In October 2003, American writer Robert Kirkman, as part of the Image Comics publishing house, created his first comic book in the Walking Dead series, which continues to be published to this day. The comic received an Eisner Award for best series in 2010, and the filming of a series of the same name began based on its plot. The series serves as an impetus for the creation of a series of computer games and the release of books.

On the pages of the comic, the author introduces the reader to The Walking Dead in their classic image, borrowed from the films of the 1970s created by George Romero. An infected person dies, and then is resurrected and in the first hours of his life after death he shows the greatest activity and speed. Over time, become slower and less active. Zombies are also presented to the audience in varying degrees of decomposition into hollows to almost complete skeletonized creatures. The main irritant and stimulus to action are loud sounds. The specific smell of zombies is the only way to distinguish their dead relatives from living people, which the main characters periodically use to survive, smearing themselves with the blood of the dead in order to blend in with the crowd of zombies. The main diet of the walking dead includes not only people, but also various animals (which, for inexplicable reasons, cannot turn into zombies). The only way to permanently kill the walking dead is to damage their central nervous system by piercing the skull with a heavy object. Cutting off the head does not guarantee their final death. Initially, the method of infection was considered to be a bite, but later it became obvious that the culprit was a virus (a biological weapon developed by the military) transmitted by airborne droplets. And why any death leads to subsequent resurrection.

The southern line of the comic revolves around the main character, a former police officer, Rick Grimes, who, together with a group of survivors of the zombie apocalypse, is trying to somehow survive and improve his life. In addition to the walking dead, the group he assembled has to confront other survivors as well.

Currently, the series consists of 28 volumes, which include 168 issues of comics plus 8 special issues. It is published in black and white, which does not interfere with conveying to the reader all the horror and pain of the characters. Explicit scenes of violence and cruelty place the comic in the 18+ section.

• Arc 1: Days Gone Bye issues 1 to 6;
• Arc 2: Miles Behind Us (English: Miles Behind Us) issues 7 to 12;
• Arc 3: Safety Behind Bars (Eng. Safety Behind Bars) issues 13 to 18;
• Arc 4: The Heart's Desire (English: The Heart's Desire) issues 19 to 24;
• Arc 5: The Best Defense (English: The Best Defense) issues 25 to 30;
• Arc 6: This Sorrowful Life (English: This Sorrowful Life) issues 31 to 36;
• Arc 7: The Calm Before... issues 37 to 42;
• Arc 8: Made To Suffer (English: Made To Suffer) issues 43 to 48;
• Arc 9: Here We Remain (English: Here We Remain) issues 49 to 54;
• Arc 10: What We Become (English: What We Become) issues 55 to 60;
• Arc 11: Fear The Hunters issues 61 to 66;
• Arc 12: Life Among Them (English: Life Among Them) issues 67 to 72;
• Arc 13: Too Far Gone issues 73 to 78;
• Arc 14: No Way Out (issues 79 to 84);
• Arc 15: We Find Ourselves (Eng. We Find Ourselves) issues from 85 to 90;
• Arc 16: A Larger World issues 91 to 96;
• Arc 17: Something To Fear (English: Something To Fear) issues 97 to 102;
• Arc 18: What Comes After (English: What Comes After) issues 103 to 108;
• Arc 19: March to War issues 109 to 114;
• Arc 20: All Out War - Part One (Eng. All Out War - Part One) issues 115 to 120;
• Arc 21: All Out War - Part Two (Eng. All Out War - Part Two) issues 121 to 126;
• Arc 22: A New Beginning (issues 127 to 132);
• Arc 23: Whispers into Screams (issues 133 to 138);
• Arc 24: Life And Death issues 139 to 144;
• Arc 25: No way back (eng. No way back) issues from 145 to 150;
• Arc 26: Call To Arms (English: Call To Arms) issues 151 to 156;
• Arc 27: The Whisperer War issues 157 to 162;
• Arc 28: Issues 163 to 168.

Trailer for season 6 of The Walking Dead.

We have already told you about those based on comic books, and now it’s the turn of the heavy artillery. In front of you " the walking Dead"- a nominee for the Golden Globe Award and a record holder for the number of viewers. More than seventeen million people gathered on television to watch the first episode of the fifth season!

Meanwhile, not all viewers know that in fact the famous television series is based on comic books, and those who have heard about it do not even suspect that the public’s favorite, Daryl Dixon, is not in the comics at all.

Constant value

Robert Kirkman, the comic book author, took as a basis the traditional “Romer” zombies, clumsy and wheezing with effort. The more decomposed a walking corpse is, the slower it moves. If the heroes notice the biter from afar, they can calmly pass by. The real danger is posed only by the “herds”, which simply prevail in numbers, and the dead, unexpectedly falling from the roof, grabbing one’s leg in the dark, breaking through flimsy fences. They enliven the narrative, but do not play a key role.

Much more important here are the constantly developing relationships between people and, interestingly, the personal growth of the character. A striking example of metamorphosis was the serial Carol, from a gray mouse by the finale of the fifth season, she became a decisive manipulator and conspirator, capable of doing anything for the survival of her group.

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Rick in the series is more reasonable (at least for now). Like other heroes, he lost a lot, but in the comics - much more.

In no way inferior to George Martin, Kirkman does not spare his heroes at all. In both the TV series and the comics, people get hurt and die all the time. Before you have time to become attached, the person no longer exists. Some commit suicide, others die in battle with criminals, and others are eaten alive by walkers.

To date, in the comics you can count more than eighty dead (and another magnificent tiger), and in the series this list has exceeded one hundred and fifty names, and there will be more. The comic and its successor seem to be only going from strength to strength.

As the Steel Was Tempered

Deaths are deaths, but no one has canceled the central figures. Rick, Carl, Michonne, Maggie, Glenn, Carol and Daryl are the key characters of the series, around whom the main storyline is built by the end of the fifth season. The authors regularly present us with bloody, knee-shivering surprises, killing characters that the audience has already managed to let into their hearts.

It would seem that in comics you can do things that you can’t on TV, but in the TV series this scene turned out to be an order of magnitude more cruel than in the comics.

At the same time, the series, following the canon, remains so original and self-sufficient that it’s time to place bets to predict who is next in line for elimination. And this trick of changing the main cast keeps us in additional tension. For example, in the comic, Laurie dies not in childbirth, but during an attack on the prison, and baby Judith dies with her. What fate awaits the child in the series - in a world where children have no place?

At first, insufficiently experienced and rough, by the finale of the fifth season, the noticeably thinned group came to be not just a strong team, but a real family. Having lost a lot along the way, these people learned to appreciate and love those who stand next to them, shoulder to shoulder, and fight for life until their last breath.

Daryl Dixon is a big mystery of the series (remember, he is not in the comics). In fact, he is the only one who has not yet had a lover. The truth is, the second half of the fifth season hints that a love line will soon appear, and a very unexpected one.

An important difference between the series and the comics was the “recruitment” of actor Norman Reedus. Executive producer Frank Darabont developed the role of Daryl Dixon especially for him and, as it turned out, he was right. Thanks to the bullying of his marginal family of an alcoholic father and a criminal brother, Daryl turned out to be the best equipped to survive. He is a skilled tracker and hunter, armed with the perfect weapon of defense - a crossbow.

