Gearing up to issue #100.  What does comic’s biggest title and cable’s biggest show have in store for us this month?

As always when discussing TWD, there are major spoilers!  You cant talk about the book without talking about the … book.  So if you don’t mind stuff being ruined, or if you’ve read this issue and are all caught up lets get to zombie cracking!

So, the kids are fucked up.

That is the major development of this issue.  Sophia has been hiding how messed up she is, and Carl’s issues are bubbling over.  Sophia knows Maggie and Glenn aren’t her parents, but she likes to pretend.  Pretend.  Shit, of course, if you’re a child and something horrible is happening in your world what other defense mechanism is there but to imagine?  Imagine yourself away from everything, come up with an imaginary friend, escape.  While this might be a great defense if Sophia is starring in Sucker Punch it does not work in the world we know as Walking Dead.  This inability to deal with the horrible reality she lives in will only lead to (more) tragedy.  Either she will die, or she will cause someone else’s death.  One way or another, someone will be hurt.

Carl is all too accepting of the horrible reality.  He has a hole in his head and everyone is trying to pretend otherwise.  He’s trying to learn how to adapt, to be stronger, from this loss.  And what happens?  His father comes in and tells him to turn off the light.  To stop reading.  To stop learning how to overcome this new problem.  Carl is hardcore and will only become tougher.  But with every added bit of toughness he loses more humanity.  Someone in the letter’s page asked if Walking Dead would ever jump forward in time, say ten years, and show Carl as an adult.  We don’t need ten years.  Carl is already an adult and is going to be pulling some horrible things here sometime soon.  Issue 100?  Maybe.

Plus, we have either the conclusion or the turning point in what passes as a relationship between Rick and Andrea.  Andrea feels that there is no one left in this world who can understand her better than Rick, because he has been through the same shit.  Good point.  Rick feels that everyone he loves dies, and he cant love Andrea because therefore she will die.  Another good point.  The edge has to go to Andrea though, because she refuses to talk to a hat.  Rick had lengthy conversations with that phone, and Andrea’s refusal means “I may be fucked up, but I’m not that fucked up.”

Oh, and there’s the whole possible conspiracy to overthrow Rick taking place in the background.

AND… what looks like binoculars watching the Community on the last page.

Yeah, someone is definitely keeping an eye on our group, and as we’ve seen before that cant lead anywhere good.

For those of you who think this is all progressing slowly, you’re not reading it the right way.  Don’t lament the lack of gore (that’s coming).  Pay attention to what is being built.  There is SO much happening right now that when all of this finally snaps its going to be one of the greatest stories in comics history.