Carl is reading “Elsewhere.” Carl… is reading “Elsewhere”! A book he loves about a grief stricken young girl that lost her entire family too early, who becomes a woman too fast and longs for a time that was simpler and more innocent. You just… I don’t know, you have to love it, don’t you? Damn you Kirkman and your demented genius for making such a correlation.
Spoilers from here on in: One of the biggest shockers of this issue was the fact that there are indeed other people out there hiding and it will finally lend some insight in to the upcoming issues covers featuring a trio of survivors traveling the land. Could this mean a big up side for Rick? Will Rick even go with Carl if they decide to bring them along? We can only really see. As for the big reveal in the surprise twist, I’m mixed. Because on the one hand, it’s a pretty gut wrenching twist when we discover that Rick has really been doing nothing but talking to himself and has pretty much lost his mind.
But on the other hand, this felt like a derivation of the story from “World War Z” where the soldier is left in the woods to fend for herself being led on radio by a woman in a tower only for us to discover she never existed. I want to tell you that this twist was amazing, but really it was just good enough to where it was heartbreaking but not overwhelming as Kirkman seemed intent on. Although I have to give Kirkman credit for packing up the phone in the final pages. We know Rick is battling with guilt, but we also have to wonder how safe Carl will be now that Rick is definitely losing his mind and has gone to the deep end. How can he return in this world?
As usual the art paired with the build-up is absolutely fantastic with the opening panels of the issue conveying the passing of time in this wasteland while Rick and Carl try to grasp their own fading sanity. Though they don’t openly admit it to one another, they’re both likely experiencing delusions and pure hallucinations, and it may surface with future issues. There’s also the excellent instances where Rick and Carl learn that they’re not the last people alive in their land and they do it with the realization that they’re fighting to live in vain. How can there be a future in a world where the walking dead rule? This is a wonderful follow up and another filler issue to lead in to the bigger arc coming up. I can’t wait.