The younger Dixon tends to remain aloof, but we soon learn that he is not at all alien to human feelings.

Rick Grames changes in the opposite direction - from the standard guardian of order, who abhors any unjustified violence, he turns into an possessed beast, in whose throat a quiet but confident growl bubbles.

If earlier he tried to look for survivors, now he asks everyone he meets three questions. How many walkers have you killed? How many living have you killed? Why did you kill them? This is how he repeatedly decided the fate of newcomers in order to protect the group. Know your enemy by sight An anti-hero who would become the core driving force of the entire universe, as you might guess, in “

In the hands of the Governor is the town of Woodberry, a lot of supplies, an army and even a tank. In the comics, he is the unbalanced Latino Brian Blake (and in the series - the European Philip, who once introduces himself as Brian), skillfully hiding his true character from the townspeople.

For them, he is eloquent, always calm, reliable. And only those close to him know the truth about Blake’s inhumanity and the secrets hidden in his house. The conflict with Rick’s group and two “meetings” alone with Michonne become the beginning of his fall into the abyss. In the series, the Governor was given much more time, but some things were unforgivably messed up. We will not publish the colorful moments when Michonne comes to visit Mayor Woodberry, so as not to shock the especially impressionable. If the Governor has still annoyed you, read the comic - here This

I'll like it.

The serial Governor is more humane, and he even manages to empathize.

Another hostile group is found only in the series and was created, in fact, specifically for Maggie’s sister, Beth (and for several other heroes). She lives at Grady Memorial Hospital and is led by police officer Dawn. At first glance, the survivors are undoubtedly antagonistic - some of the rules set in the community seem unacceptable, and covering up crimes is completely contrary to Rick's policies - but this routine is partly logical and fair, and Dawn is in many ways a reflection of Grames himself. For him, as for Dawn, the main thing is the safety of his own group, for the sake of which it is necessary to eliminate any threat without further ado or thought.

We watched his development as a leader for a long time, watched as he gradually became tougher and more decisive. And we treat his actions with understanding, knowing that he is a good person who sometimes does bad things. But how would we perceive his image if we first met him already as he became?

Will Alexandria fall?

In the comic, Rick and his group eventually get lucky and discover a safe zone called Alexandria. Peace and tranquility reigns in it - you can live behind a high fence, without thinking that somewhere out there, in the thicket of the forest and along the streets of quiet metropolises, the stinking dead are roaming. The survivors from the series also reached this place in the fifth season. But will the walls stand?

In the comic there are three colonies - Hilltop, Alexandria and the Kingdom. And all three are terrorized by the maniac Negan, the leader of the “Saviors” gang. We look forward to meeting him next season! He forces residents to pay tribute, under the guise of noble motives: supposedly protecting settlements from zombies. In his hands is a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. Negan affectionately calls her Lucille and treats her more tenderly than any woman. In his colony, people have no rights - he rapes the women he likes and cripples their husbands. But Rick doesn’t like this, and he’s ready to fight back against the despot. Thus began a war that will only end when Negan goes to jail.

What will Rick do with Negan in the series? A good question, considering that at the end of the fifth season, the former sheriff almost reached his breaking point.

But trouble does not come alone. The watchman heard dead men talking. The Whisperers, a mysterious cult with hundreds of followers, come to the fore. They disguise themselves as walkers: the skin of the dead helps them remain undetected and move calmly among large herds. It is not yet clear who the colonies are friends or enemies. But the grown-up Karl has already set off to save his new “whispering” friend, Lydia. Only Kirkman's team knows whether he will survive. And what will happen in the series... well, it’s generally impossible to predict.

Surely the first appearance of the Whisperers in the series will be shocking. How?! Zombies - and they talk? But no. Just people.

To each his own

The series and comics also differ in the pace of the story.

The perception of the “Walking” universe largely depends on how you got acquainted with it. Start with the comics, and the series will seem unnecessarily long. Dynamic series are replaced by long, measured everyday life. The heroes are immersed in everyday worries: they are looking for food, the tired wander along deserted roads, find shelter on a farm, then refuge in an impregnable, at first glance, prison, and the endless destruction of biting creatures turns into the same routine as a cup of coffee in the morning and a traffic jam in the morning. way to work. On such days, characters talk more than act, and silence turns out to be more significant than words.

Time flies quickly - before we even have time to look back, little Karl has become quite an adult.

Another difference between the series and the comics was the romantic relationships. No, of course, they exist in both cases, but the serial “Santa Barbara” is very chaste. The bed scenes can be counted on one hand, and the connections between the group members are rather platonic. Even the spouses Maggie and Glenn enjoy each other's company only at first. In the comic, Carol invites Rick and Laurie to live together, and we are shown intertwined bodies with enviable regularity.

Sex is generally an important part of comics. A powerful release gives the characters the opportunity to feel alive at this festival of death. Relationships, traditional and not so traditional, and even love triangles appear on the pages of " Walking Dead

"regularly. Andrea and her sister are flirting with old man Dale, Tyreese is hanging out with Michonne and the omnipresent Carol... They have a busy life there, in general.

In the final episode of the fifth season, Glenn faced a serious test. Until the last minute, the audience did not know whether he would survive or not. But in comics, the hero has long been gone, but his son Hershel Jr. exists. The father was killed by the scumbag Negan, choosing a victim with a rhyme and smashing Glenn's head with the help of his favorite Lucille, an irreplaceable baseball bat.

Glenn's death brought tears to even Rick's eyes, and Negan will certainly pay for his actions. Meanwhile, the events of the series currently end with the group arriving at a cottage community that looks suspiciously like Alexandria and settling down there. Meeting Negan couldn't be closer.

Unite us

Woven from contrasts, the zombie universe was born in a comic book, but has grown into a series, books and video games that unite each other, walking a fine line between meaningless copying and one’s own reading. In the summer of 2015, a pleasant new product awaits us - a branch of “Walking”. Robert Kirkman remains among the masterminds, and Dave Erickson, responsible for Sons of Anarchy, has been appointed writer and showrunner. The working title of the plot branch is Cobalt

, and its events will develop in Los Angeles. The management of the AMC channel is confident of success: it is already known that there will definitely be a second season. Relationships, traditional and not so traditional, and even love triangles appear on the pages of ""is that the series and the comics seem to be telling about two parallel realities, in which there are many of the same characters, but their actions, motives and destinies, as it should be in such stories, are different. In the series, Rick kills Shane, and Carl finishes off zombie Shane, but in the comics everything is exactly the opposite. And this is the main highlight: the “duet” performs its work “a cappella”, without interfering with each other, but complementing it with its own, new sound.

* * *

Alas, we were never really told about the causes of the zombie apocalypse. Very little is known. Firstly, the bite of a risen corpse only leads to death, and the virus seems to have been sprayed into the air. Secondly, after death, anyone becomes a walker if the central nervous system is not hit in time.

This is the irony of the entire universe. You are fighting off a living dead man, but very soon you will become one yourself...

No. You're already walking.

general information

The Walking Dead comic shows a world after a zombie apocalypse; the chain of events that led to the “fall” of the world is not told, but from the memories of survivors it can be indirectly judged that the crisis has been developing for at least several weeks. The exact reason for people turning into zombies has not been revealed, and the source of the epidemic is also unknown.

