nope. Wow, didn't expect that. They resolved that quickly.

 

I'm assuming/hoping that what's his face was simply having delusions of the zombies talking. Talking zombies is a bit too "jumped the shark" for my taste.

The return of HERSHEL GREENE!!!!! …Unless he's taken Glenn's surname, not that it really matters lol.

That Rolland kid looks like Sophia's twin brother.

Negan and Magna's meeting was kind of anti-climatic. "Can't blame a guy for trying." Lol, I thought there'd be more to it than that, they were all kind of like, nice try bro and Negan gave up his act.

 

Beat me. Damnit. LOL

However; great issue! I'll post deeper analysis later.

 

Now were getting to the good stuff! I knew it! I called it back when we got the tag line for this issue. I knew those dead-alive f*cks were going to evolve eventually. It was bound to happen, as long as they stayed "alive", and kept the numbers in their favor, it was only a matter of time until they began to adapt and regain some cognitive abilities. It was kind of inevitable.(There's actually this really good series of zombie books by Joe McKinney; where the zombies adapt over time, like the course of a decade or more. There are stage 1, stage 2, and stage 3 zombies, each having more cognitive abilities and capabilities than the next. They can hunt in packs, use decoys, set traps, things like that; albeit rudimentary it makes them exponentially more dangerous. Eventually a stage 4 zombie evolves, and can speak, and even remember his life before becoming infected. The stage 4 also had a sort of mind control over lower stage zombies, making them minions at his disposal. I think it would be cool if they did something along these lines, but different).

Moving on--I also called it on Magna! LOL I'm glad I was right; and I'm proud of her. I had a feeling it was going to go this way; that they were using this encounter with Negan as a plot device to build trust in Magna. Needless to say, it worked. Now more than ever I agree with the sentiment of Magna being a female Rick. She's definitely leader material, and now we know she's got a god head on her shoulder and a good eye for a liar and criminal, and a good nose for bullsh*t. She won't be manipulated, which is good. Now, I also think Magna will begin to loosen up and trust Rick more, after seeing he's not some evil tyrant. I think the fact Negan tried to describe him as such with actually cause Magna to think the opposite now; because she knows a lying maniac would try to paint Rick as the opposite of what he truly is. I can't wait to see how she and her crew begin to fit into the ig picture. I think Kelly could possibly join the ranks of our more badass zombie fighters(eg. Michonne, Jesus, Abe, etc.). Above all, I'm so glad we didn't have to suffer through some "Negan Rises Again" jailbreak subplot. It would have been tired and redundant.

It's funny how quickly Negan dropped his victim act. That along with the "You guys are new right?" line, causes me wonder how many other new comers he's tried this little dog-and-pony show on? I'm sure many.

Also, I'm still loving the father-son-dynamic between Rick and Carl. You can tell their bond is strong, unbreakable. Carl apparently has overcome his angst and resentment toward his father, you can tell he understands and respects him now; and there's nothing Rick could do now to make Carl feel differently. Rick also seem to be overcoming his overprotective behavior toward Carl, as well as his fear of losing him, and he seems to have finally gained a more genuine confidence in his sons abilities and capabilities as a man on his own. I think he finally understands that Carl can hold his own, that he's not just a man, but a good one. I just wish someone would give the kid a damn melee weapon. It's time he starts getting up close and personal with the undead. Another thing; what the hell is wrong with Earl Sutton? That broke my heart, and not to mention Carl's. I don't care if he was sick of waiting for Carl to ask his father, or if he didn't think Rick would allow it; either way, when Carl finally showed up for the apprenticeship, Earl Sutton should have dropped Rolland, or whoever else may have been working there like a bad freaking habit. This is the son of Rick Grimes, if he wants to apprentice as a blacksmith, then Sutton should go out of his way to make that happen. Carl seemed pretty upset, and he was going straight for his father. I'd like to think he'll have Rick go give Sutton a talking to, but Carl will probably just brood, and tell his father he changed his mind and wants to go home immediately. Either way, Earl Sutton, you're a prick.

I'm really digging Rick's celebrity status. He's literally been raised to the status of legend amongst men. The man, the myth, the legend, every woman wants him, every man wants to be him, every little boy idolizes him. All thanks to Maggie and her "I believe in Rick Grimes"; that was too funny. Rick hazing her for that. That shows that he's modest and humble, which is good. I wouldn't have liked a Rick like the one in issue #75 when he was on a power trip and Michonne had to cut him down to size. Something else a though was pretty cool, albeit a minor detail, but Rick actually gave us a reason for his new style. While most of us assumed is was a "getting old" kind of thing, or maybe he was trying to emulate Douglas, or attempting to adopt a more coiffed and "professional" appearance for his new role as apocalyptic politician, it was none of the above. In fact, Rick states that he shaved his head, and grew his beard to try and get some peace. Peace from the growing fame, and celebrity status he had obtained. People swarm him like Justin Beiber at a girl scout convention; even people who had never met him before recognized him by his long blonde hair and burly thick beard. So a change of appearance bought him some temporary anonymity; but it didn't last long.

