The Walking Dead #123

Released by: Image Comics
Released on: March 12, 2014

Negan's had it with Rick's ambivalence so Negan and his “Saviors” gear up and head to the walled-in compound of Hilltop, where Rick and the other survivors remain, determined to settle this once and for all.

In the calm before the storm, Rick is optimistic about their chances of surviving Negan's attack. But as so often the case in this world, the hope offered by a peaceful setting is all too brief and all too fleeting.

Negan's forces attack, offering them all one chance by just surrendering Rick as he is the key to their resistance. When he's not forthcoming, the fight ensues, with Negan's forces fighting extra-dirty, coating their arrowheads (“bolts,” as one character demands correction) in the bloody guts of zombies in order to infect anyone they don't manage to kill.

During the fight, Negan is able to sneak around and tag Rick with one of these bolts, leaving him “as good as dead” and, thus, as dead as this revolution.

Elsewhere, some other survivors are freed from Negan's compound, Carl is as anti-social as ever, and some promises are made that are most likely not going to be kept…

This story is chapter 9 of 12 in the All Out War story and, while brief, it seriously propels the action forward. Robert Kirkman is clearly still in control of the world he created here and is moving the pieces about like a grandmaster, still managing to keep us guessing even after this long. The artwork here from Charlie Adlard gets to contrast the quiet meal scenes with grand action sequences and it all works exceptionally well, too.