UPDATE
Our discussion winner for Issue 172 is Bellarhm! We agree Jesus and Aaron make a great pair and we’d hate to see them die, too. And we agree about Sophia and Carl, but watch out for Lydia. She is definitely not as on board with their friendship. So thanks for writing in and enjoy your signed comic! If YOU want you win a Robert Kirkman-signed comic then comment on next month’s post and you might get lucky! See you then.
The Walking Dead Issue 172 is OUT NOW! After meeting the Princess, Michonne and the gang look to continue their travels to Ohio without anymore interruptions. Elsewhere, Carl and Maggie hope to rebuild The Hilltop into an even stronger community. Grab a copy and let us know what you thought about it in the comments below. Are you still digging (or not digging) the Princess? Do you believe the Hilltop will get rebuilt? And what about Jesus and Aaron’s journey? The best comment will win a Robert Kirkman-signed copy, so get writing!
Previously: Arriving in Pittsburgh, Michonne’s crew discovers the city’s deserted except for one sole survivor – the Princess. And she hasn’t talked to anyone in a LONG time. After Princess takes out some walkers, Michonne agrees to let her come to Ohio. A decision she quickly regrets.
Lydia said “when I look in your eyes” to Carl. Doesn’t she mean eye? Hehe
Knowing Carl and the rare sense of humor he sometimes shows, I was actually surprised he didn’t point that out in the dialogue himself. I was expecting to him go “don’t you mean ‘what I see in your EYE'”?
Poor, Jesus man, he and Aaron are just trying to make their lives Beta.
Ok, so this issue was a build-up issue. That we know. For the most part I enjoyed it. I’m going to give some very honest and open opinions of this issue and where we are at.
After last month’s issue and not enjoying the ultra SJW (for lack of a better term) injection, I am finding Princess to be an interesting character. To be fair, looking back, I less mind the direction of last issue because it’s part of what makes this character. She says crazy stuff and doesn’t care, I am digging her and hope she truly is a good guy. So, I take back what I said last month, as further character growth shows it was an honest look of Princess. She is who she is.
Despite this, I still feel like we are getting further heavy doses of (again for a lack of a better term) SJW from the writers. It seems as of late, social lessons are getting shoe-horned in every single way possible. Guys, its 2017 in the real world. I don’t think its necessary anymore. And it certainly doesn’t matter in the post apocalyptic world of TWD. I mean, do we really have to call Magna’s dead father a bigot? What did it add to the issue? And maybe the reactions from the other characters in this issue are in there to placate those like myself that are totally fine with the two together, accept as part of society, but just don’t think its a big enough deal to give us all an impromptu lesson on how society is or should be. So they are lesbians? Like Michonne said. Congrats. But why make it an issue in this issue in the first place. I miss the golden days of TWD when there was less of this and more of just getting out and dealing with the baddies. I don’t know. just my thoughts on that. I feel like as many gay couples and characters as TWD has had up to this point, the ones who didn’t agree would have stopped reading a long time ago. So enough of this, on to the rest.
I kind of new Beta was coming at some point. Everything was going too good. I love the tension and the buildup, despite not liking this last panel cliff hanger.
Rick is still hurting. Bad. I wonder if he will have another Lori phone episode. It would be interesting to see Rick fall further from reality due to this, but I feel like its been done before.
Negan is still out there. Somewhere. And I really hope he makes his way back and become a part of the community. Again, I’d love to see him interact with Princess. That would be priceless.
So, this issue was pretty good. Much better than last month, but just another average issue. That’s fine. We need that. Let’s see where the development goes.
I agree with everything Sean just stated! I was hoping to see Beta again and Carol has one eye, she looked into his EYE. ha
Still love to see whats next so keep em coming!
Carl, sorry.
The princess is too goofy, not sure how she’s made it this far into the zombie apocalypse. The hilltop will get rebuilt there’s no threat that would interrupt reconstruction, unless Beta gets another herd together and that would be redundant. I don’t think Beta will kill Aaron since he was previously wounded by Beta but I do believe this is the end for Jesus. Unless Negan steps in to save him at the last minute.
