The Walking Dead, Vol. 5: The Best Defense

The Walking Dead, Vol. 5: The Best Defense (The Walking Dead #5)

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4.33 of 5 stars 4.33  ·  rating details  ·  9,930 ratings  ·  339 reviews
As the survivors settle into their prison home something has drawn them out into the open... out of the prison... out of their sanctuary. This is a major turning point for the overall story of The Walking Dead, setting the stage for years to come.
Paperback, 136 pages
Published April 21st 2009 by Image Comics (first published January 2006)
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Nenia Campbell


disregard everything i said about the series getting less violent. kirkman frakking tricked me. i'm still reeling. i honestly don't know what just happened. i feel violated.



reading this before going to bed was a mega-bad idea.** if i have horrible nightmares about the zombiepocalypse, i'll know who to blame: robert kirman! it's all his fault.

**speaking of bad ideas: if you hate spoilers, it might be a bad idea to proceed beyond this point as some minor/mild spoilers do follow. consider yourself...more
Anthony Chavez
The last volume I kept thinking this is a little whiny, the characters did a lot of complaining and grieving, I thought to myself something needs to happen, something to jar the characters and drive the plot forward. It looks like we have a villain here in volume 5.

Our travelling band that has settled in a prison sees a helicopter, LIFE is out there! They then see said chopper crash and they want to learn where they are from and see if they are ok. When they see boatloads of footprints surroundi...more
Emily
I have to take a pause and just recap the emotions I've been feeling while reading this series. I think this volume in particular really brings to light the depravity of humanity when faced with something like the zombie apocalypse. Kirkman really shows all aspects and possibilites of what humanity might go through, whether it be good or bad and he covers all aspects of coping, grieving, surviving, and trying to live in a completely different world. I'm constantly impressed by the thought that w...more
Dominic
As you may see by the previous ratings, I really enjoyed the first four volumes. This is where it all goes to shit, in my opinion.

While I appreciate terrible villains, and there are certainly enough in this book, Kirkman just takes a questionable idea and runs full-fricken-tilt out of the window with it to the farthest (laughable) extreme. The tenor of the books prior really set a more realistic tone, where this marks the wild-and-woolly adventure into pandemonium.

At this point, it's barely plau...more
Fizzgig76
Reprints The Walking Dead #25-30 (January 2006-August 2006). The survivors work to clear out more of the prison and discover a stockpile of riot gear. Carol admits her feelings for Rick and Lori and crosses the line. Dale and Andrea find themselves in a new role and take over as parents of Allen's children. When a helicopter crashes near the prison, Rick, Michonne, and Glenn go to investigate and discover the town of Woodbury. Rick, Michonne, and Glenn find they are prisoners of a town ruled by...more
Mel
After being so disappointed by the 4th book in this series I decided I'd try one more and then see if I wanted to keep reading or not. Now I'm not sure. If the library has the next volume I will reserve it but I definitely don't feel the need to buy this series.

This book was much more violent. But that's kinda what you expect from zombie stories. The point of zombie stories is to point out how horrible people are. How humanity is the threat not the zombies. But zombie movies are supposed to be a...more
The Flooze
Exciting and disturbing. The flap copy is right: this is an installment that changes things.

Only a week has passed since the chaos of the last volume. Oddly, all that uproar seems to have been beneficial. The group is working together peacefully, settling in - and no one else has died in the meantime! Hooray!

Of course it doesn't last. That would be boring.

For all the criticism you can throw at Rick, Tyreese, Dexter, and Herschel for their moments of savagery, The Best Defense introduces the wors...more
Lucas
After a calmer Volume 4, I was interested to see where The Walking Dead would take the story next, while doubting it could ever top the third volume. But man was I wrong there...because Volume 5 blew it out of the water.
Volumes 1 and 2 did a good job of introducing the characters, while 3 and 4 made you care about them. Now the group is thrown into the thick of things, and the real story is beginning, with The Walking Dead’s first official villain finally being introduced.
The story starts off...more
Go Flash Go!
I was a bit disappointed with volume 4, "The Heart's Desire," which started to feel tedious with all of the pettiness and melodrama exhibited by Rick's crew of survivors. I was thrilled when the tedium was flipped upside down and turned inside out in volume 5, "The Best Defense," with the introduction of The Governor, an incredibly evil and sinister survivor.

