So I am not the ideal reviewer of this series for a number of reasons; 1) I am seemingly one of the few comics readers in the world who has not read The Walking Dead (okay, maybe two volumes, then I stopped) nor seen the tv series; 2) I am not a gamer, so have no familiarity with the Telltale Walking Dead video game featuring Clementine, though I have become aware of the controversy about ripping out the hearts of all players who liked how the Clementine game had (previously) ended, and 3) I am not really a fan of zombie comics. PORTLAND, Ore 11/01/2021 — Image/Skybound today revealed an extra-length first look at Clementine Book One, beginning a trilogy set in the world of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, from award-winning writer/artist Tillie Walden ( Spinning, On A Sunbeam). Schedeen, Jesse (November 1, 2021). "The Walking Dead: Clementine Book One - Exclusive Graphic Novel Preview". IGN . Retrieved November 1, 2021. Within the present of A New Frontier, Clementine had become a member of the New Frontier, but was exiled after stealing medicine from the group's doctor in an attempt to save a deathly ill AJ, a history she keeps quiet from others. She rescues Javier while trying to acquire a working vehicle and stays with him to help rescue his family at a nearby junkyard. They get into a conflict with other members of the New Frontier, and ultimately Clementine and Javier are forced to travel to Richmond, a fortified town that has been taken over by the New Frontier. Clementine helps Javier to assure his family's well-being and defuse the issues with the New Frontier and other survivor outposts. She learns that AJ is being kept at a ranch outside of town, and takes her leave to recover him. Batchelor, James (April 11, 2019). "Telltale's The Walking Dead "made Skybound what it is" ". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on April 11, 2019 . Retrieved April 11, 2019.

The story begins with Clementine walking through the woods after her departure from the school. After a close encounter with a group of zombies, she slips in a gap, breaking her prosthetic leg in the process. All of the characters are uninteresting nobodies - they’re all moody teens, hooray… - and, again because plot, one of the characters goes bad for no reason and that’s the finale: some dumb scuffle between idiots over nothing. So many of the panels are crammed with overstuffed word balloons and still the story came off murky and unengaging - that’s how bad a writer Walden is. Things I hated: AJ wasn't in it and she barely thought of him and never mentioned him to the others. Clementine would never! I also had a shit time telling what was going on in a lot of the images and had to guess a lot based on the text.Dominguez, Noah (July 2, 2020). "The Walking Dead Creator Teases Negan Lives Follow-Up Starring". Comic Book Resources . Retrieved July 18, 2020. Hmm, where did I see this before oh that's right TFS so the writer shamelessly reused the final season plot but this time it makes 0 sense. why do they keep repeating clem ark? it's not even a new story it's the same but a weaker plot with new force romance why they didn't make clem protect Ericson I mean it's not that hard to focus on non-deterrent characters more than this piece of trash. this story going to have force romance force repeated the story and self inserts it's not even original and why clem is traumatized last time she was fine that's just a dumb excuse for a writer to make her do stupid sh*t.

But when she comes across an Amish teenager named Amos with his head in the clouds, the unlikely pair journeys North to an abandoned ski resort in Vermont, where they meet up with a small group of teenagers attempting to build a new, walker-free settlement.I don’t know, something in me changed after I got bit. I ignored it for a while but it keeps growing. This idea that I...I was going to live. And not just day by day like I had been. I could live for months...years...that I might be an adult someday, like my mom was. I don't know why but it scared me so much. So much that it felt like I couldn’t breathe.” Georgia, knowing that Amos was planning to leave with Olivia, unexpectedly pushes Amos down a chasm, to his presumed death. Clementine eventually soon wake up and was greeted by Olivia, who told her that they had been saved by Emi. Olivia also reveals to Clementine that she has been unconscious for one month and her legs got infected as well. Olivia takes Clementine in a wheelchair and it was reveals that they are taken to Magdalen Islands, a remote island community led by Anne Morro, an enigmatic doctor. They soon reunited with Ricca where she attended a birthday party. There, Ricca introduces Clementine to the residents of the island, including Emi, John, Amir, Shu-Fen, Ginette, Giles, and Mercy. The Final Season is the closure of Clementine's narrative arc in the series. Some years after the events of A New Frontier, Clementine and AJ, who is now a young boy, are traveling on their own. After stumbling into a walker horde, they are rescued by Marlon, the leader of a group of children from the abandoned Ericson boarding school. Clementine uses her time in the school to get to know the other children while helping them for sustainability and protection. Eventually, Clementine finds out that Marlon traded two of the school's residents, twin sisters Minerva and Sophie, to a group of raiders that threatened the school in exchange for safety and intends to do the same with her and AJ should they return. Clementine pressures Marlon to reveal the truth to the other kids, only for him to be shot and killed by AJ. I think Clementine's decision to leave him behind at the school makes a lot of sense. Clementine didn't leave him behind because she didn't care for him anymore. She left behind because she is a deeply traumatised kid who doesn't know the difference between living and surviving. It is unfair to expect her to be his mother. The moment she knew AJ was safe in the community, she felt like her job looking after him was done. She returned to wandering the roads alone because fighting to survive is all she knows. In one scene, Clementine tells another survivor that when she isn't fighting to survive, she is so bored. In another scene, we see that Clementine has almost forgotten how to read. Her memories of her old life are fading. All that remains is trauma, guilt, frustration and a deep sense of loss. Who is Clementine if she is not fighting to survive?