The main storyline of the comic is the struggle for survival of a group of people. The comic's central character is Rick Grimes, a former police officer turned leader of a group of survivors seeking permanent refuge.

The main idea developed in the comic is “evil,” which is inherent in all people initially, but for the majority it is restrained by the norms and rules of behavior of peaceful life. It is shown that with the destruction of social ties, with the destruction of the usual way of life, in conditions of limited resources and the struggle for survival, moral standards cease to exist, their “dark side” is revealed in people. As a result, other survivors become the main existential threat along with the zombie threat. Not all people are able to endure this; many commit suicide with the onset of a crisis, “taking” their entire family with them; many experience irreversible changes in their psyche, changing people so much that they are unable to return to their previous lives.

Chapters

Days Gone Bye / Good days have passed (1-6)

The story begins when, during the pursuit and arrest of a dangerous criminal, a policeman from a small town in Kentucky - Rick Grimes - is seriously injured and loses consciousness. After an unknown period of time, he comes to his senses in a hospital room. No one responds to his calls for help. Then he himself begins to look for help, but sees that the hospital is abandoned. Opening the locked cafeteria, he sees a group of zombies attacking him. He miraculously escapes death, after which he goes to his home, but sees only desolation. On the threshold of the house, he is hit in the head with a shovel by Dwayne, a boy of about eight, who mistook him for a zombie. Together with his father, Morgan Jones, they use their neighbors' house as a refuge. Morgan tells Rick what happened. As part of the plan, survivors began to be evacuated to major cities to better coordinate their defense; Rick's wife and son are most likely in Atlanta.

Taking a car and a weapon from the police station, Rick goes in search of his family. Along the way, he runs out of gas and finds a horse on a nearby farm, on which he rides to Atlanta. On the outskirts of the city, he sees complete desolation, and upon entering the city, he is attacked by a whole crowd of zombies. He is rescued by Glen, a young guy who takes him to a small camp of survivors on the outskirts of the city. There Rick finds his wife, Laurie, and seven-year-old son, Carl. They evacuated along with Shane, Rick’s partner, but were too late: when they approached Atlanta, the city was already “dead.” They are living in a trailer and tents and are waiting for the army to arrive to evacuate them to a safer place.

Among them, Dale is a man of retirement age, he traveled with his wife around the country in his trailer, his wife died at a campsite near Atlanta. He sticks with two young sisters who help him: Andrea, who worked as a clerk at a law firm, and Amy, a college student. Also living at the camp are Allen and Donna, a couple in their forties, with twins Ben and Billy, about seven; Carol is a middle-aged woman with a daughter, Sophie, about seven years old (her husband committed suicide, unable to bear what was happening). Jim is a middle-aged man (a mechanic from Atlanta), he lost all his relatives, and miraculously escaped from the infected city. Each of them tells their own story of survival, in which they lose all their loved ones.

At night, when everyone is asleep, Dale stands guard with a rifle on the roof of the trailer. They don't have enough weapons, and Rick and Glen decide to sneak into a gun store in the city. Concluding that zombies identify themselves by smell, they smear the insides of a recently killed zombie on their clothes, and it works: as they make their way closer to the city center, the zombies do not notice them. Having collected carts full of weapons, they move back, but it begins to rain heavily and their clothes get wet, they narrowly escape from the zombies, losing most of their weapons in the process.

A month after Rick's appearance, a conflict grows between him and Shane over Shane's sympathy for Lori. Rick guesses that there was some kind of relationship between them. One night they are attacked by a whole group of zombies, which has never happened before. Before everyone can react, one of the zombies mortally wounds Amy and bites Jim. The next day, Jim goes further into the forest with a gun in his hand. The contradictions between Shane and Rick, who considers it necessary to take the group away in search of a safer place, reach a climax. Shane points a gun at Rick, wanting to shoot him, when Carl shoots and shoots Shane in the throat, killing him. The group decides to start searching for a safer place.

Miles Behind Us/ Miles Behind (7-12)

Made To Suffer/Born To Suffer (43-48)

The Governor survived being mutilated by Michonie. Having recovered from his wounds, he tells his men a tale about the supposedly evil inhabitants of the prison. Soon, scouts from Woodberry find the location of the prison and the Governor and his army arrive there. The assault begins, which soon fizzles out. People living in prison do not intend to give up and fight off the attack. Having lost a dozen people, the Governor retreats. Rick's team also suffered damage, Excel, Andrea and himself were injured.

Immediately after this, Tyreese and Michonee decide to counterattack and escape from the prison to the Governor's location. Their plan fails. Tyreese is captured and after negotiations with Rick about surrendering the prison fail, the Governor beheads him with the sword of Michoni, who managed to escape.

Meanwhile, Dale, Andrea, Glenn, Maggie and Allen's children and Sophia leave the prison in a trailer, fearing another attack. Soon it happens again and this time it is more violent. Unable to withstand the pressure of the attackers, the defenders of the prison die, even Lori and her newborn daughter. Only Rick and Carl manage to escape. But the Governor's cruelty turns against him. One of his fighters, seeing Lori and Judy killed, realizes that he was following the monster and kills his former leader. After this, the remnants of the Governor's army barricade themselves in the prison building, where they find themselves trapped without food or ammunition.

Here We Remain / Here we are the same (49-54)

Having lost his wife and daughter, Rick is completely devastated. Together with Karl, he gets to a small town. There are no living people there and Rick and Carl take refuge in one of the houses. All this time zombies are trying to break into them. Rick, not yet recovering from the wounds received during the first assault on the prison, becomes seriously ill. Karl, who is only eight years old, is forced to defend their temporary shelter and take care of his sick father.

Rick soon recovers. Having exhausted the food supplies taken from the prison and found in abandoned houses, Rick and his son go hunting in the nearby forest. During the next game hunt, they find a car in good condition and take it to themselves. One day an incident occurs - a telephone rings in one of the abandoned houses. Rick rushes there and picks up the phone. At the other end of the line, a woman tells him about a group of survivors and invites him to join them. But Rick has already experienced enough to once again trust someone unknown. Nevertheless, he continues to call back the stranger. Soon he begins to hallucinate that he is talking on the phone to his dead wife.

Some time later, Michonni, who escaped from the Governor, comes to their hideout, after which they decide to go in search of people who left the prison after the Governor’s first attack. Using the car Rick found, they hit the road and soon find Dale, Andreu, Glenn, Maggie and the children on Hershel's farm.

What We Become / Who we have become (55-60)

Rick, Carl and Michonnie are once again among friends, although the meeting is far from joyful due to the news brought by Rick. For Maggie, what happened turns into a shock when she learns that all members of her family are dead. Dale is also unhappy, he begins to be afraid of Rick and admits this to Andrey.

One night, new living people appear at the farm - former military man Abraham, his girlfriend Rosita and a man named Eugene, who introduced himself as a scientist. They inform the farm's inhabitants that they are heading to Washington, where, according to Eugene, a security zone has been created and offer to go with them. Rick doesn't really trust strangers, but he understands that staying on the farm won't keep his friends safe. The rest come to the same conclusion, after which everyone sets off.

