Written by Guest Contributor: Jordan North If Neegan is supposed to be the bad guy, why do I love it so much when he’s around? In a book dominated by darkness and dismal circumstances Neegan sticks out like a sore--and very profane-- thumb.
Issue #112 picks up right where #111’s cliffhanger left off. Rick would be back to camp soon and Neegan just gutted one of his men in the street. The aftermath does not disappoint. The initial confrontation between Rick and Neegan sizzles and pops and honestly makes you laugh a little bit. It’s a strange thing The Walking Dead does where it can mix tones so well. Neegan backwardly saying he’ll not be using profanity to illustrate just how serious he is; is hilarious and his ejaculation of F-bombs directly after he tells Rick what’s what within PG parameters is funny as all hell. What a great character.
Rick makes amends after Neegan explains Spencer’s less-than-wholesome motivations within the camp and then he does something that story lovers only ever dreams of, or more Robert Kirkman does, he has Rick say, not literally of course, “screw buildup and stringing these people along let’s give them what they want!” and rather than give us a half dozen more issues of planning the attack Kirkman decides to just have the thing go down now. It’s an awesome misdirect when you think that Rick and the crew are just going to fork over the goods and let this further fuel their big coup to have him suddenly dive right into the fray. It’s an equal or better misdirects to have Neegan freaking the hell out right before revealing, just kidding, he has like 50 guys hiding in the bushes every time him and Rick meet.
Rick is great in this issue and does a lot of stuff to remind you just why he’s the leader and why he’s a guy you wouldn’t fuck with in the street. Having Rick assert that he only owes half the goods his team scavenged when Neegan demands it all and then having him still offer half on the basis of “a deal is a deal” when Neegan says he can keep it all is a great display of the character and integrity of this man. And try not to yell out a big “fuck yeah!” when Mr. Grimes asks his foe if he’s, “ever heard the one about the guy who brought a baseball bat to a gun fight...Fucker” wonderful.
Of course Rick makes that triumphant statement just as he realizes he was never going to win all along and we get the greatest ending line of a comic of all time, “In case you haven’t noticed… you’re fucking fucked you stupid fucker.” I couldn’t have worded it more eloquently myself. This at the hands of a Neegan who is now, in the wake of his attempted murder, planning on putting a no holds barred smack down on the residents of Hilltop. Rick’s face alone hilariously illustrates how much he knows that statement to be true.
Fucking fucked indeed Mr. Grimes. Fucking fucked indeed.
Score: 5/5
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Charlie Adlard
Publisher: Image and Skybound Entertainment
Price: $2.99
Release Date: 7/10/13