Near the beginning of this volume, Rick's crew witnesses a helicopter crash in the distance. Rick, Michonne, and Glenn set out to investiga...more
Bruce M
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Meagan
This volume seemed to offer both more and less at the same time. After the emotionally charged ending of 4, I was surprised to find Dale and Rick sweeping the prison again. I guess I was expecting something more immediate or to sense a shift from the previous major events, but we avoid that, just like the characters. They seem to be shifted into "avoidance" mode in Volume 5 yet still manage to get themselves into trouble, despite the logical discussions before they act. You think taking more hea...more
Suz
I upgraded from 2 stars... I'm not real thrilled with a few scenes from the graphic novel, but they did introduce new plots, people, etc, and I always appreciate forward movement.

Our intrepid little heroes see something, go out to investigate and find a settlement not too far away. And we're introduced to the Governor and his rather fucked up society (of course, it's not quite that black and white, but him being fucked up is rather solidly colored, so he's not much more than a two dimensional ev...more
Jonathan Briggs
The survivors of the apocalypse are getting settled in an empty penitentiary they've adapted as home and fortress, locked up but secure from hungry zombies roaming outside the gates. When a helicopter goes down a few miles away, Rick, Glenn and Michonne rush to the crash site, hoping to aid survivors. All they find are tracks leading away from the wreckage, so Rick suggests the need "to discuss this." And herein lies the problem with this series: The heroes have to discuss EVERYdamnthing, boggin...more
Melissa
I was so unprepared for this emotionally. While the previous volumes were full of angst to the highest degree, I feel... distraught. Nauseous. A little like I need to cry. The turn things have taken is so dark, but at this point I truly can't say whether I think it was for the best. (view spoiler)[When the Governor cut Rick's hand off, when he raped Michonne, when he sat in front of the dozens of heads he'd collected... I wished we could just go back to the prison, and be as cosy and domestic as...more
T.W. Brown
The Best Defense is volume five of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead graphic novel series. It is this episode that I foresee considerable problems in converting it to a television show. More on that later.

Rick Grimes’ proclamation at the end of The Heart’s Desire that “we are the walking dead!” was the dramatic conclusion to a lengthy speech. The story picks up a short time later. The rift in the camp between him and Tyreese remains and things inside the prison actually seem to be proceeding. I...more
John
I've been waiting for Kirkman to deliver on the promise, in the intro to collection #1, that The Walking Dead will be about characters. If you can call the cardboard cutouts that Kirkman moves through various well-drawn panels characters, then he has achieved something, namely movement. He has not managed to convey a sense of character, and if he was close then he squandered the opportunity. Much of the story's dynamic died with the character of Shane, the best friend and adulterer, but even tha...more
Stephanie W
After reading book 5, my review of book 4 should have been higher than I gave it. Book 4 showed the impending savage nature of humanity while still being beautiful subtle until the emotionally jarring outburst in the closing pages of the story. Yet I didn't want to give it 5 stars because, for the most part, nothing happened. The action was stagnant even though the characters gained quite a bit of depth.

Because of my previous rating, I must give book 5 only 3 stars, as it has been the weakest bo...more
J.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Lucy
Definitely the creepiest volume in this series so far - sure, the zombies are scary, but I'm way more freaked out when it's actual human beings the group is up against. In the last installment Kirkman started to play around with the idea of the zombie apocalypse addling their minds, causing mental breakdowns and paranoia. In this one, with the introduction of a new villain - The Governor - he really took that idea to its extreme. I found the Governor's characterisation slightly over-the-top and...more
DB
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Abigail Hilton
I've now read all of these comics currently released. This is the book where the series really takes off. Give _The Walking Dead_ at least until book 5 before you decide what you think.

The story starts strong in Book 1 with a fairly self-contained arc, but in Books 2-4, it kind of fizzles. Zombies jumping out of the trees are scary the first time, but not so much the 10th. For inner-personal conflict - who's sleeping with whom (and who's mad about it) only gets you so far. Those kinds of conflic...more
Craig
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Samantha
Note: Yes, I am going to use the same review for all of the Walking Dead comics I've read. Don't judge me too harshly; I have a lot of reviews to write.