On the way, Abraham talks about the herd - a very dense, numerous crowd of the dead, through which it is almost impossible to break through. At night, during one of the rest stops, Maggie tries to hang herself; they barely have time to pump her out. After several days of travel, the Group arrives at Rick's hometown. He suggests stopping there to pick up weapons and ammunition from an abandoned police station. Abraham and Karl go with him, and the rest remain waiting for them at the gas station.

While Rick, Carl and Abraham are away, the others are waiting for them at an abandoned farm along the road. Dale again confides in Andrea his concerns about Rick. Meanwhile, Rick and his companions are attacked by thugs, which they barely manage to repel. Soon they arrive in the city where Rick used to live. There they find Morgan Jones still alive. Unfortunately, he did not save his son Dwayne and the boy became a zombie. However, he agrees to join Rick's group, and they, having re-stocked weapons at the police station, head back. But on the road they come across a herd - a very dense crowd of zombies. Trying to break through, they lose their car and part of what they took from the city, and only by miracle do they manage to get to the rest alive and unharmed. Before the herd reaches them, Rick and his companions quickly leave.

Fear The Hunters / Fear the hunters (61-66)

During the next stop, a terrible event occurs - for unknown reasons, little Ben kills his brother Billy. This puts Rick in a difficult position. Ben can harm any member of the group and no one will understand it. Abraham suggests killing the boy, which understandably draws protest from Dale, Andrea and Rick, but some agree with Abraham, but no one can bring themselves to do it. The dispute is unexpectedly resolved by Carl, who kills Ben early in the morning while everyone is sleeping. No one sees this; the boy was able to sneak through Glen, who was on duty, unnoticed. But Karl's father knows that the boy got up before him, but he does not think that his son did it. At the same time, the travelers meet a black pastor, Gabriel, who offers them shelter in his church near the road for the opportunity to feed him. On the way there, Dale suddenly disappears.

Having settled in the church, Rick and the others are soon attacked by unknown armed men. As it turns out, they were the ones who kidnapped Dale, and what's worse, they are cannibals. They ate Dale's other leg, although they didn't eat any more. As it turned out, Dale deliberately lagged behind the group, as he was bitten during the last attack of the dead. Soon Rick, Abraham and Andrea come out to the cannibals and brutally deal with them.

Rick gradually begins to fear himself after what he did, Carl confesses to him about killing Ben, and this upsets Rick the most. Before his death, Dale still admits to Rick what he thinks about him, but does not deny that until now all his companions are alive thanks to him, so he asks Rick to continue leading the group of survivors.

Life Among Them / Life among them (67-72)

The journey to Washington continues. Rick begins to lose his sense of reality. During rest stops, while on watch, he talks on a stolen phone with the deceased Lori, not distinguishing reality from hallucinations. Soon the survivors reach Washington, but even this city is occupied by evil spirits. The survivors begin to become despondent when a certain Aron comes out to meet them. As it turned out, one of the suburbs of Washington was cleared and surrounded by an impenetrable fence. About fifty people live there under the leadership of former Senator Douglas. From time to time, special groups make forays into Washington for food, medicine, clothing and other items. After Abraham and Rick rescue the ambushed miners, Aron declares trust in Rick and his companions and invites them to join the community.

The town really looks peaceful, just like it did before the zombie outbreak. As it turned out, Aron is a scout who is looking for survivors and if they have positive qualities, he invites them to the community to expand it. There is a place for every new person here. So Rick and Michoni become local guardians of order, Gabriel, respectively, is a priest, Abraham is a builder, Morgan is a cook, etc. The leader of the community, Douglas, makes a good impression.

Rick and his friends' harrowing journey has come to an end, but are they ready to return to peaceful life?

Too Far Gone / We went nowhere further (73-78)

On his first trip, Abraham finds himself in a situation where their company is attacked by walkers. Abraham rushes to Holly's aid, but Tobin (the construction chief) orders everyone else to retreat, indicating that she cannot be helped. The stubborn Abraham, who has seen worse, saves Holly. After this incident, everyone begins to respect him and literally a week later he becomes the construction chief. In a conversation with Douglas, Tobin realizes his past mistakes and says that this way he will even be calmer.

Douglas's son hit on Andrea. His mother (Regina) notices this and begins to woo him, but her son says that this is just communication. Glenn, under the pretext of replenishing supplies, ends up in the armory when Olivia was issuing weapons. Rick, having acquired a weapon, offers it to Andrea, but she refuses and starts a conversation in which she points out that they are safe here and nothing bad should happen.

Scott has a fever. Only Doctor Cloyd and Heath know that he was bitten, who, together with Glenn, goes to the city to get antibiotics. At night on the roof, they notice that a large group of walkers has huddled near a small store, as if something had lured them there, and in the morning they see a detachment of armed people in the store. They throw one of their people out to be eaten by walkers in order to gain time and leave their shelter. Taking advantage of this moment, Heath and Glenn sneak into the pharmacy, find some of the necessary medications and get out of there, but the roar of motorcycle engines is heard by members of the armed group.

In the evening after the opening of the temple, Gabriel conducts a service. Afterwards, arriving at Douglas's house, he says that everyone he came with is evil and will do harm, but Douglas does not pay attention to this and asks Gabriel to leave.

While patrolling the town, Rick notices a man sleeping on the street. After meeting Pete, he learns that he had a quarrel with his wife and therefore spends the night here. Rick later remembers that he noticed a bruise on Ron (Pete's son). After drawing analogies and talking with Pete's wife Jaycee, he comes to Pete and begins a showdown, which results in a fight. (Small aside: after this scene, a joke was added to the comic in the form of a color fragment). Result: Jaycee and his son move away from Pete, Rick already feels like a complete psycho. He seems to calm down after talking with Douglas about Alexander Davidson, whom he killed, considering him dangerous. Rick reveals his secret about Shane's relationship and death. Douglas sends Rick home to see Carl, but he is very offended and leaves for school. Rick, as Douglas asked, comes to see him and after a conversation heads home. Sitting in the room, Rick begins to “talk on the phone with Laurie” and at that moment Carl appears, who believes that his father has really gone crazy.

Scott is dying. During the funeral, Pete appears in an agitated state and tries to stab Rick to death. Regina (Douglas's wife) tries to calm the man down, and he, in a state of passion, cuts her throat. At Douglas's request, Rick kills Pete, and the shot attracts the attention of the same armed group that Glenn and Heath noticed.

While the dead are being buried in the town, during the funeral service, armed people try to enter the town. But everything quickly ends with fire support from Andrea from her position in the tower and the skillful actions of Rick and his team. Once everyone returns to the temple to make sure everything is in order, Rick notices Douglas leaving the hall. Having caught up with him, he demands that he return to the people and calm them down as a leader.

But he declares that the leader is now RICK!..

No Way Out (79-84)

Calm is slowly returning to the town of the living. Only Douglas still cannot get over his loss. Aaron warns him that he can no longer go beyond the wall to look for survivors. Meanwhile, Abraham and his men decide to drive away the dead gathered at the gate. As usual, Andrea goes to the bell tower, and everyone else, armed with crowbars, knives and other quiet weapons, goes to battle.

