Meat for the Beast becomes a tainted feast.
The Walking Dead #63: Fear the Hunters, Part 3 of 5 
Publisher: Image
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Charlie Adlard
Inker: Charlie Adlard
Colorist: Cliff Rathburn
Covers: Cliff Rathburn
Summary: The Hunt continues! They’ve never been in more danger. Startling revelations on Dale’s part open a pandora’s box full of questions and feelings while the rest of the group, after some emotional break downs, finally get some face time with the hunters.
Review: Kirkman left us with plenty to chew on (see what I did there?) in the last issue of The Walking Dead. The hunter’s motives were displayed loud and clear and left us with quite an unsettling feeling. Cannibals in an already cannibalistic man-eat-man world likens the hunters to levels of insanity not yet reached. However, Kirkman throws them for a loop with the unveiling of Dale’s secret: he’d been bitten and left the group to die.
Cue insta-grief and “I told you so!’ ’s. This little bit of knowledge basically freaks out the hunters who had already happily been munching on his parts. It proves to be quite the interesting little spin and a brand spankin’ new idea in the zombie-verse. (I’ve never heard of it being done before, have you?)
Adlard and Rathburn exquisitely render Dale’s scale of emotional breakdown-from fear and grief to madness and then virulent laughter-over several accelerating panels and the effect is very cinematic. The hunters have undergone no repercussions yet, but time will tell if feasting upon poisoned flesh spells out a death sentence. It has to have some negative effect, right? New breed of zombie perchance?
This issue delivers emotional drama by the bucket loads and climaxes towards the very end with some fast-paced, nitty gritty action. Andrea surprises us all with quite a moving speech on her relationship with Dale, and her true feelings regarding her situation. No longer does she appear as one half of a whole with Dale; now Andrea is just a woman who happened to be in love, not out of desperation and fear, but with genuine sentiment. Kirkman also showcases the emotional tumult Carl always finds himself in with panels of him crying. It’s never explained, but the reason is quite obvious.
All of the characters get some screen time in this issue, including the hunters who, despite being cannibalistic murderers, actually seem shockingly normal. Dale’s confession takes center stage in this issue for being such a new as well as tragic concept. None of my heart strings were tugged, personally; I think Dale began as a strong, clear-headed character, but the death of his ‘kids’ and the never-ending hunt for safety finally took his toll on him; he became a bitter, annoying, and quite a selfish human being. There were always hints at his true intentions with his ideas and attempts to separate from the group and start a life of his own. Dale never quite gave off the impression of staying and frankly, I’m fine with his impending death. At least he gets to go out with a bang.
The Walking Dead #64 sets up plenty of substance for the next arc of the story. Will the group survive the fight with the hunters without any casualties? What’s going to happen to the hunters after dining on infected flesh?
August 20th, 2009 at 9:49 am
interesting humans feasting on other humans? in a real type of situation i can see this possible when the food supply runs out and pending on how long before and what part of his body was bitten and which part of him they ate they might still have a chance but still a new breed of zombie raises my eyebrow =)
August 20th, 2009 at 11:23 am
That’s an awesome twist!
August 25th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I should have made you bring all your WD comics to SDCC and brought them back the next year.