I'm very curious what's going on with Gregory. When Rick asks Maggie-"How's Gregory doing these days, anyway?" and she responds-"He's still the worst"; it makes me wonder what he's been up to. After his fall, and Maggie's rise, and then the end of the war, and Rick's victory, you would think Gregory would have fallen so far that he wouldn't be in any position to cause anyone any grief. In my opinion, he's a traitor, a collaborator, he aided and abetted Negan during the war, and should be sharing a cell with the maniac for his war crimes. But, I still wonder what he's become now. The way Maggie disdainfully refers to him, makes me think he's become a town drunk of sorts; or some similar sort of harlot, or vagabond, a beggar.

Something else worth mentioning, was that moment, when Rick admitted how terrified he was of Carl leaving ASZ. In that single panel, that expression on Ricks face, it was very nostalgic for me for some reason. It really took me back to the prison arc, and the times after the prison fell. That look of terror on his face, there was just something about it, Rick hasn't appeared that shocked or worried in a very long time.

Apparently the brother Carson chose to not stay together as one happy nerd family at the Hilltop. I have a hard time believing that Carson willingly chose to go back to that hell that was the Sanctuary, even if Negan was dethroned. So it makes me wonder if he was strong armed, I have a feeling Dwight may not be a much better leader of the Saviors than Negan was. Not to mention, a lot of those guys were just flat out mean and unsavory; the repeat offender, career criminal types. Beyond help.

And last but certainly not least; we had a pleasant and early surprise this month! We thought we weren't meeting Maggie's baby until October; but there he was, fast asleep in this issue! And I absolutely love that he is name Hershel! That's awesome! Also, I have to commend Charlie Adlard for how he drew Hershel, he looks amazingly like both his parents, but like his own individual person at the same time, the resemblance is uncanny. Great work! Can't wait to watch his story unfold over a long period of time. That little boy is the future of the series, between him and Carl, can't wait to see how it all turns out down the line. Something that sort of disappointed me was that we only got a mention of Sophia. I wish we could have seen her, but from the way Maggie spoke of her, it seems like she hasn't gotten much better when it comes to the crazy denial, and helplessness, and all those emotional issues. She's damaged goods I guess.

So, all that being said; next month "A Journey Begins". Can't wait to see what that means. Also, I'm guessing that talking herd of evolved walkers is heading straight for the Hilltop. That has me extremely worried, because judging by just how thoroughly bugged out Marco was(eye's bulging out of his head, and clamping the pillow around his head like he could still hear them), I feel like these walkers have more cognitive abilities than just speech alone. They may be organized, and capable of staging a rudimentary strategic attack. Either way; it's going to get interesting! I'm so glad they decided to go this route; if done right it will be very cool and interesting. Like they said in the Hacks, "Now we're getting to the good stuff!"
[MENTION=39001]HondaS2kXD[/MENTION] [MENTION=41032]and138[/MENTION] [MENTION=26751]TheWalking Horn[/MENTION] [MENTION=5424]BatmansHooker[/MENTION] [MENTION=7785]Neuropyramidal[/MENTION]

 

I have to disagree there. I mean, I would think over time, as long as the zombies stayed "alive", and kept the numbers in their favor, they would eventually begin to adapt and evolve to become more efficient and capable at feeding and hunting and other types of instinctive skills. I mean, I think they could develop the ability to learn over time, after seeing things, and repeating them, over and over. I feel like would definitely begin to develop some sort of more advanced cognitive abilities. Like possibly the ability to work together to obtain a common goal, possibly hunting in packs, using decoys, rudimentary traps and distractions. And above all, I think they would develop some sort of means to communicate with one another.

If you're interested, there's a really good zombie apocalypse series of novels by Joe McKinney. The series is called "Dead World", there are about 7 or so books, the first one being titled "Dead City". It's a great story, and follows the apocalypse to a point of well over ten years after the initial outbreak. In the story, the zombie eventually begin to change, adapt, or evolve. There were a few different levels of evolution, or cognitive awareness, stage 1, stage 2 and stage 3 zombies. Each one having more or different cognitive abilities, the use of decoys, hunting in packs, distractions, rudimentary traps, and even going as far as to doing their primitive best to clean and dress a small zombie child to use as a decoy to lure the living withing attacking range. Eventually, after quite some time, a stage 4 zombie arises, and can speak, and remembers his life and memories from before he became infected, he has stopped decaying, but still has some permanent injuries from years as a zombie, and he still has to feed on living human flesh to survive. He also has a sort of telekinetic mind control power over lower stage zombies. He can control them completely and use them as minions. It's actually really cool, and the books are great. And the way McKinney does it, and explains it, and the way he portrays the different stage zombies, is actually really reasonable and down to earth. It's not that far-fetched. You might want to check them out; I think it could sway your view on the whole "evolving-zombie" subject. LOL

