Three’s Company

With Rick, Glenn and Michonne trapped in Woodbury at the end of the fifth volume of the Walking Dead trade paperback series, volume six, “This Sorrowful Life,” focuses mainly on them and their escape, ironically back to the prison where their family and friends are.

Rick and Glenn have been iconic characters throughout the series, but Michonne, a relative newbie at this point, not only single-handedly provides some of the best moments of the book, she also quickly becomes a character every reader can love. Brash, yet sexy and tough, Michonne is almost too perfect a fit for the Walking Dead Universe.

With Rick and Glenn relatively out of commission for a big part of the book, someone has to be the brute force and savage that can provide the realism the series is known for and Michonne does not disappoint. As a matter of fact, there are about a dozen pages in this trade that are easily some of the goriest of the series thus far.

Think the wild drawings of Tyreese fighting his way out of a zombie-infested room a few trades ago was gritty?

Think again.

Continuing their top flight work, the art duo of Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn pencil and provide gray tones in a way that surpasses anything done in color. Telling a story all by themselves through their art, the words aren’t needed, but sure does help. Otherwise, this might just be a book remembered for best portraying the most proficient ways to destroy a human being piece by piece.

Make no mistake though; the action here is far from gratuitous violence. Considering how ruthless the Governor of Woodbury has been to the crew since his first appearance, Rick and the gang are fighting for their very survival.

That’s not to say this volume is void of any heart-warming moments either. A testament to Robert Kirkman’s abilities as a writer, the morsels of normality still resonate throughout the book. People still depend on each other for all their basic needs, but with a zombie apocalypse and all to deal with, things get messy, jumbled and lost. Regardless, as much as everyone in Rick’s camp has changed and adapted, they still haven’t lost their humanity.

However, it’s hard to escape the misery that hangs on to the three main characters of this tale. Like a remora clinging to a great white shark, the small amounts of happiness Rick, Michonne and Glenn experience here pales in comparison to the unbridled sadness that occurs.

That doesn’t stop from doing whatever it takes to survive however.

That, above all else, might be the most important thing to take from this book.

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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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