What I liked:
-The art. It was simple yet beautiful and strong. It painted a clear picture and it even had me smiling sometimes, like Rick’s face when he got hit with the shovel. It made me giggle.
-Character death. I love that the creator isn’t afraid to kill off a character without any notice. You never know who will live and who will die, and it...more
Eslam Daoud
حقا لا أصدق ما أراه بعينى من وصول الرسوم الكاريكاترية إلى هذا المستوى
كم هى رائعة بما تحتوى من تفاصيل مذهلة تشعرك وكأنك داخل المشهد
بالإضافة أنه يروق لى أسلوب الحوار بين الأشخاص بشدة

قصة ذلك العمل تدور حول انتشار أحد الأوبئة التى جعلت البشر أشبه بالزومبى من آكلى لحوم البشر ويستعرض محاولات بعض الناجين البقاء على ظهر الأرض فى ظل عدم وجود أدنى أمل فى استمرار الحياة بقيادة الشرطى ريك

بالاستمرار فى القراءة أشعر بروعة متابعة الأحداث ، فالقصة مشوقة حقا
لا عجب حين تكون الصورة الأصل مبهرة هكذا ، فتكون ال...more
Brian Grant
The summary for "Rise of the Governor" states that, "In the Walking Dead universe, there is no greater villain than The Governor." Knowing this beforehand, I was looking forward to meeting the Governor in "The Best Defense." But I could not have been prepared. As his character is revealed, he transforms before our eyes from wasteland warlord to something unimaginably vile. And he is by far the most arresting and interesting element of the story so far.

I have definitely enjoyed The Walking Dead...more
Justin
Be warned: minor spoilers ahead.

All right. Before reading this volume, I went back and reread all of the trades up to this point, in order to recapture the narrative and get back into the spirit of the story for Halloween. A few things I noticed during the read-through:

1. I appreciate the switch to Adlard’s art after the first story arc. While Moore made the characters much more distinguishable from one another, he also lent an exaggerated aspect to their features and expressions that was almost...more
Crazyjamie
So after a bit of a break from this superb horror comic series (truth be told, I don't want it to end), I finally moved on to book five.

The book opens where the last book left off, with the survivors attempting to build a new life for themselves inside the prison. To be honest I felt like this installment could be a little slow, as there was no obvious source for a new plotline. However, once again Kirkman doesn't disappoint in the slightest, and when that new plotline comes along in the form o...more
Kathleen
Gawd this freeking thing is traumatizing. I mean I was riveted (I was on the train reading it and looked up and realized the train had been stopped for quite some time and I'd been too absorbed in this thing to realize it)

But I mean, this series was already freaking traumatizing, and in this volume it just careens into another dimension of horrible. I mean, when the living start to be more horrible than zombies, then we got problems.

I'd recommend it, but not for the faint of heart. It is viole...more
Darrell
By far the most disturbing volume in the series yet. It's not the zombies that are disturbing, but what the people do to each other. At first, I thought to myself that people would never behave this way. If zombies have taken over the world everyone still alive would band together. But humans are definitely capable of being horrible to each other when there's not enough supplies to go around. Competition for resources brings out the worst in us. However, the more I think about it, the bad guy in...more
Matt Anderson
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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The Walking Dead: The Best Defense (The Walking Dead, #5)

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Robert Kirkman is an American comic book writer best known for his work on The Walking Dead, Invincible for Image Comics, as well as Ultimate X-Men and Marvel Zombies for Marvel Comics. He has also collaborated with Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane on the series Haunt. He is one of the five partners of Image Comics, and the only one of the five who was not one of the original co-founders of...more
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“The second we put a bullet in the head of one of those undead monsters -- the moment one of us drove a hammer into one of their faces -- or cut a head off. We became what we are! And that's just it. THAT's what it comes down to. You people don't know what we are.

We're surrounded by the DEAD. We're among them -- and when we finally give up we become them! We're living on borrowed time here. Every minute of our life is a minute we steal from them! You see them out there. You KNOW that when we die -- we become them. You think we hide behind walls to protect us from the walking dead?

Don't you get it? We ARE the walking dead! WE are the walking dead.”
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“Don't you get it? We are The Walking Dead!” 15 people liked it
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