The Walking Dead did not pull its punches regarding its character deaths. Throughout its two-decade-spanning run, readers were constantly stunned by the horrible fates that befell their favorite characters. The central tenet Creator Robert Kirkman held throughout his series was “No one is safe,” allowing him to depict a “realistic” zombie apocalypse. Plot armor be damned.
Even more so than the TV show, The Walking Dead comic pushed boundaries by brutally killing off its characters. Each death was a stark reminder of the harsh reality within Kirkman’s apocalyptic world. Though the series has now come to an end, these merciless moments will stick with readers forever.
The Walking Dead Creative Teams
Created By
Robert Kirman, Tony Moore
Writer
Robert Kirman (#1-196)
Artist/Penciler(s)
Tony Moore (#1-6) Charlie Adlard (#7-194
Letterer(s)
Robert Kirkman (#1-19) Rus Wooton (#20-193)
Editor(s)
Audrey Sitterson (#55-70) Sina Grace (#67-96) Sean Mackiewicz (#97–193)
Publisher
Image Comics
10Abraham’s Sudden Death Came During a Heartfelt Conversation
The Walking Dead #98
Abraham grew a lot in his (relatively) short stint in The Walking Dead comic. When he first meets the central group of survivors, Abraham clashes with Rick Ideologically. Having lost his entire family, Abraham was once entirely driven by blood lust. However, he eventually becomes Rick’s right-hand man after breaking down emotional barriers. Abraham’s remarkable character development made his sudden death all the more tragic.
Abraham’s death occurs at the zenith of his character arc: forgiving his romantic rival Eugene for starting a relationship with his ex-Rosalia. Suddenly, he is shot through his eye by a crossbow by a member of Negan’s group, the Saviors. Miraculously, Abraham speaks as if nothing happened, blessing Eugene to be with Rosalia. Before he can say anything else, he succumbs to his wounds and dies. Abraham’s death kicked off the Savior’s arc, igniting the war between Negan and Alexandria. In the TV show, Abraham (alongside Glenn) is directly killed by Negan, bashed in the head with Lucile, his barbwired baseball bat. This is one of the rare times a character’s death in the TV show is more brutal than in the comics.
9Carol Made the Tragic Decision to End Her Suffering
The Walking Dead #42
Carol’s characterization in The Walking Dead comics drastically differs from her TV show counterpart. Her interpretation in the TV show is more reminiscent of Andrea in the comics. In the comics, Andrea survives almost to the end of the comic run and becomes (like Carol in the TV show) one of the most strong-willed survivors in the group. In the comics, Carol is entirely helpless and constantly taken advantage of by others, which contributes to the degradation of her mental state. The final straw was witnessing her boyfriend Tyreese cheating on her with Michonne.
In a fugue state, Carol begins to speak to a walker that is tied up for testing purposes, manically explaining that it is her only friend. She moves closer, allowing it to bite her neck. As she’s dying, Carol exclaims, “Oh good, you do like me,” as her daughter Sophia (who’s still alive in the comics) watches. Carol’s brutal death portrays how ruthless the world of The Walking Dead truly is; only the strong may survive. Some people would rather perish than continue to live in such a cruel world.
8Tyreese Suffered an Excruciatingly Painful Death
The Walking Dead #46
Tyreese was another character whose fate was vastly different in the comics than his television counterpart. Tyreese’s death in the TV show resembles that of Morgan in the comic; both die due to blood loss following their arm being amputated by Michonne’s katana in an attempt to stop the spread of a walker bite. His death in the comic is much more brutal. After the governor’s initial assault on the prison, Tyreese attempts a counterattack but is captured and wounded in the process. The governor then proceeds to return to the outskirts of the prison with Tyreese held hostage. He orders Rick and Co. to open the prison gate, threatening to kill Tyreese if he disobeys.
Rick makes the harsh decision to prioritize the safety of those in the prison, leaving Tyreese to his violent fate. In response, the governor savagely decapitates Tyreese with Michonne’s katana, requiring multiple excruciating slashes to sever Tyreese’s head completely. The governor leaves his body as a warning of what’s to come. Tyreese’s death was the first major character to die in the group’s conflict with the Governor; many more would soon join him.
7Susie and Rachel Were the Victims of a Deranged Killer
The Walking Dead #15
Susie and Rachel Greene, Hershel’s young twin daughters, did not appear in The Walking Dead television show, most likely due to the extreme barbarity of their deaths. Their murderer was the former convict Thomas Richards, who the group encountered upon their arrival in the prison. Thomas claimed that he was in jail for tax evasion, giving the survivors a false sense of security.
Thomas shows his true colors after discovering the Greene twins alone in the prison barber shop. He proceeds to brutally decapitate them with the barber shears, leaving them to be found by their father, Hershel. The Greene twin’s brutal fate is one of countless examples of the comic’s central thesis: the most significant threat in The Walking Dead is not the walkers but the fellow survivors.
6Julie and Chris Lovers Pact Went Awry
The Walking Dead #14-15
Tyreese hears the gunshot and immediately discovers his daughter’s corpse. Grief-stricken, Tyreese holds his daughter as she reanimates into a walker, but before Julie can bite her father, she is once again shot by Chris. A vengeful Tyreese proceeds to strangle Chris to death. Once Chris reanimates, Tyreese mercilessly mutilates his daughter’s killer, eventually burning his body. The death of his daughter left a permanent mental scar on Tyreese, which he never genuinely recovered from before his death. The charectors of Chris and Julie did not appear in the TV show.
