The Walking Dead, Book Five

The prison has fallen and the group is scattered across the countryside. Rick and his son Carl go looking for shelter in a nearby town. Rick is losing his hold on his own sanity, and Carl, left to rely on himself, grows harder with each day.

One by one, the survivors find their way back to each other. Then three strangers arrive, among them the scientist Eugene Porter and the blunt, combative Abraham. They bring a startling claim: Washington, D.C. holds the answer to ending the outbreak, and they want the group to travel there with them.

This is the fifth hardcover omnibus of Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard's ongoing zombie horror series. It collects issues #49 through #60, covering the storylines "Here We Remain" and "What We Become". The art is in gray tones by Cliff Rathburn, with lettering by Rus Wooton.

Violence is present, but loss and improvisation carry as much of the weight. The group gives up the safety of walls for the open road, and nobody can yet say whether the promise at the end of it is true.