Unexpectedly for everyone, a herd of dead people wanders into the town. Abraham and his comrades barely have time to return before the herd lays siege to the town. Andrea finds herself trapped in the bell tower.

Rick is urgently taking action to ensure people's safety. Additional armed posts are set up, and several families are concentrated in one house. Jaycee and Ron move into Rick and Carl's house.

In the morning, another problem is discovered - one of the sections of the wall surrounding the town turns out to be unreliably fastened and begins to stagger under the pressure of the dead. Glenn, Heath and Spencer make a desperate attempt to get to Andrea and in the end all four find themselves cut off from the others.

Meanwhile, the unreliable section still falls off and the dead begin to seep into the town. They kill Tobin and bite Morgan, and Michonni cuts off his bitten hand. The rest, realizing that they won’t be able to stop the zombies, run home. Spencer recklessly invites Andrea to run away with him, leaving the others and instantly loses her favor.

Meanwhile, Rick himself is faced with a choice - to try to save as many living people as possible, which almost certainly threatens death, or to save himself with Karl and survive, leaving the others in trouble. However, Rick is not going to leave people in trouble. Having captured one of the walkers, he smears himself with the entrails of the dead man, as he did before, and goes out to help with Carl, Jesse, Ron and Michonni. Maggie and Sophia stay behind, desperate to leave this way. Morgan dies from loss of blood.

During the passage between the walkers, Ron and Jesse die. Douglas tries to shoot himself surrounded by walkers, but notices Rick and decides to help him. With his shots, he attracts the attention of zombies, and they bite him. In agony, Douglas begins to shoot in different directions and one of the bullets hits Karl in the head. Rick runs to the hospital bay with Carl in his arms, hoping to save his son.

We Find Ourselves / We have found ourselves (85-90)

After the battle, Rick, again forced to take on the role of leader, announces that the community will be restored and that no dead people will drive them away from here. Abraham, Glenn, Spencer, Aaron and other survivors collect the corpses to burn them.

Rick, sitting in the infirmary, admits to Denise that Ron and Jesse died because of him. Glenn apologizes to Maggie for leaving, and Maggie understands. Later, everyone attends the funeral of Tobin, Morgan, Douglas, Jesse and Ron. Rick says that all his decisions were wrong and suggests that everyone present their own idea for further survival.

Sitting in the infirmary, Rick begins to talk to an unconscious Carl when suddenly Carl starts coughing. Rick tells Denise about this and she, having examined Karl, says that Karl is still in a coma and no changes have occurred. While walking near the graves, Rick notices Michoni near Morgan's grave. She says she will never be happy.

The next morning, Andrea, Maggie, Olivia, Aaron and Eric begin killing the dead. Meanwhile, Karl woke up. As it turned out, he suffered short amnesia from the wound; he forgot about the events that took place in prison after the Governor’s attack. Rick helps him remember the past.

Meanwhile, new problems are brewing and food is running out. Rick and his group go on an expedition to find food, unaware that a conspiracy is brewing against him. Glenn turns out to be an accidental witness, and as a result, the community almost faces bloodshed again. Rick uses his leadership abilities and brings the rebels to reason. Nicholas apologizes to Rick. Holly suggests to Abraham that it's time to take matters into his own hands. Rick and Andrea have sex because they are both lonely.

A Larger World (91-96)

The group that went to the city returns with a large supply of provisions, but Rick realizes that soon there will be no food at all and decides to establish agriculture. Andrea finally decides to forget about Dale's death. Carl has nightmares and remembers how he killed Ben.

Abraham and Michonni go to the city to investigate. All this time, a stranger armed with a revolver is watching them. Abraham and Miccioni meet him after a short skirmish with zombies. He turns out to be a rather clever guy, he takes the sword from Michonni and takes Abraham hostage. To Rick, who came at his request, he introduces himself as Paul Monroe (Jesus). He came from the other side of Washington, from a larger community of two hundred people. He tells Rick that he and his men are not the only survivors, and offers to take a few people to his community so they can look for something they need. However, Rick, not trusting Paul, knocks him out.

The group ties Paul up and takes him to the infirmary. Rick warns all survivors in Alexandria about the appearance of a stranger and a possible attack from his community. Rick asks the group to begin preparations, after which he visits Paul and asks him some questions. Michoni, Abraham and Rick decide to find the communities Paul was talking about under Andrea's cover. Having reached the review site, Rick begins to believe that the stranger was telling the truth, and their whole life could change.

Returning to Alexandria, Rick notices Carl communicating with a tied-up Paul. After a short conversation, Rick agrees to the deal and begins to gather the group for a hike. After going through a rather difficult path, Rick, along with Paul, Michoni, Glenn, Carl and Andrea, reach the wanderer’s community. There they are met by the community leader Gregory, who is very similar to Douglas. But as soon as Rick has time to get to know him, a certain member of the community attacks Gregory and, muttering some nonsense about blackmail, stabs him with a knife. Rick has to kill the attacker, which, as always, almost ruins the good relationship that has just begun. Paul manages to calm his comrades, after which he explains to Rick what could have happened.

It turns out that the community led by Gregory is protected by a gang of a certain Negan, calling themselves the “Saviors”. They clear the area around the community of zombies, demanding in exchange tribute in the form of half of the products produced in the community. And now, apparently, something has gone wrong. Having learned about this, Rick offers Gregory to solve the problem with the Saviors in exchange for half of the property, to which Gregory gives a positive answer. As they prepare to leave for Alexandria, Andrea tells her group that the people of Hilltop are cowards who don't care about the coming apocalypse. Rick is hurt by these words and explains why he became a leader. Rick says that after uniting with Hilltop, they will have a huge army of two hundred people, and then they can stop surviving and start living.

Something To Fear/ Reason for Fear (97-102)

People are worried about the group not returning. Abraham comes to visit Eugene, and he tells how and where you can get things to make cartridges. Rick and the people are attacked by Negan's gang. The group kills all but one so that he can pass on the information that the Hilltop community is now under Rick's protection. The group returns and Maggie reveals that she is pregnant. Abraham and Eugene go into town to get their things. While discussing Eugene and Rosita's relationship, Abraham and Eugene are attacked by unknown "Saviors" who have been secretly following them all the way. Abraham is killed, and Eugene is taken hostage by one of Negan's men, Dwight.

Carl discovers his father and Andrea naked in bed together. Suddenly, Dwight visits the community. He, threatening to kill Eugene, demands that Rick let his people into Alexandria. At this point, Eugene bites off Dwight's scrotum, giving Rick's group a chance to attack the disoriented attackers. Dwight and his men retreat. Eugene and Rosita mourn Abraham together. Glenn, believing Alexandria to be no longer safe, decides to move with Maggie and Sophia to Hilltop. After Abraham's funeral, Rick decides to meet with Gregory again and discuss the current situation with him, and at the same time transport Glenn and his family there. In a minibus, they travel to the streets of Washington, where they are ambushed by the Saviors, led by Negan. Negan decides to kill one of the members of Rick's group, thereby avenging the people he recently lost. He wants to choose a victim using a counting rhyme and his bat, which he named “Lucille.” The countdown ends with Glenn, and Negan beats him to death. In the end, Negan announces that he will return to Alexandria in a week and take half of the property from its residents. Furious, Maggie hits Rick for not being able to do anything about it. Karl points a gun at her, but Sofia's intervention stops the conflict.

