Walking Dead Volume 24: Life and Death, (Paperback)

This series is so very well done, not only are the creators unafraid to kill off major characters, they also do not hesitate to have the survivors express raw, brutal human traits. In many ways, the greatest threat to Rick and his band of survivors is not the undead, but other bands of survivors led by ruthless people that do not hesitate to kill large numbers of the living in order to advance their position in what remains of society. In this episode, the social groups that Rick leads has made contact with the band known as “the whisperers,” living people that wear skins of the undead so that they can roam among them as long as they do not speak loudly. The leader of the whisperers is a female that is called Alpha and her daughter was a guest of Rick's band for some time, until Alpha came for her and she departed. Rick's son Carl then left to search for her and was captured. In one of the villages, a failed previous leader tries to mount a coup, is captured and must be punished. It is time for a fair and rejoicing among Rick's people, yet great danger lurks from the group led by Alpha. The story closes with Rick returning from getting Carl from the Alpha group and then discovering the grisly remnants of the message that Alpha left for Rick. It is a cliff-hanger that suitably ends with the statement, “Rick, what do we do now?” The cynicism of the authors serves them well as they do not portray the survivors as noble creatures, but as brutal, ruthless people that carry on the human traditions of tribalism and war.