 

I absolutely loved Magna's and Negan's interaction:

Negan: HELP! RICK ALWAYS COMES DOWN AND TORTURES ME!!
Magna: ....
Negan: RICK IS A TYRANT!! HIS NAME EVEN TERRIFIES ME!!
Magna:...
Negan: GET ME OUT!! I AM PREGNANT AND HE IS GOING TO CUT OFF MY FINGERS!
Magna: no
Negan: wanna chat them?
Magna: *walks away*

Ok, I made the finger part up, but with how hilariously transparent Negan was I half expected him to say that. I have become a big fan of Magna after that.

I will comment more later but I did love that issue.

 

Whoa didnt see the dead were speaking part coming at all! Really good issue.
Although i have my doubts about it ,it is probably people who are covered in Walker guts moving within the herd.

 

I really loved this issue! So, maybe walkers talk now... and that would be awesome for a change. Speaking of which, Marco and Ken were pretty hungry and tired at those moments when they were trying to hide from them, so it could be hallucination. I don't think there was another guy in the herd.

Wow, Maggie named her son Hershel. Looks like Rick is a hero in Hilltop.

Magna... oh Magna, Magna... my girl. I knew she wouldn't buy Negan's bulls*it story. He'll have to do something better than that...

 

LOL, the walkers aren't talking people. Marco was hallucinating.

The idea of the walkers starting to talk would be the biggest jump of the shark possibly in the history of modern man. The only thing I could imagine that could possibly be worse for the series would be if it was turned into a musical. No walkers are talking.
Kirkman is no idiot. Come on guys, you know TWD better than that.

I was very glad to see Magna not falling for Negan's b.s. And now how to get rid of that pesky Rolland.

And baby Hershel! Very nice tribute. I wouldn't mind seeing Gregory try some stunts and become a problem for awhile, that could be interesting.

 

lol, never.

Very rudimentary learning by repeated observation is a totally different animal. If walkers had acquired language, then they wouldn't be roaming around the woods in packs lol. They would be doing what intelligent [language possessing] survivors do. Searching in an organized way, scouting buildings, planning advanced modes of attack. Driving cars. Siphoning gas. Not walking stupidly in packs without a single one of them looking over the edge of the ditch, which would be the obvious place that Marco and Ken were hiding. This wasn't ughs and grunds and 'og... food' type language. This was above that. They wouldn't jump from mindless moaning to nearly grammicatally correct syntax. It was a hallucination by Marco.

And if it turned out not to be a hallucination....this is the worst day in the history of the TWD comic. Maybe in the history of the modern world.

 

That's another possibility, it could be that as well, although I think hallucination is much more likely, because that horde didnt' really seem to start out as a pack, but just random walkers coming from all directions to follow Marco and Ken.

I thought that Marco and Ken were going to lead the horde right into Rick and Carl's path, preventing then from reaching the hilltop for a few more issues. Maybe stranding them somewhere. That didn't happen, but I think the horde will still make it to Hilltop. Maybe by then, Marco will have convinced a few people of the walker intelligence, thus creating panic and chaos, making the results worse than they otherwise would have been.

 

Agreed. I hate the idea of zombie evolution in pretty much any series. The idea of a special immune person is also very unappealing to me.

In my opinion, everyone would have constant contact with walkers for the entirety of the series, including in the time jump, and such development would have been noticed. This would be too sudden, and their brains are decayed enough for it to not make any sense at all. Not to mention that it's not a very interesting plot. I'm pretty sure Kirkman has expressed his disinterest in this sort of thing, and if he went through with it, he would be officially out of good ideas. I can see no scenario where I'd like this.

 

Absolutely. I'm getting a kick out of watching Kirkman successfully troll here.

 

I don't usually read the letter hacks, just skim the answers very quickly for something meaningful and interesting. One other thing caught my eye this time. It was stated that the idea of trying to live off shore in a boat would be addressed 'very soon'. He then went on to hint at the fact that it wouldn't lead to anything long term, but still. I wonder how we would address that soon? Maybe run into a group who tried it? Or could we find out that members of our group have broken from the communities and tried for the ocean? That's less likely, but it will be interesting to see how we introduce this concept.

 

Agreed. Talking zombies is beyond shark jumping. It's more like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dghbyBaQyI