Rick's group reaches Hilltop. In a conversation with Gregory, who is more concerned about whether the "Saviors" found out about the agreement between them, it turns out that none of his people even knew about Negan's existence. Leaving Maggie and Sofia at Hilltop and taking Jesus with him, Rick returns to Alexandria. Returning, Rick finds the entrance to Alexandria covered with corpses and cars of the “Saviors”. Nicholas, who arrived to meet the group, assures that during the attack not a single person was injured, that the aggressors only managed to break the gate. Andrea takes Rick to one of the captured Saviors, Dwight.

Unexpectedly for everyone, the next day Rick decides to free the marauder, because he is tired of suffering losses among the people dear to him. As the men in whose eyes Rick's status as a leader has visibly eroded (including Carl, Andrea, and Michonne) disperse, Rick tells Jesus to follow Dwight and find out the whereabouts of the Saviors.

(103-108)

While Jesus follows Dwight, Negan's company arrives in Alexandria along with himself. Rick has to open the gate and let them inside. Negan's gang goes into every house and takes whatever they want. Negan personally lets Rick hold his bat, thereby leaving him without a weapon. But realizing that his people could harm the residents of the city, Rick just stands there and does not try to kill Negan. As the gang loads their "loot" into a van, Negan gets into one of them and drives off. At this time, Rick returns home and does not find Carl. Jesus is discovered and Dwight takes him to Negan's base. But Jesus manages to escape unnoticed. As the Saviors unload the van, they notice Carl, who has secretly climbed into the Saviors' van along with Abraham's machine gun. He kills several "Saviors". But Dwight, who arrived at the unloading site, manages to disarm the guy. Negan shows his possessions to Carl, as well as his "wives". Negan says that if he liked some girl in society, he “takes her as his wife” and then rapes her to his heart’s content. After the tour, Negan brings Carl to his room and begins asking him questions related to the past. He asks Carl to take off the bandage (this is how the disfigured part of Carl's face is shown for the first time), and when Negan is brought a bat, he asks Carl to sing her a song. The conversation is interrupted by a message from one of his subordinates that a certain Mark is ready. Negan reveals that if his new "wife" had a husband or boyfriend, Negan will burn half of his face, showing that the new girl is now completely at Negan's mercy. Negan publicly burns the tied up guy's face and then takes Carl to talk about plans for the future...

Awards

• Best Comic Book or Graphic Novel 2010 Scream Awards
• The Walking Dead comic topped the New York Times bestseller list in the graphic novel category.

Zombie World

The zombie image developed in The Walking Dead comics is most similar to the zombie image created by George Romero in his first films in the early 1970s. These are classic “slow zombies” who died and rose again. These zombies are quite tenacious, able to withstand extreme cold in winter, freezing or reducing activity, and restore it with the onset of the warm season. Zombies do not distinguish human speech, reacting only to loud sounds. The main way to identify zombies among themselves is a specific smell; transferring this smell to his clothes, a person becomes invisible to them. This feature helped Glen and Rick get into the depths of Atlanta in search of weapons, and also Michonie spend several months surrounded by zombies, with virtually no shelter.

Zombies are shown in varying degrees of decomposition, up to complete skeletonization of the body, but even then they retain some motor ability. The greatest speed of movement and reaction is shown immediately after conversion, in the first months of existence, due to the best preservation of the body. The only way to permanently kill a zombie is to severely damage the central nervous system by breaking the head with a heavy object such as a shovel or hammer (Tyreese's favorite weapon). Cutting off a zombie's head is not enough to kill it permanently, as the head still shows some signs of activity afterwards.

Another important feature is the route of infection, one of which is the bite. A person bitten by a zombie usually turns into one within about a day. The only way to avoid this is surgical amputation of the damaged part of the body, if possible, in the first hours after the injury. Under proper operating conditions, a person survives, as was proven in the example of the amputation of Dale's right leg. But, as it turns out, the bite only significantly speeds up the conversion process; Regardless of the cause of death, all people will be resurrected as zombies, which echoes the concept of zombies in the work of George Romero, where the same principles apply.

In December 2019, the thirty-second volume of The Walking Dead was released in Russian - a record for translated comic series in our country. And the final, 193rd issue of The Walking Dead was released in English on July 3 this year. The main zombie drama of our time was published for sixteen years, and during this time an ordinary comic book about the risen dead turned into a large-scale franchise.

When Robert Kirkman decided to end his comic, it came as a surprise to many fans. Readers learned about the finale from the media literally a few days before the release. And Image even announced fake covers for issues 194 and 195, which never saw the light of day.

Final issue cover

But it was not possible to keep the ending completely secret - largely because the 192nd issue ended the story of Rick Grimes, the main character of the comic. It was with his awakening from a coma that the story began. The attention of fans from all over the world (and not only them) was riveted on the comic, so a leak could not be avoided. However, no one knew what exactly would happen in the episode. And Robert presented one of the most anticipated versions of the finale.

Robert Kirkman and The Walking Dead

When the comic first started, Kirkman didn't believe it would last longer than twelve issues. Having passed this milestone, he jokingly stated that if the comic made it to issue 75, aliens would appear in it. Nobody believed Robert, and that very same issue actually had a post-credits scene (the only one in the entire comic) and it featured aliens.

In the company of artist Ryan Ottley (Kirkman worked with him on his other long-term project - Invincible), Robert made an alternative continuation of the issue, in which... Rick woke up on a spaceship and learned that aliens had resurrected the dead. They brought his wife and several dead heroes back to life. And now survivors of the zombie apocalypse are waging war not only with the dead, but also with guests from outer space. This was a Kirkman joke that was never continued and its events are not considered canon. But these are the only pages of the comic that are done in color. Otherwise it is black and white.

Kirkman repeatedly promised that the comic wouldn't end with Rick Grimes' death - he wanted to show the world after him. And he formally kept his word. If the 192nd issue put an end to the story of a simple policeman from Cynthiana, who became a real messiah for the survivors in Washington, then the 193rd showed the world several decades after his death.

Over the past sixteen years, there have been many theories about how The Walking Dead will end. Some believed that the author would stop at the discovery of an antidote. Others thought that the series would end with the death of all the characters. There were those who thought that Kirkman would begin the story of other survivors, leaving the stories of Alexandria, Hilltop and other communities with an open ending. But those who argued that soon after Rick’s death would come the end of the comic were right.

Kirkman has been engaging with audiences for years in the Letter Hacks section at the end of every episode. There he answered questions, talked about the fate of the characters left behind the scenes, and explained his decisions. After the death of his favorite characters, he was sad with the fans, explaining that this was an important step for the development of the story. There, Robert said that he wanted to bring the comic to two or three hundred issues, he even had ideas for developing the plot after Rick left, but he changed his mind.

How did the story end?

After the war with Negan and the Saviors, the Union of Communities (Alexandria, Hilltop, Kingdom) managed to create a zone safe from the dead. The Saviors joined them. Soon the Union learned of the existence of a community of Whisperers - people who wear the skin of the dead over their own and live among zombies. After the conflict with them, the Union managed to survive, but it lost a lot.

