So what if my POW is a trade and not an issue? I fly through these collections so fast that they feel like single issues. Every time a new volume of The Walking Dead comes out I contemplate switching to issues, and every time I realize that reading this in even smaller chunks than I already do would only drive me crazier. Six collected issues may sound like a solid chunk, but when you inhale rather than read this zombie greatness, it's never enough.

Unlike volume eight, there wasn't anything particularly jaw-dropping or game-changing in "Here We Remain," but that doesn't mean it was a bad book. Instead of the climactic frenzy of death that was volume eight, Kirkman slows things down to let the few surviving characters catch their breath and survey the damage. The scenes where Carl is facing the prospect of losing his dad after just losing his mom and sister were gut-wrenching. Yet Kirkman never lets things get too slow for Rick & company, always moving the plot forward, and volume nine is the transitional story between the long-running prison story arc and where Kirkman and Adlard are headed in the future. As usual, a solid entry in the Walking Dead saga.

And so begins my next six month wait. Write faster, Mr. Kirkman. Please? Pretty please? With zombie guts on top?