Moments ago, I had just finished The Walking Dead #192: “Aftermath,“ and I am disappointed. In recent issues, we’ve seen a lot go down in the Commonwealth and witnessed Rick take a bullet to the chest. It’s hard to think of a way to keep things going, either in terms of intensity or even just storywise. I think most people would agree if I state that the AMC series of The Walking Dead went downhill greatly with the departure of Rick, and it worries me the comic may follow.
It hurts me to say it because I’m such a big fan, but I don’t think I care about anyone else besides Carl. We’ve lost Andrea and Dwight just recently, and Maggie really doesn’t do much. Add that with the creators saying Negan won’t be back and without Rick, I’m just thinking, “Who cares?”
In The Walking Dead #192, everything I feared is true. Rick’s gone, and Carl is the one who has to put him down after the events of the last issue take place. Who else is deserving of such a thing anyway? Not that it was a burden Carl wanted. Abusing such a horrific event, the Governor is placed back at her desk and spreads the news on who’s to blame for the incident, assuring Carl that her son won’t be let out of jail for the rest of his life.
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For a second, we get to see a bit of the badass that Negan admired in Carl. He visits the jail and warns Sebastian that if he does find a way out, he’ll be hurt before being thrown back in. During this encounter, Carl takes after his late father and gives a small speech about how this is what his father would have wanted; having Sebastian rot in prison and thinking about the life he used to have.
Honestly, that’s boring. It would’ve been far more interesting to see something go down between the two. Not that it won’t happen, but the fact that nothing happened at all in this whole issue is pretty disappointing. With the death of Rick, it’s hard to be excited about the future of the comic.
Following up on the rest of issue #192 from that point forward, it’s a whole lot of nothing, really. We get a glimpse of Mercer looking pretty angry, but aside from that, we didn’t really get reactions from anyone else. For an issue that aimed to touch our feelings, it didn’t really come close.