Soon the heroes heard about a community near Ohio. Going there, Rick and his people learned that there were more than fifty thousand survivors in the Commonwealth. But their order is different: everything is based on the idea “who you were before is who you remain,” and it is rarely possible to change your social status. The intervention of Grimes' men led to armed conflict between the Governor of the Commonwealth and the people living in the community. Rick was able to persuade everyone to resolve the situation peacefully, but the Governor's son still shot Grimes.

The 193rd issue is dedicated to events several decades later. The focus is on Carl Grimes, Rick's son, who appears as an adult. He is married to Sofia, a girl he met at the very beginning of the zombie apocalypse, and they named their daughter Andrea - in honor of his father's second love, with whom Karl survived side by side throughout his childhood. Grimes Jr. wields the sword of Michonne, Rick's friend, who went through all the wars with them.

In the future, the safe zone between communities has grown so large that walkers will no longer be found in cities. But one of them still manages to get there. To understand where the dead man came from and end the threat, Karl goes on a short journey through safe territory. Along the way, he meets comic book heroes who lived to those times - Hershel (Maggie Greene's son), his mother, Lydia, Eugene, Michonne and many others.

Over time, society recovered: newspapers began to be published again, the judicial system was restored, and a new railway was built along which trains run. There is an annual expansion to expand the boundaries of the safe zone. There are generations of children who have never seen a zombie. Hershel makes money from this: he keeps several dead people in a trailer and shows them for money to those who have already forgotten what they look like.

The previous 192 issues were a story of people trying to survive in a world full of zombies and other survivors willing to kill for resources. And the 193rd issue is dedicated to a new world where you no longer need to survive. In it, people work together for their future and strive to redevelop the society they almost lost in the worst years after the rise of the dead. As a reminder of the past, there is a statue of Rick Grimes in the Commonwealth. He is depicted as people remember him - with a cane, with a beard and without a brush, having gone through many hardships in order to pave the way for others.

Could there have been a different ending?

While working on No Way Out (issues 79–84), Robert thought that the best ending for The Walking Dead might be one that fans weren't expecting at all. He even figured out exactly how to arrange it.

At the end of the story, when the dead entered Alexandria, Grimes' people, as in the final version of the comic, would be able to defeat the walkers. Rick would then give a speech about how this is just the beginning. Gradually, when changing frames, a statue in the same pose would appear in its place. As his rousing speech progressed, the footage would zoom out to show what was happening around the monument. And there would be walkers hanging around there. According to this idea, Grimes' victory gave the survivors some time, but in the end they were inevitably defeated by the zombies.

The idea was abandoned largely due to the fact that all the heroes of the comic were already constantly suffering - they had lost too much to not even get a chance at a happy ending.

Speaking specifically about Rick, the end of his story turned out to be an excellent parallel to the start of the comic. Rick woke up alone in the room of an empty hospital - and he also died alone, with no one close to him. He even fell onto the bed in the same position he woke up in in The Walking Dead #1.

Kirkman could have written a continuation of Rick's story: he could have been saved at the last moment, he could have miraculously survived, the bullets could have missed vital organs. But Robert refused this. He gave the main character a creepy, but ironic ending: Grimes united people throughout the zombie apocalypse, but none of them were there at the most needed moment. And Karl found him - thus the father taught his son the last lesson. Having lost the person closest to him, Carl became different and was able to understand that Rick’s path was the right one.

What does this mean for The Walking Dead?

The series of the same name, which started in 2010, has already existed for ten seasons. Already from the finale of the first there were noticeable differences with the original comic. And with each new season (and showrunner) there were more and more of them. Kirkman himself has a positive attitude towards all the changes, because this way, in his opinion, it is more interesting for fans of the comic to watch, because they see events that either were not in the comic, or are presented differently. Nevertheless, all the key plot points of the comic are adapted in one way or another in the series: Hershel's farm, the prison and the Governor, Alexandria, Negan and the Saviors.

Everything changed in the eighth season, in which actor Chandler Riggs left The Walking Dead. His hero, Karl, was bitten, became infected, and his father shot him. In the ninth season, Andrew Lincoln, who plays Rick, left the series. His character wasn't killed off, but he was critically wounded before being flown away by helicopter for AMC's trilogy of solo films, which will begin production in 2020.

Since the ninth season, the Whisperers have appeared in the series, but due to the absence of Carl and Rick, the plot has changed. However, the creators of The Walking Dead have changed character lines before, replacing some heroes with others. Sooner or later, almost all the key events of the comic happened in the series - albeit not always in the same form and with the same characters.

Thus, the ending of the comic book is possible on the screen. It may happen later, it may lose one of the plot threads (for example, the entire Commonwealth may be taken into a trilogy of films with Andrew Lincoln), and Grimes’ place will be taken, for example, by Daryl, the character of Norman Reedus. He wasn't in the comics, but he's been in the series since the first season and won a lot of fans.

The Walking Dead story continues

In the sixteen years since the release of the first issue, the zombie comic has grown into a huge franchise. In 2020, the third series in the Walking Dead universe will start - its action will unfold in the future. In addition to TV series, there are quite a few board and video games, a themed cruise, annual fan festivals and much more. The franchise has been moving forward since the comic's finale, and it's likely that Robert Kirkman will return to it.

The comic, by the way, also has a spin-off - The Walking Dead: The Alien from Brian Vaughn and Marcos Martin. It tells the story of Jeff Grimes, Rick's brother, who was stuck in Barcelona at the beginning of the epidemic. It can be purchased on the Skybound website, paying any price (even free).

But the main thing is that the comics left a mark on culture. These are numerous references in other works, and memes, and merchandise, and the very policy of production and distribution of AMC series, which was largely influenced by “The Walking Dead” and its ratings, and the changing genre. Realizing that it was useless to fight such a mastodon as Kirkman's comic, the creators of zombie films began to look for new approaches.

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Read The Walking Dead comic online

The walking Dead(The Walking Dead) is a long-running comic book series created by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Tony Moore. It tells the story of police officer Rick Grimes, who awakens from a coma during the zombie apocalypse. He finds his wife and son, and meets other survivors, gradually taking on the role of leader of the group, and later of the entire community.

The Walking Dead first released in 2003 with Volume 1: Days Gone (#1 - 6) and Volume 2: Miles Behind (#7 onwards). Moore continued to provide covers for all 24 issues.
In 2007 and 2010, he received the long-awaited and well-deserved Eisner Award for the best long-running series. The award was presented at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
The comic continues its release until December 2015. There were 149 issues in total.

The main idea of ​​the comic

The Walking Dead comic book tells about a world that is formed in the wake of a zombie apocalypse. The exact reason why people turned into zombies was never established. The source of the epidemic itself has also not been discovered.

The basis of the plot is that people who are not susceptible to the zombie apocalypse are in a constant struggle for survival.

The main idea of ​​the comic is to show the full human essence and the evil that is inherent in many initially. The survival of the characters is shown in conditions with limited supplies of resources, minimal social connections and conditions of habitual life, while people forget about moral standards, and the other side of people, real human evil, is revealed. Not everyone is able to endure such changes, as a result of which they go crazy, change in character, psyche, or go to extreme measures - suicide.

