Review of "The Walking Dead Volume 27: The Whisperer War," by Robert Kirkman et. al.

Review of

The Walking Dead Volume 27: The Whisperer War, by Robert Kirkman et. al. ISBN 9781534300521

Five out of five stars

 This volume brings the situation of the outposts developed by the group controlled by Rick Grimes to a climactic point. Rick has organized his people into a functioning society and has formed a professional military armed with automatic weapons with plenty of ammunition. While the walking dead are still a threat, they can be dealt with. The real existential danger is from the whisperers, living humans that wear the skin of the walking dead, so they can mingle with them undetected. They are called the whisperers, for that is the only way they can communicate when embedded within groups of the walking dead.

 The whisperers have embedded themselves within a herd of the walking dead so that they can direct them towards Rick’s military forces and carry out an attack. There is a battle and both sides take major losses, with Rick’s forces achieving an apparent victory. However, when receiving the report, Rick realizes very quickly that the main and decisive battle has yet to be fought. Setting up a dramatic topic for volume 28.

 This volume also includes one of the best features of this series, the internal machinations among the living. Even though the various outposts of the living are facing a potential existential crisis, there are those that will pursue their own agendas in their quest for power and control. Human nature is portrayed as something that never changes, even when the world falls apart and there is a popular and effective leader that has done a great deal to build a functioning and productive society. The quest for political power among some is such a drug that they will pursue it even under the worst of circumstances.