"We become them!" exclaims a beat-up Rick Grimes. "You think we hide behind walls to protect us from the walking dead! Don't you get it? We are the walking dead!" As much as I've hated Robert Kirkman's inability to tell a great story, I have to admit it that the six issues collected in the fourth volume of The Walking Dead series is the best thus far. We're finally hitting the primal instinct, the savage within all the characters that had laid dormant until the last panels feature Rick's realization and damning all hopes out of the everyone's mind. Unlike his television alter ego - though you can see it peeking through with the mid-season finale when he guns down the child-zombie - the comic series Rick knows what lays in wait. He's accepted that the world order that we've grown accustomed to is over. There isn't much of any hope left and all that there is left to do is survive.

Any zombie enthusiast will tell you that zombies are only plays a small horror percentage in the story. Most of the horror comes not from the flesh eating creatures, but from humanity. Or the fall of it. The reason why The Walking Dead bothered me so much is that it never shone through. Sure, with Shane going mental in the first book and Hershel's damning naivete have pushed the story through, it was never enough to actually do much of anything. And like any plot device, it was quickly extinguished. Snubbed out.

With Rick's fall - or delightenment (as oppose to enlightenment) at the tail-end of issue #24, the actual horror can begin - I just hope that Kirkman can continue it with such grace. ( )

It wasn't a bad volume, I just didn't enjoy the stories it dealt with as much as the previous ones. It was more in the way of exploring how people have changed thus far, than in advancing much of the plot (I am a plot man, no shame). Still a good read though. The greyscale aspect has grown on me, I thought I would always miss the colour. ( )

The Walking Dead:Volume 4: The Heart's Desire
Kirkman, Adlard and Rathburn
2013
Image Comics

This graphic novel is all B&W, which actually adds to the story.
Tyrese, Chris, Rick, Lori, Michonne are featured in this volume.
We are all the walking dead.
#teamslaughter #scarathon #scavengerhunt #zombie
1 point ( )

This edition shifts focus to relationships - a welcome change. The body count is lower, also welcome. Rick loses it. This issue is mostly focused on cracking under pressure. ( )

Quite simply, it's not about the zombies. Thankfully. ( )