The good and bad from issue 183 of The Walking Dead comics

Life changed in a big way for Michonne in issue 183 of The Walking Dead comics, but was “And Michonne Without Her Sword” a good installment of the story?

Issue 183 of The Walking Dead comics appears to be changing a lot of things. Michonne’s happy reunion with her daughter in The Commonwealth became a lot more complicated and Rick got to see something Pamela never wanted to be revealed.

Still, the installment of the story titled “And Michonne Without Her Sword” proved that even though things can look great on the outside they aren’t always great on the inside, as The Commonwealth isn’t going to impress anyone with their current situation.

After reading the issue, there were a lot of positive and negative things that came out of the issue, but at the very least, it should be very interesting to see what happens next. However, before looking ahead, let’s see the good, bad, and interesting things from issue 183!

*WARNING: Spoilers from The Walking Dead issue 183 below*

The good stuff

1. Michonne and Elodie’s relationship. It hasn’t taken long for Michonne to get back that motherly instinct. Not only did she wipe out that group of walkers, but she pushed Elodie out of the way when a garbage can came flying through the window.
2. Balancing good and bad. The most interesting characters are the ones that struggle between good or bad or suffer internal conflict. Jerome seemed like a nice guy who might not be fantastic at his job, but seeing him beat down the man whose wife he’s allegedly having sex with is rough.
3. Helping those in need. Michonne may be living in the new community, but that doesn’t mean she’s adapting to their culture. Helping to feed a hungry person when she was given wine, bread, and cheese for the road just shows the kind of person she is.

The bad things

1. Law & Order: TWD. While I enjoy seeing something different in the comics, focusing on a long and drawn out lawsuit doesn’t seem much fun. Hopefully, assigning Michonne as the lawyer was only to create conflict for her and the people of The Commonwealth and not a sign of more law to come.
2. More politics. Having class warfare being such a big topic is something a lot of fans of zombies probably aren’t feeling. And to continue to hammer that point home with Elodie reminding Michonne, the response to the beatdown at The Commonwealth and the representative from Greenville, it’s hard not to feel this theme being hammered into our skulls.
3. Rick’s first exposure to The Commonwealth. It’s good that Mr. Grimes is getting to see that things aren’t as perfect as Pamela Milton made them seem. However, if he had seen their community functioning well (like Michonne’s group did when they first arrived) it may have added some complication to deciding which community was run better.

The interesting stuff

1. So now there’s no violence? The people of The Commonwealth had no problem beating up a guy for hitting an adulterer, but as soon as they start burning the town down and breaking windows, the soldiers are content to stand there with their shields and only act when an “elite” is in danger? Weird priorities.
2. What happened to Sebastian? Pamela’s son was one of the most interesting parts of the community. Now he’s missing in action. Instead, it seems like soldiers are going to be the catalysts for stories. I can’t wait to see what kind of things he screws up next!

As a whole, this was the comic equivalent of a bottle episode of the AMC show. While it was nice to see what Michone and Elodie were up to, it was all to set up Rick’s arrival to see The Commonwealth in chaos. It felt like a lot of buildup for something that could have been done in a shorter time. Plus, the trip to Greenville felt extremely out of place and had nearly no impact on the story unless it is meant to be important later.

ISSUE GRADE: 6.2/10

What did you think of issue 183 of The Walking Dead comics? Did “And Michonne Without Her Sword” leave you fulfilled or did it fail to meet your expectations? Let us know what you thought in the comments section below.