The Walking Dead: The Walking Dead Volume 30: New World Order (Series #30) (Paperback)

The reader does not have to know that there are only a few volumes left in the series to realize that the story is on the verge of a climax. One of the best features of this series is that the authors do not suppress basic human nature within a zombie apocalypse. After establishing radio contact, the group led by Rick Grimes has sent emissaries to a group that call themselves the Commonwealth. Like the group led by Rick, it is permanent with a leadership and a professional military force. It is amusing that the soldiers wear uniforms just like the stormtroopers of Star Wars. This volume opens with the emissaries making contact with the Commonwealth forces and their initial reception is with pointed weapons and orders to stop or we shoot. Things get a little better when they meet a man that looks and talks the language of a bureaucrat. As the emissaries move around the Commonwealth, all seems to be working well, although there are hints that the Commonwealth society is far from egalitarian. The leader of the Commonwealth is a woman and she has a son that is beyond narcissistic. He irritates everyone and complains when his bodyguard interrupted his adventures with a woman by killing zombies that were about to attack him. Arrangements are made for the emissaries to escort the Commonwealth leader and her military escort back to meet Rick Grimes. After a short tour and some discussion of their societies, Rick begins to have concerns regarding how the Commonwealth is governed. It appears to have many traits of a feudal society, so the stage is clearly set for major events in the last two volumes.