Not a fan of the princess or the past couple of issues….The SJW issues they are shoving down the throats of readers is getting old. I dont mind the gay angle…Jesus is one of my favorite characters….but when they start basing the majority of the storylines around gay and SJW plots its too much….They might have to rename the comic Queer eye for the Walking Dead Guy
I mean. The storyline isn’t being centered around anyone being gay. But the dialogue was a bit hammy. Granted, people do speak like that and it is a real issue for many. But I feel like we’re so far in the apocalypse that it feels like lampshading the issue now feels disingenuous to the growth you’d expect a character to have off-screen at times. But I guess we don’t know Magna well enough. Maybe for her it was a legitimate source of shame. Maybe her parents beat it in her head that they would never accept her. Maybe for Magna it’s still a source of shame and she isn’t happy with herself because of it. I hope we learn more about it in time when it feels right. Because some of the dialogue in this issue felt unnaturally placed as it stands currently.
I really feel that if Maggie kills Negan, she has gone too far. Gregory is one thing, he tried too kill her. I know he killed her husband, but it was random and nothing personal.
I really love how mature Sophia and Carl are. Even though they both know they have a weird past, they can communicate (better than I definitely can) like adults and tell each other what they’re feeling. It really shows that they have gone through a lot of trauma with each other, and that trauma made them have to be mature beyond their years. Also THAT ENDING. MAKES. ME. WANT. TO. CRY. I’ve LOVED both Jesus and Aaron’s characters, they’re both my favorite with in the show and DEFINITELY the comics (along with maggie), and once they got together, I was ecstatic. Not only are they the best characters, but I’ve been waiting for them to get together since I found out both were gay. And not just becuase theyre both gay, but becuase they really fit eith each other like a puzzle. I know it’s gonna happen, but I really don’t want Jesus to die, especially in front of the the love of his life, how devastating that would be for Aaron. He would have terrible trauma and never be able to fall in love or trust anyone again. But I can’t wait for issue #173, much respect for this series.
I do agree that the comics have gotten pretty gay but i dont see any SJW in this that was part of magnas devilopment in character we learned her father didnt approve and that might stay with her in the future and im LOVING yumiko shes funny
Well. Being one of the resident “SJW” types that defended last month’s issue, I’ll say this much about this month’s. Even I felt like the dialogue at some points with Magna and Yumiko was a bit… forced? Like, it felt artificial. This is years into the apocalypse. Old identities have been gone for a long time. It feels weird that this issue would be addressed in the midst of another zombie fight and that Magna would still have hangups about her parents disapproval. I mean, I don’t know. I can’t say I’ve lived that struggle so I won’t pretend to understand. I know there are people out there with overbearing parents that can leave their imprints on their children for many many years. Supposing Magna is like that, I can see it. But it certainly felt a lot more on-the-nose than usual. It didn’t feel like it had come up naturally, rather it was just kinda spliced in.
And dammit, I love Sophia. I want her and Carl to be together in the end. It was nice to see her talk to him again and insist that she misses the friend she grew up with. He’s been spending so much time with Lydia that our badass little firecracker Sophia has been almost completely forgotten, it sometimes seems.
Sorry this book isn’t shaping up to reflect the whites-only hetero paradise some of you thought the zombie apocalypse would create. Why don’t you folks who are disappointed stop reading and fuck your own faces instead?
If that’s an impression of Negan, it’s a poor one. At any rate, in before the ban/comment delete. This adds nothing to the conversation that had been going pretty smoothly up to this point.
lame
You’re one of those people who thinks that if a story touches on ANY social issue, it’s literally incapable of being written badly, aren’t you? Politically, I’m on your side. But just because a story aligns with your moral and social convictions doesn’t suddenly make the dialogue or writing free of criticism. A story about something you like can still be a story that’s badly written. Sorry not sorry.
i thought it was goodly written i get what you’re saying with it feeling a little forced but i thought it was funny when yumiko said “me and magna are completely and utterly gay” and then eugene said “i knew” and siddiq was like “me too” thats some funny shit
While I think it felt forced, I’ll admit it wasn’t without its humor. They all just brush off it like “yeah, we know. You’re the only ones behind.”
There’s already been enough written about SJW stuff, so in connection with Derek’s letter I hope that there will be even more and Beta won’t kill neither Jesus nor Aaron, because that would simply end a part of SJW stuff. I am very anxious that it is the end for one of them, or maybe for both. They should have rushed to The Hilltop and took the rest there. Please, Negan, just be around and punish Beta for killing Lucille. But maybe let him live – there is still a lot to know about him and I am not sure if there will be enough time to talk and discover while knife-fighting with Jesus. Who knows, he might be an asset in the war with NWO?
