Issue 172 focuses on several characters as they realize that the Whisperer War brought them closer to death than anything had before. Carl, Maggie, Yumiko, Magna, Jesus, and Aaron begin to take steps to live the life they want to live. All of these characters understand that several of their community members were lost. They could have easily been another victim and not be where they are standing now.
The Good:
The comic has created an excellent situation to showcase how each of these characters has been effected and changed by the Whisperer War. For Maggie, the Hilltop community was destroyed while she was in charge. She wants to rebuild and restore it to what it once was not only to provide safety to the people she is leading, but to show her strength. Furthermore, as a result of the Whisperer War, Negan has been set free by Rick, as he has earned his freedom. Maggie has Dante track him down and report where he is, keeping a close eye on the man who killed her husband. He can easily become a threat to her or any of the 4 communities. This also leaves Maggie with a unique opportunity to find and kill Negan, as she knows where he is but he doesn’t know that he has been followed. Maggie’s experience with this war has cleared an obstacle for her to get justice and avenge her husband’s death. In the Hilltop Carl is relied on more as he is helping to rebuild houses and structures. With him helping out and mastering a variety of skills he is being viewed as an essential member of the Hilltop community. By surviving the war Carl realizes how much he loves Lydia and wants to be with her as he is happy that she stayed with the community. Carl also realizes, after Sophia tells him, that he has been neglecting her as a friend as they use to talk. The two agree to start conversing again and rekindle their friendship that has lasted through many challenges and hard times. We begin to see how Carl will rises up in the community as a leader due to his many skills and his support in both Lydia and Sophia. As this is occurring, Michonne has let Princess join the group as they travel towards Ohio. On their journey, they begin to thin out the herd, which starts a conversation between Yumiko and Magna as to why she is still closeted. For Yumiko, due to the Whisperer War, she wants to live her life the way she sees fit and that is having a public relationship with Magna. Magna on the other hand states that it is complicated and wants it to remain private for the time being. This forces Yumiko to state that both her and Magna are gay, to which everyone is accepting. Finally, the comic sets forth a new stage of the relationship between Jesus and Aaron. Jesus has realized that he has too much to lose by engaging in dangerous missions for Rick and the other leaders of the communities. Rather he wants to live and enjoy his time with Aaron while fulfilling his duties to curtail the herd. This change in his attitude has come from the severity and causalities that occurred in the Whisperer War. With him finally deciding that he is going to live his life with Aaron, Beta appears behind him holding 2 knives that can easily kill him. Confirming that despite all the dangerous missions that Jesus has gone on, and the sacrifices that were made in the Whisperer’s War, it is never enough as a threat will always be there for the 4 communities when they least expect it.
The Bad:
The major problem with the comic is it doesn’t bring anything new to the characters Carl, Maggie, Yumiko, or Magna that has not already been established in previous issues. Rather the comic chooses to highlight several of their already existing traits as a means to reiterate it to the reader. Yet, these traits do not help to usher in a new trait or move the plot of the story along or provide a new twist to the comic. This makes the comic feel as if it is meant to fill up pages for the arc as the story is not moving forward in this issue.
The Verdict:
This issue is rough as Kirkman brings us closer to the characters of Carl, Maggie, Yumiko, Magna, Jesus, and Aaron than ever before. But he also brings us further away from the story of The Walking Dead at the same time. We reexamine all the traits of these 6 characters, and who they are, but we don’t learn anything new about them that was not previously revealed in an older issue. The only new information revealed is that Beta has snuck up behind Jesus and is holding 2 knives ready to kill him. This confirms that the comic has wasted over 22 pages with filler to get to the point of actually moving the story forward. With this in mind, The Walking Dead, issue 172, just feels like a pointless issue as it brings almost no new information forward throughout the entire book, only to end the comic on a cliffhanger used to sell the next issue
You can pick up Volume 28 of The Walking Dead here.
