Another One Bites The Dust

The Walking Dead tpb Vol. 17 "Something To Fear"
Image Comics
Robert Kirkman, writer
Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn, artists

This volume of the collected Walking Dead includes the much-hyped issue No. 100 of the series, and it is VERY aptly named.

It wasn't so much that a major character died -- something we haven't seen in a little while now, and I guess I'd grown somewhat complacent in that regard -- but more the manner in which the character died that was so shocking and had so many people at the time talking. I don't want to give too much away, but I also understand now why so many followers of the spin-off "Walking Dead" television series were so certain that a particular major character was going to die a month or so ago in the series. *shudder*

When last we left our roving band of survivors, they were dealing with some stuff. Most of the core group was still intact and several of the new faces were also still alive, but the walled community they were living in was still in need of repairs following a breach that allowed several zombies in. In the midst of the repair work, a newcomer came to the town speaking of another settlement of survivors, the largest one yet Rick Grimes and his group had seen. The newcomer spoke of the large Hilltop settlement in glowing terms and led Rick and a small scouting party back with him to check things out. Once there, things weren't as perfect as Rick and Co. had been led to believe, but Rick still saw potential in joining with this new settlement.

This volume picks up as Rick's small group heads back to their own community. They meet resistance along the way. Four armed men on motorcycles block the road and provoke a confrontation. It seems the folks of Hilltop are paying "protection" to this gang, and Rick has bartered his group's services to eliminate the threat in exchange for an alliance with Hilltop. Rick has Glenn, Andrea, and Michonne with him, and they make short work of the four bikers, thinking they have made some real inroads into removing the threat the gang poses.

Rick's group returns to their community, but the next day, the community is attacked by maybe a dozen or so members of the gang who have followed them "home." Again, Rick's crew dispatches the attackers with only a few injuries and one casualty. But Rick knows that the gang will likely be back. He opts to take a small group back to Hilltop as quickly as possible for reinforcements and supplies before the next attack comes. His group does not make it all of the way to Hilltop before they are stopped by the gang of unsavory individuals, many, many more than can be easily counted. This gang is much, much larger than Rick ever suspected, and it is made up of people who make the Governor and the town of Woodbury seem quaint by comparison. Rick's group, indeed, has something to fear besides the continuing threat the zombies pose.