Review of "The Walking Dead Volume 23: Whispers Into Screams," by Robert Kirkman et. al.

Review of

The Walking Dead Volume 23: Whispers Into Screams, by Robert Kirkman et. al. ISBN 9781632152589

Five out of five stars

 As I have stated in my reviews of the previous volumes in this series, one of the best features is that nothing about the darker side of human nature is overlooked. Even though nearly all humans have either been killed or turned into the undead and cooperation is necessary for survival, rivalries to the point of self-destruction are still prevalent among the living.

 The last volume ended with a violent encounter between some of the undead that were talking, and Rick’s son Carl is now an apprentice blacksmith in another settlement. Rick returns to his home settlement and there is another violent clash between the undead that talk. A combat probe on horseback is attacked by them and they are able to fight them off and return to base with one of the undead as prisoner.

 When they get there, they learn that the undead that talk whisper so that the true undead will not hear them. They are in fact people that wear the skin of the undead so that they can blend with and travel with them. The prisoner turns out to be a teenage girl and she is imprisoned until more is known. Carl befriends her as she shows no revulsion at the sight of his disfigured face.

 Old animosities arise once again as a faction of one settlement plots to regain power by engaging in an assassination. Now that the settlements are thriving with industry and agriculture reviving, having power over a settlement now has real meaning. This is a great story, for it demonstrates that not even recovery from mortal danger and the potential for the extermination of humanity can excise the evil that fundamentally resides in humans.