Continuing the Zombie Classic

Embracing its gritty and realistic feel even more in “Safety Behind Bars,” the third volume of “The Walking Dead” graphic novel collection, continues the fantastic story and raises the bar even further by giving you as much drama, sex, blood and confusion as you can possibly handle.

Throughout the tale, you begin to see the ravages of the zombie infestation begin to take their toll on Rick Grimes and the people around him. After a while, everything you thought you knew about the characters begins to fade away and out of those ashes, new characters are forged, ones now toughened up and dead inside like a scab that won’t go away.

Women once scared to speak up are now snipers and convicts are now given a second chance with barely a second thought. Make no mistake about it; the world has changed. Robert Kirkman’s writing here is once again stellar as he captures the essence of the human spirit- ever-changing, ever-adapting, ready to survive in the harshest of conditions. Through the allegiances that are made and the relationships that begin during this time, you see what Kirkman’s reasons for telling this story were. Even in the worst of times, people still need love and friends. They need to be appreciated and have a reason to live. Having necessities such as food, shelter and safety are important, but through this tale, it’s easy to see that Kirkman feels the small things aren’t as small as you would first thing.

Add in zombies to this emotional drama and have a smorgasbord of elements to play with and a story that has the type of depth most comic book series’ can only dream of.

Artistically, the work of Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn channels the emotional tones of KIrkman. The smiles on the faces of the characters have more feeling than you would think, as they seem to have wrinkles of desperation and lines of stress in all the right places. Simply put, the art here almost tells the story all by itself. When things get gruesome, Adlard and Rathburn pick up the pace and provide the type of visuals that will send chills down your spine. One scene in particular has one character fighting his way out of a room practically covered in zombies, which is scary enough, but what that room looks like at the end of the battle is nothing short of comic book genius.

While there are other trades out there that have the same type of cohesion between the writing and art, there are few that continue to grow the same way this one this one does. Brilliant, bloody and brooding, “Safety Behind Bars” is proof that this series is continuing to demand more of itself.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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