5Dale Laughed in his Cannibal Killer’s Face
The Walking Dead #66
Dale’s death in the comics drastically differed from his TV show counterpart who was killed early on by Shane at the farm. Following the murder of his adopted sons Ben and Billy, a grief-stricken Dale is caught off guard by a walker and is bitten. He hides his wound from Andrea in an attempt to shield her from any more pain. That night, he is knocked out and kidnapped by a group of cannibals known as the Hunters. Upon gaining consciousness, he is informed by the leader of the Hunters, Chris, that he is being eaten piece by piece.
Dale responds by laughing in Chris’s face, revealing his bite and exclaiming that he’s “Tainted meat,” having spread the disease to the Hunters. Infuriated, the cannibals beat Dale to a pulp, leaving him unconscious to be discovered by Rick’s group. After promising not to hesitate, Angela eventually shoots Dale to prevent his reanimation. The silver lining to Dale’s death was that it opened the door for Andrea and Rick’s eventual long-lasting romance.
4Young Billy Committed Fratricide in Cold Blood
The Walking Dead #61
Ben and his twin brother Billy, along with Carl and Sophia, are the only children from Rick’s first group of survivors following their escape from the prison. Following his parents’ death and subsequent adoption by Dale and Andrea (who were a couple in the comics), Ben began to show signs of psychopathy. He tortured and killed a cat and had no emotional reaction to his parents’ death. Ben eventually viciously slaughters his brother, believing people always come back after they die.
Before the group can decide how to deal with Ben, Carl (who was only eight at the time) takes the situation into his own hands and executes Ben with a single shot to the head. The death of his adoptive sons shakes Dale to his core, paving the way to his own death soon after. The same arc occurred in the television show, with the original character, Lizzie Samuels, replacing Ben. Lizzie kills her sister Mika and is, in turn, killed by Carol, who is her adoptive mother on the TV show.
3Jessie and Ron’s Death Forced Rick to Make an Impossible Decision
The Walking Dead #83
Most of Rick’s romantic relationships were cut tragically short; his time with Jessie was no different. After Rick helped her and her son Ron get out of an abusive relationship with her husband, the two began a short-lived love affair in Alexandria (his first since Lori’s death). Tragedy, of course, soon ensued. Following a sudden ambush by a zombie horde, the group covers themselves with walker guts in an attempt to mask their scent. Ron soon becomes overwhelmed and panics, drawing attention from the horde, and is quickly consumed.
Paralyzed with grief, Jessie freezes and is soon bitten while clenching Carl’s hand, not allowing him to escape. Rick is forced to hack Jessie’s hand off to save his son, allowing her to get wholly devoured by the horde. Jessie’s death in the TV show is essentially the same as in the comic. However, on the TV show, the scene focuses mostly on Rick, downplaying the brutality of the moment. However, in the comic, Jessie is aware and responsive as Rick is hacking off her arm, still very much alive, as she begs Rick for mercy. There are no easy choices in The Walking Dead.
2Glenn’s Violent Execution Kicked off All Out War
The Walking Dead #100
Many readers consider Glenn’s brutal death the most sadistic of the series. To mark the significance of The Walking Dead’s landmark 100th issue, Robert Kirkman introduced his next big bad, Negan, with a bang by killing off a fan-favorite character; unfortunately, Glenn picked the short straw. Negan and the saviors ambush the group, forcing them to line up and informing them he seeks retribution for the death of one of his own.
Negan arbitrarily decided to kill Glenn using his iconic barbwire-wrapped baseball bat, “Lucile,” crushing his skull with one decisive blow. Cruelly, it was not enough to put Glenn out of his misery. With his eye popping out of its socket, Glenn attempted to cry out Maggie’s name before another strike ended him for good. Negan continued to strike Glenn until he was utterly unrecognizable. Though Abraham’s death planted the seeds of war against the Saviors, Glenn’s death was the breaking point, forcing the conflict to truly commence. Glenn’s death in the comic was so iconic that the TV show depicted it almost exactly the same.
1Lori and Judith’s Death Marked the End of an Era
The Walking Dead #48
Depraved acts of violence are inherently shocking, but what makes the deaths in The Walking Dead truly stick with readers is their emotional investment in the characters. None is a better example than the death of Rick’s wife Lori and their infant daughter Judith. Attempting to flee the Governor’s raid on the prison, Lori runs toward a truck with Judith in her arms. The Governor orders them to be shot, and a member of his group, Lily, kills the mother and child with one bullet through Loris’s back. In the TV show, Lori instead dies giving birth to Judith in the prison, but mercifully, Judith is allowed to grow up in the TV show and survives the entire run.
Rick watches in anguish as he flees for his life with Carl, telling him not to turn around. Walkers quickly devour Lori and Judith’s corpses. This was Rick’s darkest fear incarnate, being completely helpless to save the ones he loved most. Rick only continues to save the only thing he has left, his son Carl. This moment marked the end of the first era of The Walking Dead comic book with the group escaping the prison. Following her death, Rick remains haunted by her ghost. He hallucinates talking to her with a broken phone he finds. In these conversations, Lori tempts Rick to end his suffering and join her in the afterlife, telling him, “Everyone we lost came here. Everyone is here together“. It takes Rick until issue #121 to abandon the ghost phone, finally allowing him to move on.
