Review by Karl Verhoven

There was a massive clear-up required to begin We Find Ourselves, and then some stocktaking. One of the decisions taken was to attempt to re-establish civilisation, not just to survive from week to week, but to have some longer term plan. The first steps might have presented themselves when there’s contact from another community, but there’s more, at which point the title begins to make sense. “Do you guys think you’re the only survivors out here? Boy… your world is certainly about to change.”

Is this a situation to be taken at face value, or is this a new danger? It’s a tension Robert Kirkman plays out extremely well. He underlines that Rick Grimes’ initial response mirrors that of his first contract with Aaron in Life Among Them, the paranoid feeling that anything offered was too good to be true, a trap. Is he just being cautious, or is he paranoid? And at what point does some trust need to be applied.

As part of this plot we meet a new character, Paul Monroe, although he goes by another name, and he becomes more and more compelling as the story progresses. Kirkman’s manner of handling the changes Carl’s going through remain interesting. His attitude and approach to others is now different, and while Rick’s reaction about him came across as a little overwrought in the previous book, then there are some unpredictable developments here. One may have life-changing consequences, and there’s a clever build-up of tension regarding trust versus a possible lack of instinct. For those who considered We Find Ourselves too heavy on drama the zombie count is far higher.

There’s also far more scope for Charlie Adlard to draw something other than talking heads, and the way the narrative appears to be heading he’ll be kept busy on other matters for a while. “The reason I was made leader. It’s the way I see things… I saw the future.” Is Rick right? The story continues in Something to Fear.

For those who prefer their Walking Dead in hardcover, this is combined with We Find Ourselves in The Walking Dead Book Eight, and they’re the concluding portions of the eight books comprising The Walking Dead Compendium vol 2.