Noe’s Comics Nook: Clementine Book 1

Review

I’m going to admit something that may make readers of this review scoff and quit: I have never exactly been a fan of The Walking Dead. I found the show boring, I read the first two trades of the comic before spacing out, and I have never played the video games. I’m the obnoxious person who thinks zombies peaked with the original, black-and-white Night of the Living Dead – and I’m okay with the flak that comes with that. And yet, I am here to tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed Clementine: Book One and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

What is it about this comic that lead my seemingly anti-zombies self to enjoy it so much? Well, there are a few things, but let’s start with the obvious: Tillie Walden breathes life into every comic she creates. While I miss the soft, spacey colors of On a Sunbeam, Walden has been publishing in black-and-white for a long time and her skill with it shows through here. You can feel the landscapes and the emotion in her characters – everything from the all-too-common pain to the rare kindness in a desolate world.

That emotion I mention showing so well in the artwork? That is another reason I have fallen for this comic. Too often, harsh dystopian worlds reduce people to husks and all we see is suffering and the struggle is all that matters. That isn’t the case here. We see Clementine learning how to love again after suffering horrific loss. We see Amos seeking the best in people and holding onto faith in a world that offers no reason to hold faith. We see trust between a group of young people still dreaming of a better life despite it all. Do all of these hopes work out? I won’t spoil that for you, reader.

As someone new to the character, I was surprised to learn that Clementine is disabled – she has lost the lower half of her left leg. Early on we see her making do with a crutch and a less-than-ideal prosthetic, but soon before journeying with Amos, she is treated and fitted for a much better leg thanks to the kindness of the Amish settlement she stumbles, unwillingly, into. This inclusion of disability in a ravaged world stands out because rather than following the trope of a minor or side-character being hurt and ultimately sacrificed for the “good” of everyone else, here we have the main character surviving and learning to live in this violent world with a disability. And while you may consider Clem’s a major instance of disability, perhaps the world’s most common disability is also on display with Ricca: her eyesight is bad and getting worse. Imagine you are in a world where something as everyday as glasses, a lifeline to those of us who cannot function without them, is a luxury item. A rarity. This comic deftly explores these needs and struggles and the ways people find to endure.

Clementine is an engaging, inviting comic that should appeal to longtime fans and newcomers to TWD universe alike. I for one cannot wait to get my hands on book two!

Elements of Story

Plot: Clementine is struggling to make her way alone and with a less-than-ideal prosthetic when she is invited into a small Amish town. There she finds help, but when she returns to the road, she quickly gets swept up in the plans of Amos, out seeking work and a plane as part of his Rumspringa. When they make it to their destination, things don’t turn out quite as planned however.

Characters: Clementine, Amos, Ricca, Olivia, Georgia

Major Settings: Pennsylvania, The Appalachian Mountains, Killington (including the base camp, the ravine, and wooded hunting areas)

Themes: Trust, Family, Loss, Disability, Coming-of-Age

Lesson Plan Idea Using Common Core Standards (CCS)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2 – Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

Directions: A central theme in Clementine is trust. Clementine has had a long journey and in a world full of walkers (zombies) and people looking out for their own survival and little else, it is no surprise that she struggles to believe the best in those around her. Throughout the story, we see several moments where she chooses to risk the consequences of trust – even if she hides it in her reasoning. Perhaps the clearest example of this is her decision to travel with Amos, though there are others.

For this assignment, students will flex their creative writing skills. First, choose one of these inflection points where Clementine has to choose a path based on whether she will trust someone – or not. Then, imagine that instead of the path taken in the comic, she takes a different route. What do you imagine the next part of the story would be if she had, for example, chosen not to travel with Amos?

Students are free to share their version of events in prose, in comics, or in spoken word. These freedom of choice makes a length difficult, but it should be a complete arc – roughly the length of one of the chapters found within Clementine. It need not be a complete story.