The slow burn of Rick’s preparations to take on Negan finally start to come together as Rick unveils his plans to more members of his group. But how long until he actually pulls the trigger?

Official description from IMAGE:

Maggie and Sophia pick up the pieces and continue their lives at the Hilltop.

Ever since Negan has come into The Walking Dead universe RIck’s pacifist actions have been tough to swallow. We all know he’s just playing along until he can make his move but as a reader I feel the frustration of it as much as Andrea, Michonne and many others. Robert Kirkman has carefully constructed this level of frustration and I can only hope the other shoe is about drop soon. He puts the focus squarely on Maggie and her pregnancy this time round. She has an encounter at Glen’s grave with another Hilltopper, Brianna, to discuss how everyone can relate to losing someone now and how comfortable one can get with that notion. The dialogue is touching and heartbreaking yet somehow quite comforting in the end for Maggie. The rest of the story involves Rick revealing his plan to his group and Jesus gathering more troops to go against Negan. But in the end it’s difficult to accept that someone isn’t going to spill the details to Negan or the more likely scenario that he already knows about it.

It’s hard to find fault with Charlie Adlard’s art and after 109 issues I’m certain that The Walking Dead wouldn’t feel the same without him. That said, his pencils can get a little loose at times but again he is so ingrained into this series that it’s easy to look over little flaws. Adlard’s art has never been clean so it’s tough to complain when there’s a lack of detail to characters in the background or dark silhouettes.

Now that it seems as all the players are in place and in the know I hope the series moves at a brisker pace with more actions and more consequences. Frustration with Rick was intentional but the fight with Negan needs to happen soon for readers and the characters not to become complacent. All in all a solid issue as always.

4/5