JessFranco!- EXCELLENT suggestion on a back-up story. A different writer each issue, maybe? I know we're not the creators of the book, but some fun speculation on back-up features really takes me back to the days when I was excited about comics all the time. Wow, it's been a while.
Rawhead- I agree with you that Shane's death was a pivotal point in the story, but I also saw it coming a mile away. From the first moments when Rick returns to his family, the seeds were planted for Shane's demise. Especially in certain panels depicting Shane's inner turmoil- his feelings for Lori, his resentment of Rick for returning, not to mention a certain zombie apocalypse going on as the foundation for the story- Shane seemed doomed. All of these pent up emotions have a way of exploding at one time or another.... It wasn't a matter of IF Shane would die, but when. In a world where your very survival depends on clarity of thought, Shane was showing a surplus of thoughts clouded by emotion. And Romero taught us from the very beginning that the preference of emotion to logic is THE killer in the world of zombie survival, not the zombies themselves. They merely do what they do.
Please do not take this as bashing! I thought of those scenes where Shane was conflicted as foreshadowing, not obvious character direction. In fact, I eagerly awaited whatever was in store for Shane, and was not disappointed in his exit from the story. Heartbroken? Maybe a little, but characters threatening each other with death by the mighty firearm has been a recurring motif in many a zombie work, and sometimes I wish Kirkman would do something new with the genre that he so clearly enjoys.
Great stuff. I'm hooked for as long as Mr. Kirkman keeps the book on the shelves.