Don’t forget that the apocalypse of walking dead started in 2003. Ten years before gay marriage was legal in all of the United States and a year before Massachusetts was the first state to make it legal.
That’s when it was published. The timeline is intentionally left ambiguous so it can apply to anytime within the last couple decades from the 90’s to the next few years.
If I recall correctly, When Fear of the Walking dead started the characters all had smartphones. Smartphones first became available in 2007 and the show had some later models so the suggestion would be that the TWD/apocalypse started after 2007.
Whereas the previous issue was pointless filler to introduce probably the most loathsome character to date, this issue did a good job of bringing the series back on track and building up to Frowny McTwoKnives’ counterattack. I look forward to what comes next, and hope that the issue will focus on the matter at hand and put “princess” on the back burner a bit. Her brief but once again heavy handed obnoxiousness in this issue made me cringe, but the payoff is that we’re shaping up for another significant conflict or major character loss. I still don’t quite get the whole “Hey guys, we’re leaving civilization to go spend the rest of our lives scavenging in the woods” plan with Jesus and Aaron, but hope that one or both of them aren’t killed by Frowny.
And LOL at the next cover…I don’t know why, but it is just absolutely hilarious.
not jesus!!!!
After I got myself a copy of issue 172 and read it I feel a bit opinionated about it. I feel that this issue is part of a build up to a larger storyline. When we started off the princess was trying to crack jokes to Michonne and the group. We can tell that Michonne really dislikes the princess so far and hates being with her. I liked this because it shows differences of people from down south and a person from philadelphia. I also really enjoyed how Michonne was not wanting to stop and is leading the pack, without her I do feel the group would fall apart and maybe get themselves killed to be honest. I will not lie though, I do wish the Michonne or someone went in with the princess to her house, I would’ve liked to see how someone living on their own for years now would keep their house. I also think that we are beginning to see Yumiko crush on the princess even though her and magna are a thing. Then we see the hilltop being rebuilt. Carl is being very helpful and doing his part of reconstructing. I do believe that the hilltop will be once again at its best in just weeks. With help from all the citizens of the hilltop the rebuilding will be a success. Also sadly we see rick still mourning the loss of his wife Andrea. I feel very sad for him and I hope he gets better soon. It scares me that he is not moving on at least a little, because this may throw him off for a very long time. But I will not lie, I do wish we got to see Dwight at least a little in this issue. He is starting to truly hate rick and I want to see that story arc more in the series. Oh yeah, and I liked when Maggie received the map of where negan is settling down. I can’t wait to see what Maggie will choose to do with Negan. Will she attack him, or let him be? But now we transition over to Jesus and Aaron. I am happy to see both of them happy again together. They leave the Alexandria safezone. And when Carl looks at the Hilltop becoming itself again, the illustration is perfect and can’t be better perfect for the issue. And William is being a big help and being thanked for it. And an amazing part of this issue is when Sophia has had enough of being the third wheel and says something to Carl. She wants to be given attention again because Carl only focuses on Lydia now. The group going to Ohio is getting there succesfully with a few groups of walkers on the way. Yumiko wants to come out as being lesbian to the rest of the people but Magna does not. Finally Yumiko tells everyone in the weirdest way possible. And Michonne just says congrats. I find this funny to read because of how this scene is done. I like it though, And I laughed when before they left Rick says safe travels to Jesus becasue I just knew something was going to go wrong. I was so shocked to see when Jesus settles down and Aaron is sleeping Beta, yes Beta pops up behind him with two huge knives. Oh man! What a way to end this issue. Probably the best ending to an issue for a long time. So what I am thinking now is, Jesus may be able to defend himself from beta but Aaron is asleep and I’m not so sure Aaron can make it out alive. Sad to say but truth is the truth. Overall 9.2/10 this issue was great and would love to see more just like this!
To be honest guys, I’ve been having a hard time connecting with the characters we’re being introduced to. With the origional group becoming less and less prevalent, we need more characters to connect with, but the writers aren’t getting into their back stories as much as i would like. or even getting into their strengths and weaknesses for that matter. and this issue and last month’s in particular, it’s got me even more worried. The character Princess just seems way too cartoonish for this type of storyline. If they give her more depth, then it might be a good decision but for now, It’s gettin me really nervous, Am i the only one thats feeling disconnected with the new people we’re focusing on? Hoping for more backstory and personality from the gang.