With The Walking Dead TV show premiering with millions of viewers, no doubt the comic, which the series is based on, is gaining popularity as well. As seen in the current third season, the gang, lead by Rick, has holed up in a prison, with chance encounters with the nearby fortified town of Woodbury. This scenario is loosely based on events in the comic. The town of Woodbury is lead by a character named the Governor, who in the series is a different version than what we see in our paper counterpart.
Note: This recap may contain spoilers!
A special was released this week, titled The Governor Special. This 30-page book presents itself as a background story, much like the recent novels The Rise of the Governor and The Road to Woodbury, which, obviously, gives the background of the man and the town. However, what makes this special pretty disappointing is the fact that while we get a brief few pages of background on how the Governor’s favorite pastime came to be, the other 20 some pages of the comic are the same exact material from issues 26 and 27 when the gang sees a helicopter crash — and run to the site only to see the victims have been moved. Thus, the introduction of the Governor.
While the few pages of background are intriguing, and the explanation of why the Governor is doing what he’s doing in the privacy of that room, well, the substantial rehash of events is simply not worth the cover price in my humble opinion. The Governor Special is something to pop into your local comic shop, skim through, and put back. Unless you’re a die hard fan.
Also released this month was issue 107 of The Walking Dead. For anyone not following the comics but a fan of the show, while there has been a lull here and there, the potential for the TV series relies on the greatest villains and situations we’ve been presented in our paper counterpart. That being said, the villainous Negan should come into play if the series can stay alive and not have meandering sequences like much of season two – which was more or less not in the comic series. A quick background: Negan is the leader of a gang, The Saviors, which has been harassing a town of survivors, the Hilltop. The interaction and conflict comes from the need for supplies — and as we know, much like most zombie stories, The Walking Dead thrives on the fact that humans are far more monstrous than any flesh eating dead thing. That being said, Negan is a cold blooded a-hole. After a treacherous storyline of Carl breaking into the Saviors’ base, shooting six of them, and then being taken prisoner, Negan does the ultimate evil thing anyone could do to a child. Yes, we know Carl has seen far too many things and even committed acts a child should not commit — however, the act of Negan making Carl watch him torture a man is yet another notch in Carl’s emotional belt and is simply heinous.
Rick and crew arrive at the beginning of issue 107 to find what has happened to Carl. And while he has to think the worst — that Carl is dead — what Negan tells him is torturous in itself. He boasts that he’s done absolutely nothing to the boy. That he didn’t even touch him. A psychological game is played where Negan insists he’s the nicest person on the planet, and that Rick better respect that. We push the story line along in the realm that eggshells better be walked on, or there will be hell to pay. Carl, after all, did kill Negan’s men. Somehow, a trust is built here — though this will more than likely go south as Rick has a secret plan which he and Andrea discuss. Perhaps the parallel story line of Eugene, Rosita, and Holly mulling about an ammunition factory will all catch up as the needs for supplies continues.
With Carl’s input about how the Saviors’ base is set up, Paul and Rick talk to figure out what may need to happen to stop the harassment. To this, Paul suggests the next big name to enter The Walking Dead in issue 108.
Rick, and all of us, are about to meet Ezekiel.