Clementine is introduced when Lee Everett takes shelter in her suburban home in Georgia to find refuge from zombies (referred to in-universe as walkers). She is revealed to be hiding from the walkers alone in a tree house as her parents had left for Savannah some time before the apocalypse. Lee offers to take and protect Clementine, hoping that they will be able to find her parents. Crecente, Brian (April 3, 2019). " The Walking Dead: How Clementine's Story Found Its End Amid the Ruins of Telltale". Variety. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019 . Retrieved April 4, 2019. Still, I want to give credit to the young comics icon Tillie Walden, known for intensely emo comics almost exclusively focused on lesbian teens, in working with Robert Kirkman on this sequel. Totally surprised me. Walden and Zombies?! The author of the memoir comics story of her figure-skating youth in Spinning?! And I have read most of what she has done, which is a lot, she’s incredibly prolific. In most of her comics it’s all about the feels, grumpy teens, with few people knowing how to speak their minds: It’s young people, it’s generally YA, which she basically was herself for most of her comics career so far!

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Now for what I didn’t like. Tillie Walden is a fine enough illustrator, but I’ve never read much of her other work to judge her writing. It’s not appallingly bad here or anything, it just isn’t all that good either. It’s just serviceable. You can tell this is also a book geared at teenagers, which is usually fine, but a lot of the dialogue is just so whiny at points. I did like some of the more emotional moments, but it didn’t help the only person I care about in this whole book is Clementine. Amos and Ricca were cool I guess, but I just never got too attached to either, even if they are likable and written well. I’m also really confused on how all these teenagers are so effective at killing zombies. I get they grew up in the apocalypse, but these kids are killing walkers with next to no effort. The story falls flat as well, and every other review on here sums up why better than I could, but the summary should be a big hint. It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and the ending felt surreal in the worst possible way.

Nothing is known about Amos' life prior to or as the outbreak began, except that he lived the Amish lifestyle. As a continuation, it honestly reads as someone's first fanfiction. Clementine doesn't read as Clementine, not through her actions, her characterization—not even her dialogue. Clementine in this book is angsty, but not in a way that is in-character. Season Three's Clementine already showed an angsty Clementine who doesn't trust people: she's more like spitfire than this husk. Now, I get that characters can react to different situations in different ways, but this is the best way for me to explain the gist of my issues with her characterization without spoiling: she doesn't read as Clementine, we've already done this arc, why couldn't we see something, oh I don't know, new?!While Amos fixes Kenny for Clementine, everyone starts to worry about Georgia. Ricca and Olivia approach the two and tell them that Olivia fixed the engine and alternator for the generator. Amos offers to take them to the lift, but Ricca reminds him there's no bridge, until Olivia speaks up about there being another way. She tells them the bridge was only a shortcut and offers to show Amos the way. Georgia then approaches and tells them to give up with the generator and to get to work. Clementine says they only have 17 days worth of food left. Removed from Telltale's The Walking Dead, this is fine. A 3/5 at most. There's pacing issues, and many of the panels are hard to read visually, so it takes a buffering moment to actually understand what is going on. This should not have been greyscale as I think Walden's work leans into the use of color. If she had, I think the legibility of the story would've been a lot better. That, and the quality of this story really takes a toll given that it feels rushed—which explains a lot of the pacing issues, as well as awkward character beats (rushed development, for instance). McElroy, Griffon (2014-03-08). "Telltale describes the difficulty of starting over in The Walking Dead Season Two". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2014-03-12 . Retrieved 2014-03-08. Things I mostly didn't like: I don't think we spent enough time with the other characters to know them properly.