The Walking Dead (Volume 5)

The Best Defense
Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard

The latest installment of the ultra-popular zombie series from Image comics continues to see the characters we've grown accustomed to make lives for themselves in a prison, safe from the undead walking past the outer three fences. But in light of the previous, over-the-top melodramatic issue that was basically...boring, this storyline reinvigorates the series, offering a new distraction in the form of a downed helicopter and the secrets surrounding what happened to the people aboard. What's really interesting about this volume is that it's really, really good - suspenseful and horrifying - without really utilizing the zombies. This book really has turned its focus onto characters and watching how the world around them change, as laws and rules are thrown out the window. It's a really interesting look at society, particularly in events that occur toward the end of this book, and it doesn't feel forced as in other volumes. This is the type of storytelling that I suspect Kirkman has been working toward from the getgo. A