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A review by tangojuliettcharlie
The Walking Dead Vol. 4: The Heart's Desire by Robert Kirkman
2.0
This is less a review of volume 4 than it is a review of the series as a whole, as I'm probably done rereading it unless I find a compelling reason to continue.
I'm finding these comics less enthralling the second time around. The dialogue, especially when Rick and company are planning, is incredibly dry, and it's made worse by the fact that Kirkman seems obsessed with the gritty details of survival but isn't actually very good at writing about survival. Conceptually, Kirkman's "The Walking Dead" (like other recent zombie media such as "The Last of Us") owes much to the Western film and the survival/adventure/naturalist novel (think Jack London), but Kirkman unfortunately borrows lacks the panache and the gripping drama for which these forms are famed.
Kirkman's work is more juvenile than I remember. If I read "The Walking Dead" without knowing who the author was, I would guess that it was written by a 20-something white guy. As one-dimensional as the men in these comics are, the women are even less complex. They are primarily concerned with nagging or fucking their male significant others, and less concerned with the dead people trying to eat them alive. They are either too naive to survive (Patricia) or irreparably broken (Andrea). The bizarrely fetishistic treatment of Carol (abused woman desperate for companionship attempts suicide and, immediately afterwards, seeks a polyamorous relationship with the primary protagonist and his wife) seems implausible as a depiction of the way somebody would actually act in this situation. The panel featuring the reanimated heads of two decapitated girls seems to revel in the mutilation of their bodies.
Michonne's hypersexualized depiction is a disappointingly typical portrayal of a black woman. Her first human interaction is a blowjob. Dexter and Andrew would not be out of place in Klan propaganda. Their "prison gay" situation was both threadbare and entirely pointless. Tyreese and Dexter are both clearly drawn from the "large, intimidating black man" stereotype. Enough has been written about the depiction of black people in the comics and the show, I don't think it's necessary to rehash it at length here.
"The Walking Dead" lacks a distinctive or compelling writing or art style. The story, the characters, and the premise are hackneyed. I'm not really sure why it became popular, but I'm glad it did, because I enjoy the other "Walking Dead" media projects. The TV show, at its best, is some of the best television ever made. At its worst, it is an absolute slog. The Telltale games are excellent. I recommend them both over the comic series.
I'm finding these comics less enthralling the second time around. The dialogue, especially when Rick and company are planning, is incredibly dry, and it's made worse by the fact that Kirkman seems obsessed with the gritty details of survival but isn't actually very good at writing about survival. Conceptually, Kirkman's "The Walking Dead" (like other recent zombie media such as "The Last of Us") owes much to the Western film and the survival/adventure/naturalist novel (think Jack London), but Kirkman unfortunately borrows lacks the panache and the gripping drama for which these forms are famed.
Kirkman's work is more juvenile than I remember. If I read "The Walking Dead" without knowing who the author was, I would guess that it was written by a 20-something white guy. As one-dimensional as the men in these comics are, the women are even less complex. They are primarily concerned with nagging or fucking their male significant others, and less concerned with the dead people trying to eat them alive. They are either too naive to survive (Patricia) or irreparably broken (Andrea). The bizarrely fetishistic treatment of Carol (abused woman desperate for companionship attempts suicide and, immediately afterwards, seeks a polyamorous relationship with the primary protagonist and his wife) seems implausible as a depiction of the way somebody would actually act in this situation. The panel featuring the reanimated heads of two decapitated girls seems to revel in the mutilation of their bodies.
Michonne's hypersexualized depiction is a disappointingly typical portrayal of a black woman. Her first human interaction is a blowjob. Dexter and Andrew would not be out of place in Klan propaganda. Their "prison gay" situation was both threadbare and entirely pointless. Tyreese and Dexter are both clearly drawn from the "large, intimidating black man" stereotype. Enough has been written about the depiction of black people in the comics and the show, I don't think it's necessary to rehash it at length here.
"The Walking Dead" lacks a distinctive or compelling writing or art style. The story, the characters, and the premise are hackneyed. I'm not really sure why it became popular, but I'm glad it did, because I enjoy the other "Walking Dead" media projects. The TV show, at its best, is some of the best television ever made. At its worst, it is an absolute slog. The Telltale games are excellent. I recommend them both over the comic series.