Bullet Points: Brightest Day#6, Marvel Zombies 5 #5, The Walking Dead #75

Brightest Day #6

DC has got to prove whether it’s learned from year long disasters like Countdown and Trinity, but Brightest Day has yet to really foul up. It’s biggest problem is a lack of consistency and focus. The Hawkman plot takes a back seat this time around just when it was getting interesting for more of Mera and Aquaman, and some cute scenes with Deadman and a cheeseburger. Arguably only the Deadman thread (and how long has he been in the graveyard with Hawk and Dove now?) has anything to do with the bigger picture. It’s all readable stuff if bite-sized, but the lack of focus is getting frustrating and treading water with vague “they came back wrong” warnings can only go so far. It’s about time they went somewhere with it. 3/5

Marvel Zombies 5 #5

It’s been a rough ride for zombie fans in the most throwaway of the Marvel Zombies series to date, but it finally pulls out a winning issue, admitedly based around a cheap joke. The Marvel Zombie virus comes to Earth, our Earth, and infects a movie aware comic geek. Will he succumb like so many others, or become the man he wants to be? This final issue has virtually nothing to do with the rest of the series and it’s probably better for it. Is one genuine bellylaugh worth four issues of crap? Maybe not, but you could do worse than pick this up and pray Marvel see sense enough to lay the concept to rest. 2.5/5

The Walking Dead #75

This one changes everything, so the hype goes. For once it’s right, but it’s just for a laugh. Having finally reached relative safety in a walled community near Washington, Rick’s band of survivors find themselves self destructing. In the middle of an intense fight that sees the leader of the community ready to throw Rick out to face the zombies on his own, he seemingly disappears right in front of everyone, the artwork switches to colour and… drumroll… Rick wakes up on a spaceship. Yes, the Earth has been invaded by aliens who were behind the whole zombie problem so they could wipe us out and get our water. All the characters who have ever died in the series are back as alien stomping cyborgs in a splattery piece of fluff right from the worst of the 90s. It’s complete nonsense and it’s plainly just meant as a joke, so ignore the flaming hatred you might read elsewhere – it probably won’t even make the trade. Sidestepping the joke at the end, it’s a solid issue and the reversal of the situation with the regular survivors potentially being the big threat to the community, is the kick up the ass the series has needed for a while. Pick it up! 5/5

The Walking Dead, Volume 11: Fear the Hunters

It’s hard to believe this is now the 11th trade collection of Robert Kirkman’s alledgedly endless zombie-movie-in-comic-form. For seven years we’ve followed ex-cop survivor Rick and his ever depleting band of friends through the wastelands as they face not only hordes of flesheaters but the often equally dangerous remnants of a society with no rules.

It’s a series that’s had it’s ups and downs. Strongest at the very beginning, it began to stagnate when the group made a home in an abandoned prison facility and settled into talking heads and soapy drama. After the shocking attack by memorable lunatic, the Governor, which destroyed the refuge and left many of the characters dead, Rick and the survivors are again on the move with a new goal of reaching Washington and a possible cure to the epidemic.

The latest collection has some strong scenes but whether it’s Kirkman’s particular style or pacing or him losing interest in the concept, it’s hard to escape a sense of a writer treading water until the next big event.  Nothing has come close to the Governor’s attack in terms of intensity and soapy filler takes up far too much space. The “hunters” of the title are a fairly weak threat in comparison and even their effect on Rick’s team, unfortunately overplayed by Kirkman, feels lazy and not particularly interesting.

While it’s still a great concept and unique in the marketplace, the series needs a kick up the arse and a return to the anything-can-happen dangerous tone that once made it unmissable. The Walking Dead remains readable in a collected format but it’s a series that has arguably lost much of it’s edge.

3/5