In our previous installment, we talked about the nature of slow burn issues and the types of rewards they can offer not just in long form storytelling in the comics medium but also the wealth of opportunity they can afford adaptions as well.
But in The Walking Dead Deluxe #15 that sentiment falls away as we dig into an issue that starts out at the peak of a rollercoaster’s first drop and refuses to let up any tension until the very last page. The ebb and flow of the story hits hard here, and as we look back at an issue with consequences difficult to fathom, it’s clear that the goal isn’t just to shock but to continue to build on a foundation meant to stand the test of time.
For me, reading this issue again brings to mind a word with a complicated history in comics and that is consequences. Even in the “Cutting Room Floor” notes from Kirkman himself, he relishes the rapid fire decision making that helps to make this issue such a hard hitter, and each of those decisions are made with deep consequences in mind. We start out with Tyreese strangling Chris then end with a bloody double death page, and honestly, what unfolds between these two events isn’t exactly uneventful either. It’s a dramatic exercise in exploring narrative consequence and even redefining what the word means in the world of TWD. In this issue, it isn’t just Kirkman who is on his A game, it’s also Charlie Adlard, Rus Wooton and now Dave McCaig as well.
These aren’t just consequences for the group dynamics and their struggle for survival, this issue reveals a troubling fact that sinks to the core of what this series asks of humanity. It’s grim and ruthless, but somehow, it inspires hope in a way that only this story could do. When the deadly act of a suicide pact between Chris and Julie is uncovered, Rick has a dreadful realization that it doesn’t take a bite or a scratch to turn someone into a flesh-eating walker. All it takes is death setting in, natural or not, and everyone turns.
We see the impacts of this monumental lore manifest in different ways rather quickly, all of which help to push even the survival horror genre as a whole forward in a unique way. Rick shoulders this weight, not unlike what he does in many other instances that we’ve seen so far (and that are yet to come), and in that, we get a moment that the TV series adaption just didn’t handle with as much tact in my own opinion. Rick travels all the way back to where his best friend died, Shane, and unearths him to find he has indeed turned. It’s a moment for us to reflect on the context of this discovery and contemplate what it means for their ongoing survival while watching Rick continue to deal with the ramifications of the past. Again, it’s about consequences and what they mean for our past, present and future.
Because of that context, The Walking Dead Deluxe #15 is an issue that you just can’t understate the importance of. Luckily, it’s also one that is full of terrifyingly entertaining visuals that is ripe with opportunity for colorist Dave McCaig to work his magic. The result is an issue that is downright impossible to put down. When you are dealing with a very real-world impact such as consequences, there isn’t much that drives the point home more clearly than such heartbreaking violence. McCaig takes this theme and once more finds a way to elevate the nuances of the story to bring those elements out more than ever before and the story is much better off because of it.
Consequences in comics aren’t always exactly what they appear to be and in most longform stories, many of the most important consequences can be retconned away never to be acknowledged again. But in The Walking Dead, consequences are real. When people die, they might come back but not in the way you want. When communities fall, it isn’t just because of some mustache twirling victim. And when the devastating news that everyone is infected no matter what comes to light, it’s never going away.
This is an issue that pushes forward the dramatic narrative and builds on character relationships in a meaningful way. But most importantly, it outlines the context of consequences that everyone surviving in this world must face, setting the stakes even higher than before. There is more trouble brewing than we know at this point with Rick and Lori’s relationship becoming strained, the act of clearing the prison becoming more dangerous and another brutal tragedy for Herschel to endure. But now we see the world and its inhabitants for what it is, destined to be inherited by the undead. So what should the survivors do with it?
The Walking Dead #15 shines a light on why the series carries such a menacing name and what it asks of decent people everywhere. In doing so, it establishes a context that will hold for as long as the story is told and while you might be hard pressed to find many collectors who deem this a “key issue”, it’s clear TWD wouldn’t be quite the same without what happens in these pages. Maybe there is a lesson about the importance of our time here on Earth and the feeling of impending doom we can all internalize at significant moments in our life, but once again we find ourselves at a point where the story really begs for but a single take away.
Find your pleasures here in life, hold onto your loved ones and try to make a difference while you can, because the end is inevitable.