War is coming….finally.

The time for war is getting closer, and Kirkman is doing a great job setting up for it. Beginning in October, Kirkman has promised that war is coming, which is fantastic considering he has been leading up to it for nearly a year. The Walking Dead #112 has what could be considered the first acts of this war. (If you do not include the harrowing death of Glenn in issue 100 as such.)

Last month we left off with Negan making his regular supply run early, while Rick is off at the Kingdom preparing the troops. While Negan was making himself at home, Spencer approached him about Rick’s pride issues, declaring that Negan should kill Rick and make Spencer the leader of the Alexandria Safe-Zone. Negan responded in kind with gutting Spencer.

We pick up here right where we left off, with Rick returning. Rick is quite angry with Negan over the death of one of his community members but Negan defends his actions to Rick by pointing out Spencer’s treasonous proposition. The exchange between Rick and Negan is exactly what we have come to expect from these two characters. It is very reminiscent of their exchange at Negan’s camp over Carl. Negan reminds Rick of all the times he has let Rick off easy. I have had a theory for a while that Negan, while evil, actually believes that what he is doing is for the greater good, and this scene fed this theory. Sadly, this is the same scene we have seen multiple times between these two.

Verily, the rest of the book really cripples my theory. As soon as Negan has started to leave with half of the supplies, Rick runs to Andrea, telling her to get to the tower and kill Negan, since this may be the fastest way to end their conflict. Andrea is able to kill a couple of Negan’s men, before Rick confronts him with the intent to shoot him. Rick’s gun is then shot out of his hand, and Negan reveals that he always has snipers around the camp when he makes supply runs. The book ends with Negan reminding Rick of exactly how screwed he is. With this scene we finally get some action. We have suffered so much lead up lately, it was nice to know that Kirkman still had it in him to.

The biggest weakness of this issue is not actually part of the issue. It is more related to the way Image is advertising the war between Rick and Negan. When I went into my local comic shop, (Poepoz, http://www.poepoz.net/) there was an advertisement showing that the war was starting with the issue released in October. This killed an suspense I could have had over the possible death of Negan in this issue, which pretty much made the last ten or so pages predictable.

Kirkman, once again, this month shows why he is the current undisputed king of comic books. Outside of the quirk with the advertising, there is not much negative to say about this book. A war is coming, and the pace is building beautifully. The tension between Rick and Negan is wonderful, and the conflict is developing naturally. I believe we can be certain that Kirkman will deliver with this war, as he always has in this series. I give issue 112 a four out of five.