The Walking Dead 8: Made to Suffer

Comic Info

The Walking Dead #43

Reprints The Walking Dead #43-48 (October 2007-April 2008). The final battle for the prison is on, and it is Rick and the survivors facing the entire forces of the Governor and Woodbury. As the danger grows, more and more survivors are at risk…plus, there is division among their ranks as some wonder if the prison is worth fighting for. The battle is on and only a few will walk away.

Written by Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead Volume 8:  Made to Suffer is a follow-up to The Walking Dead Volume 7:  The Calm Before.  The black-and-white comic features art by Charlie Adlard and was also collected in the hardback The Walking Dead—Volume 4, The Walking Dead Omnibus—Volume 2, and The Walking Dead Compendium—Volume 2.

Kirkman must have decided more action was needed…this follow-up is almost nothing but action. The story has a bit of starts out with a bit of a “how the hell did the Governor survive?” one-shot issue and ends with the assault on the prison.

I wasn’t a big fan of the Governor, Michonne, or when The Walking Dead gets comic-booky, but this edition, it works. Michonne still is a bit of a push, and the Governor is still too comic book villain for my liking in a story that strives for realism, but at least it pays off in grand fashion. The prison saga was a number of issues long and probably too long. It is good to see it over in this volume and sets up a great lead-in to the next collection in the series.

The Walking Dead #48

The Governor issue seems like a bad “Terrance and Phillip” issue in the middle of a good storyline. I don’t buy that the Governor would have survived Michonne’s attack and I didn’t need the issue to explain how. With the dramatic stand-off at the end of issue #47, to stop a fight in the middle seems like a low blow to readers, who I’d think by this point would just want a throwdown…plus it leads to Kirkman’s obsession of gross kissing (here with the Governor and his zombie daughter, in Invincible with various creatures).

The fight for the prison goes to show that no one is safe in the world of The Walking Dead. ****Spoiler Alert**** There were a lot of obvious deaths that really didn’t mean much…was there really any chance of Axel surviving? Alice was a 50/50 shot due to her doctor skills and Patricia was such a waste of a character that it didn’t seem too shocking. Hershel had been beaten to the ground through the whole series and Billy wasn’t much a character to begin with (I actually kept forgetting he was alive). The real shock has to be the death of Lori (no, the baby Judy wasn’t much of a shock). The both of course went out in grand Walking Dead fashion and though it is realistic, I’m surprised that Kirkman could actually (literally) pull the trigger.

The Walking Dead continues to change and morph as the series develops, and I have to say, this book was a real game-changer. I normally don’t like the action-packed stuffed in this series, but it was a pretty good (if not a bit confusing) final end to the prison and I am happy to see the series move on. The Walking Dead 8: Made to Suffer is followed by The Walking Dead 9: Here We Remain.

Preceded By:

The Walking Dead 7:  The Calm Before

Followed By:

The Walking Dead 9:  Here We Remain