The Walking Dead, Vol. 7: The Calm Before
The Walking Dead, Vol.7: The Calm Before provides a much needed mental break for the characters and for me (well, mostly for the characters, with a couple of small exceptions). It's actually kind of notable that two things that would be considered absolutely horrifying in any other story feel really tame here because they are the only two bad things in this volume, where most volumes of this story contain WAY WAY WAY more than that. Also, Robert Kirkman is an asshole, I'm pretty sure, because the fact that all this normalcy and calmness and pleasantness is there can only mean one thing: everybody is about to die. And that's probably not even hyperbole.
Not including the two exceptions I noted above (involving Carol and Dale), Vol. 7 has all the characters stopping to smell the roses, so to speak. Lori and Rick prepare for the birth of their baby, Maggie and Glen get hitched and start talking about starting a family, Michonne starts to deal with the trauma of the last couple of volumes, Andrea and Dale reaffirm their relationship, etc. The calm allows them all to take a step back and see what's there, plan for the future. They've got crops growing, they've stocked up on supplies, and they're feelings safe. Carol is the only one who doesn't profit from this step back. It only serves to highlight her growing madness and leave her even more alone with her bug-nuts thoughts than she normally is. She allows herself to be eaten by a zombie. So that's bad thing number one. Bad thing number two is that Dale is bitten by a zombie and has to have his leg amputated to save his life. Good news is that it's possible to survive a bite.
All in all, a welcome respite, but as it's sure to precede utter carnage, I can't really say I'm all that grateful in the end, but I'll have to get back to you later. The Governor is at the doorstep and he wants revenge.