The Walking Dead #114 Review

The Walking Dead tends to have some of the most amusingly terse solicitation descriptions each month. For issue #114, the solicit merely reads "What would Jesus do?" An appropriate question given the events on display this month. Robert Kirkman pushes the mysterious, bearded rogue into the spotlight in the escalating war between Rick and Negan's forces. And he quickly emerges as the character to watch as the series moves into "All-Out War."

With Rick reeling from his failed coup against Negan and the apparent death of Andrea last issue, Jesus is forced to step in and take Negan down a peg or two. I mentioned last month how Negan's particular brand of villainous bravado is becoming a bit much after a year of seeing him lord over every other character. This issue delivers just what the doctor ordered. Obviously, Kirkman can only offer so much plot progression leading into the upcoming storyline, but he still allows Jesus a major badass moment and an overall sense that the odds could be in any faction's favor at this point. Unpredictability is always a good thing.

Eventually the script quiets down as Kirkman lays the present conflict to rest and begins setting the stage for "All-Out War." This quieter material works well, especially as Kirkman begins alluding to a future beyond this war with Negan. There's a real sense that the series is entering a watershed period that could be every bit as significant as the dramatic fallout of issue #48 so many years ago.

Charlie Adlard is in fine form again with this issue. He depicts all the savage brutality of Jesus' attack and the tension of the resulting standoff. This will be the last time we see the Adlard/Cliff Rathburn duo in action for a while, but at least they cap off the collaboration in style.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

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