The Walking Dead #113 Review

Since he debuted last year, Negan has been nothing if not an entertaining addition to the cast of The Walking Dead. He's the bad guy everyone loves to hate, and the source of much of the series' resurgent sense of drama in recent months. But there's always a danger that comes from too much of a good thing, and the series might be crossing that threshold now.

Robert Kirkman explores the immediate fallout of Rick's failed attempt on Negan's life. Needless to say, the villain is none too happy, and he begins exacting vengeance on Rick and everyone around him. On one hand, it's an engrossing script, full of danger and malice despite the knowledge that Kirkman is still building towards the real showdown in "All Out War." Several times, Kirkman seems on the verge of killing off a series mainstay as he did with Glenn in issue #100. Andrea's repeated assertion that she and Rick can't die only highlights the fear that something terrible is about to unfold. Again.

But on the other hand, Kirkman has done almost too good a job of making readers despise Negan at this point. Each month reinforces the notion that he's an evil bastard that needs to die, and yet his comeuppance remains as elusive as ever. What purpose is served by drawing out the conflict any further? There's certainly no satisfaction in seeing Andrea beaten nearly to death across several pages. The thought that the full Negan conflict might be drawn out another 12 issues just seems tiresome at this point. The hope is that Kirkman has something far more ambitious in mind for "All Out War."

On the plus side, Charlie Adlard's art is unusually effective in this issue. Perhaps it's the more zoomed-in, intense nature of the script, but Adlard highlights all the raw emotion and suffering of the story without any of the inconsistent line-work and level of detail that have hindered some recent chapters.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

Source : ign[dot]com