Okay, just finished it but haven't read the Letter Hacks yet. My initial, rushed thoughts:

When Morton beat Rick with his own walking staff, it parallelled Carl's beating Morton's son with his own shovel, which his where Morton's rage originally stems from.

I feel like this was an extra-long issue so that three pages could be devoted to Rick biting someone. :zombies_lol: So, I'm assuming Rick's classic neck bite calls back to the first one, indicating that he has again turned a corner and returned to the idea that he must become absolutely ruthless in order to survive and protect his family and community. Perhaps he was becoming too soft over the time skip, as he says in his speech.

Andrea was really tempted to burst in on Carl and Lydia and stop them. I guess she figured he's a man now and can make his own decisions, or maybe just wanted to leave the situation for Rick to handle? I'm not sure what I would have done.

When Rick asks Michonne to go looking for the second attacker, I imagined that it would take her on an adventure that would last many issues and perhaps inspire a second Telltale game installment -- and then she found him on the next page. :zombies_lol:

It's interesting that Rick wanted to make his speech to everyone while still bloody. I guess he wanted an explicit visual reminder of what happens when they turn on themselves, which is totally valid, but the fact that he used that sort of showman's tactic suggests that he took some of Negan's advice to heart.

Similarly, when Rick forgave Vincent, on the surface it showed that he's holding on to his values and does not want to lead by fear. However, if he had forgiven Vincent for his actions, then there was no need to have Michonne track him down. He could have let Vincent go. The point of having Michonne bring him back was to forgive him in front of everyone. Again, this is Rick deliberately creating an image of himself that he wants the people to see.

Please excuse my disjointed writing this morning. It is early and I've had only half a cup of coffee.

 

Can't read until after work today... dying on the inside >_<

 

I dunno. This issue was a HUGE letdown. I understand the importance of Rick becoming Feral again, & the fact Negan is proud of him. I do see Negan moulding Rick into a Neganesque person, and possibly taking over the Sanctuary & the Kingdom & possibly becoming evil. But as for a HUGE ISSUE THAT IS A GAME CHANGER as RK promised.....No.
Over all, my exact thoughts upon finishing was:
[video=youtube;G97-iY-FfQ4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G97-iY-FfQ4[/video]

 

first thanks for the mention

I finished just 10 min ago to read the most awaited issue in the last 12 months (for me, obviously) but actually I am really disappointed, maybe tomorrow after thinking more about it I will have a better opinion

 

Holy shit, with everything going on between Alexandria and Hilltop, and Dwight leaving the Sanctuary, I had forgotten all about the Kingdom.

So, with Rick and Maggie being distracted by the Whisperers, this is a good time for someone to seize power of both leaderless places. I wonder if that will happen? And I wonder who is/will be stepping up to run things now?

I had kind of assumed Dwight's lady friend (I forget her name at the moment) would try to temporarily take the reins of the Saviors in the hope that Dwight would return. So I was surprised when she left with him.

Totally fcuk Morton. I felt sorry for him after his wife died, but not any longer.

That's a good point. Why didn't he turn?

Yeah, I feel kinda let down too. I did enjoy the issue, but I was expecting more for #150. I'm okay with there not being a major death -- we already had a ton of shocking deaths not long ago, and having a big death in every milestone number issue would be too predictable, I guess -- but I was expecting something surprising to happen. Like maybe a major plot twist.

 

Top of the Morton to you.

I feel like she left with him for two reasons. One, it leaves the leadership position completely open at the Sanctuary so that someone evil can step in, and two, so that Dwight can have a purpose at ASZ and become a mentally healthy contributing member. I think Dwight just became the comic's Daryl. .

Another thing to note is that Michonne and Jesus both seem to feel this new direction Rick is taking to be dubious at best.

And in case anyone read the comic illegally and didn't have access to the letter hacks,

And yeah, its hard to know how many hours passed between Rick killing Morton and Maggie finding Rick. If it was extremely late at night, it could have been only 4 or 5 hours I suppose. Rick got lucky.

 

Ugh.

Unpopular opinion: I still like Daryl, and still dislike Dwight.

But I suspect you may be right about that.

 

Yes, hopefully he is kill. :shining:

 

One thing I keep forgetting to mention: The cover image is such a troll!

For months I've been trying to guess whose blood is all over Rick -- someone he killed, or a friend who died in his arms? -- when meanwhile half of the blood is his own. I really didn't see that coming.

 

I thought this was a good issue,Rick is lucky Morton didn't turn when he was passed out. Speaking of Morton thank f*ck he is dead,God that whole family was just a frickin cancer . Only one of them left who I'm not certain if that was him at the attendance cheering Rick Grimes on, if it was totally werid :zombies_lol:but was probably the other annoying boy or just a random boy

And Kirkman please no more Carl love scenes, he is 13 or 14 years old I do not need to see that shit

 

Maybe, the next baddie, after the Whispers, will be Morton's kid. I forget his name, but maybe, he makes his way to sanctuary and turns the people bad again. But I am hoping it's Negan, who takes back the leadership, but instead of being a dick, he actually works with the other communities.

 

Maybe the "Game Changer" comment comes in the form of a non-reanimated Morton. Could this signal the end of re-animation in the series? interesting thought to be sure, and would not diminish the threat of zombies for the foreseeable future, as there is still plenty up and about in the world. Still have to kill em all to truly end this thing, but could this herald the end of the virus for man?

 

My local shop is selling their exclusive, one-per-store black & white cover issue for $100.

I'm such a nerd, I was like, "Can I hold it? Can I take a picture of it?" A dude offered to take a picture of me holding it, but I was like, nah, maybe that's taking the obsession too far. :zombies_lol:

 

I liked this issue and it felt like something definitely happened in it. I don't think Kirkman is really the best single issue writer (at least compared to some of the other comics I read) but this one really felt like there was a clear point A they started at and a point B they ended at (a lot of times it feels like it takes TWD an entire arc to feel like something significant happened).

 

All in all, I enjoyed the issue.

Was especially glad to see that Carl and Lydia are finally getting a backseat to this whole ordeal with the Whisperers against the communities; I want to see Carl and Lydia build an actual relationship now that Lydia appears to be innocent to a degree but also 100% behind what Carl and (more importantly) Rick are building towards.

I initially was underwhelmed to find out Rick bit a guy in the neck again (got spoiled for me reading the internet before bed) but I enjoyed the fact that Kirkman really tried to make us believe Rick went walker for a quick moment (Even though we all can agree that is not the way Rick Grimes will/would have gone out).

I was expecting to hear more from Michonne & Jesus (only got 1 panel of him in the crowd) since they are (in my opinion) Rick Grime's true advisers.

Of course Negan's reaction to Rick's rally speech gave me a giggle.



Can't wait to see the military movement commence! Corporal Eugene is about to have a super big smile on his face!

 

I liked the issue.

I thought Rick biting the attacker was another indicator of Rick's view of the world. He lulled himself into a false security and realized that the internals were falling apart because of the externals not being held in order.

I didn't quite get Dwight. Said he was leaving but that looked like him in the crowd during Rick's speech. So he was just leaving the saviors but not all of the communities (I guess). Makes more sense to just leave 1 community for another.

I wonder why Sophia lingered at the door. Did she want to attack verbally and/or physically? Did she want to voice her feelings? I think Carl will probably end up with Sophia but the ride isn't going to stop for a while. Especially while Lydia is "meeting his needs".