The Walking Dead 12: Life Among Them

Comic Info

The Walking Dead #69

Reprints The Walking Dead #67-72 (November- 2009-May 2010).  The survivors are at their lowest point as they approach Washington, D. C. with little food and no plans for what to do.  When they are contacted by another group of survivors who have established a protected town outside of Washington, D. C., Rick and his survivors realize they might have a chance at a new life.  With failings in the past, Rick finds himself cautious…what could the leader of town Congressman Douglas Monroe be hiding.

Written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated Charlie Adlard, The Walking Dead Volume 12:  Life Among Them continues the popular zombie story which has crossed over to television.  The volume follows The Walking Dead Volume 11:  Fear the Hunters and like all issues of The Walking Dead is presented in black-and-white.

The Walking Dead continues to evolve and change.  While the last few volumes showed the survivors at their lowest point.  Lauri’s died, Dale died, Rick is crazy, and Carl is now a killer…it doesn’t look good for the group.  In The Walking Dead 11:  Fear the Hunters, the group picked up Father Gabriel, but also ended up tearing-up and mutilating the cannibals they encountered.

The Walking Dead #71

Here, the twist in the story is that Rick and his group have become the aggressors.  The community appears to be good, but Rick and many of the others cannot live in a normal society anymore.  The characters now second guess the actions of everyone and even Carl can’t fit in.  Action that previously would have gotten people kicked out of Rick’s group, now have become common place for Rick and the others.

The next thing is the fun paranoia that has been raised by Kirkman within this series.  At this point, I suspect the community and what it could be hiding though nothing is wrong on the surface.  It is a pretty solid testament to the story developed by Kirkman to be able to side with murders, and make you think a little like them.

This is one of the better volumes of The Walking Dead not in that a lot happens, but it is more of a science-fiction approach to the zombie story.  The story questions what would happen to characters after prolonged exposure to daily horrors.  It feels like the beginning of a new storyline that possibly could redeem some of the characters that no longer feel redeemable…but this might be a bit slow for some of the readers who want more action.  The Walking Dead 12:  Life Among Them is followed by The Walking Dead 13:  Too Far Gone.

Preceded By:

The Walking Dead 11:  Fear the Hunters