.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for those who have not seen the newly-released issue #137 of The Walking Dead comics
Truth be told, the last few issues of The Walking Dead comics have really surprised me. The whole Whisperer arc was very unexpected, and Carl nearly beating 2 boys to death who had attacked Sophia? Did not see that one coming.
But, honestly, nothing — absolutely nothing — could have prepared me for the big reveals in the issue just released today. Oh. My. Freaking. God! First, as we learned in the last issue, Gregory tries to convince the 2 bullies’ parents that Maggie is out to get their sons, probably won’t even punish Carl, and perhaps everything would be better if she weren’t around anymore. And, when I say not around anymore, I mean as in**dead**. As pissed off as the parents are, even they have enough sense to know that that would be an incredibly stupid thing to do.
Well, I guess Gregory doesn’t really care what they think, because in the new issue, he actually poisons Maggie. He invites Maggie over to his house on the pretext that he wants to come up with a peaceful resolution to the situation and slips a drug into the glass of wine that he offers her. I know this creep has always been sweet on Maggie and definitely didn’t like it when she rejected him, but man, this is one vengeful SOB. Fortunately, Jesus walks in the door at the very end, and hopefully in enough time to save Maggie.
Now, for the big shocker of the issue. It was pretty obvious in the last issue that Carl likes the captured Whisperer, Lydia, and so much so that he gives her his hat. And, at first it seems like the feeling is mutual but I’m not so sure now, and I’m wondering if Lydia is just playing on Carl’s obvious feelings. When Maggie and Jesus return to her cell to continue interrogating her about the location of the rest of her group, Lydia completely shuts down. She refuses to talk to anybody but Carl, and so, Maggie reluctantly allows Lydia out of her cell but she must be guarded by Carl at all times.
Carl thinks he has gained a new friend, but he’s about to find out that Lydia has something different in mind. Carl has his sunglasses on covering his mutilated eye, but Lydia insists on seeing it. Carl doesn’t want to do it, but he reluctantly takes the glasses off, and to his surprise, Lydia thinks his eye is sexy. AND, she licks his eye socket! Eww. The comics have crossed the line dozens of times with some of the things Negan has done, but man, this is over the top. Lydia takes it further than that and ends up seducing Carl right there in the open field in front of the freaking chicken coup. So, how much you want to bet that she’ll have Carl eating out of her hand after that?
All in all, an amazing issue. It was well-written, the overall story didn’t seem to drag like some of the past issues, and I even liked the cover. I still don’t like “The Walking Dead” in small print at the top, but in comparison to everything else, that’s a minor complaint.
The only real complaint I have is that we now have to wait a full month to see what happens next. Robert Kirkman, you really need to start doing bi-weekly issues again! So many questions. Will Maggie survive, and if she does, what will she do with Gregory? Will she exile him? He’s been there a long time, much longer than Maggie herself, and kicking him out is going to be a tough sell to most in the community. And, what will Carl do next? Will he act like a foolish teenage boy and let Lydia escape?
The Walking Dead comic issue #138 is scheduled to be released on March 11, 2015.