The plot of the comic book The Walking Dead

Rick Grimes is the main character of the comic, who later becomes the leader of the survivors of the zombie invasion. Rick was in a coma when the zombie apocalypse begins. After emerging from his coma, Rick joins a group of other survivors with his wife Laurie and son Carl. This group included former best friend Shane, who secretly dated Laurie when Rick was in a coma, young courier Glenn, college graduate Andrea and her sister Amy, mechanic Jim, car salesman Dale, shoe salesman Allen and his wife Donna, and also their children - Ben and Billy and others.

Zombies are described in the comic as very "slow zombies" who are resurrected after they die. Zombies cannot understand human language and only respond to sound. The main way to recognize zombies and their own kind among themselves is a specific terrible smell. However, if you transfer the smell to human clothing, it immediately becomes invisible to them. You can kill a zombie only with a strong blow to the head with a heavy object so that it breaks. A person can become infected by a zombie through a bite, after which after some time he turns into a zombie.

Volume 1: days that go goodbye

Rick Grimes, a sheriff's deputy from Georgia, is wounded while on duty and emerges from a coma to find the world overrun with the undead. He returns home to find his house ransacked and his wife and son taken away. Rick travels to a military evacuation zone in Atlanta to find his family, but finds that Atlanta has also been flooded. He is rescued by Glenn Rea, who takes him to his small survivors' camp. Among them are Rick's wife Laurie and his son Carl. Zombies (called "Walkers" in most series) eventually attack the group. After the attack, Shane Walsh, Rick's friend and former police partner, tries to kill Rick because he has become obsessed with Rick's wife Laurie. Carl shoots Shane. The Walking Dead comics read in Russian

Volume 2: Miles Behind Us

Rick becomes the leader of the group. He and the remaining survivors leave Atlanta and travel through hostile territory in search of safer refuge. The group meets Tyreese, his daughter and her boyfriend. Everyone takes refuge in Wiltshire Estates, a gated community, but is forced to leave when they stumble upon its zombie infestation. The group eventually finds lodgings on a small farm after Carl is shot. The farm's owner, Herschel Greene and his family, are in denial about the nature of the walkers and kept deceased loved ones and neighbors in their barn. Rick's group is asked to leave the farm and is delayed by an abandoned prison, which they decide to make their home.

Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars

The group begins clearing the prison yard and one cell block for living quarters. They encounter some of the surviving inmates when they break into the prison's cafeteria. Rick invites Hershel and his family to come alive to the prison, and they accept. Two of the group members commit suicide and someone starts killing other group members. This inmate, a convicted serial killer, is eventually captured and killed. Other inhabitants organize an uprising. Comics on the walking dead online in Russian.

Volume 4: Heart's Desire

The group manages to quell the inmate uprising and secure the prison. A katana-wielding woman named Miconn arrives at the prison, seeking refuge and causing tension among some of Rick's survivors. When another member is bitten in the leg, Rick tries to save him by amputating his bitten leg; however, despite receiving treatment from Hershel, the person dies. Rick and Tiris get into a fight and the community decides to have a council with four co-leaders instead of Rick as the sole leader.

Volume 5: Better Defense

Rick, Miconn and Glenn witness the helicopter crash from a distance and leave the prison to look for it. They find a small town called Woodbury, where a large, well-armed and organized group of survivors has taken refuge. Woodbury's leader is a man named by the governor. The Governor captures Rick's group and interrogates them. He mutilates Rick by cutting off his right arm and rapes and tortures Mikonne.

Volume 6: This Sad Life

Rick, Glenn and Michonne manage to escape Woodbury with the help of others from the city. Miconne tortures the governor before she leaves. They return to the prison safely, but find that hordes of zombies have broken in. Rick's survivors fight them off. Rick informs the prison residents of what happened in Woodbury and tells them to prepare for battle.

Volume 7: Calm Before

Life in prison continues in what passes for normality in this apocalyptic world. Glenn and Maggie get married. Several residents search for supplies and engage in a shootout with men from Woodbury. Laurie goes into labor and Judith is born. The valley is missing on the gas pumping mission when he is bitten in the leg. Friends of the Valley amputate his leg and he survives. Carol commits suicide by allowing the zombie to bite her. The volume ends with the arrival of the governor with his army and tank. Comics on the walking dead online in Russian

Volume 8: Made to Suffer

The arc begins with a flashback that shows how the Governor nursed Woodbury back to health and prepared him for battle. The governor's army attacks the prison but is driven off. Several of Rick's survivors decide to escape from prison in an RV to avoid the Governor's expected retribution. The prison rebuilds after his initial attack, but the governor re-attacks. The RV members arrive to strengthen the prison's residents. Many of Rick's group are killed, including Lori, Judith and Hershel. The Governor is killed by one of his own soldiers after she realizes that she killed a woman and her child on his orders. With the prison burning and dragging their feet, Rick's group scatters and flees.

Volume 9: Here We Stay

After the prison is destroyed and his group is separated, Rick and Carl search for housing in a nearby town, and reunite with surviving friends. Rick's physical and mental state begins to unravel, while Carl becomes more and more independent and uncaring. They eventually manage to reunite with their other survivors and end up at Hershel's farm. Three new people arrive and inform the group that they are on a mission to Washington D.C. to cure the plague. Rick's group decides to join their trip. Read the Walking Dead comic in Russian

Volume 10: What We Become

Maggie tries to hang herself on her way to Washington. Rick holds Abraham, who thinks she is dead, at gunpoint and prevents him from shooting her in the head. Rick, Abraham and Carl head to Rick's hometown to find the weapon. They discover Morgan, who Rick met when he woke up from his coma, and he joins Rick's survivors.

Volume 11: Fear the Hunters

Rick and company continue their trip to Washington and begin to suspect that they are being pursued by someone in the woods. They meet the pastor and join him at his church. The valley is kidnapped from the church during the night by a group of cannibals. The valley is reunited with his friends before he dies. Rick and company hunt down the cannibals and torture them to death.

Volume 12: life among them

The group continues to Washington, where they discover that Eugene has been lying about having a cure to stop the outbreak. They come across a friendly man named Aaron, who claims to be trustworthy and can escort them to a large, surrounded community of survivors called the Alexandria Safe Zone. The Alexandria Safe Zone is a walled community led by a man named Douglas Monroe. Rick's weary group finds Alexandria's stability a welcome change, although they remain suspicious. Read the Walking Dead comic in Russian

Volume 13: Gone Too Far

Rick's group settles in the Alexandria Safe Zone and get jobs in the community. Rick, as a constable, tries to increase safety and stability when he stops a dangerous person in the community. The scavengers arrive and threaten the community. Alexandria wins the battle, but alert a large herd of hundreds of zombies to their presence. Rick takes over the community.

Volume 14: No Exit

Rick and company are stepping up as local leaders despite objections from some of its residents. The residents of Alexandria find themselves in big trouble when they discover a horde of zombies breaking down the fence. Walkers breach the walls of Alexandria and begin to overrun the community. The inhabitants of Alexandria defeat the horde and save their city. Karl is shot in the face during the battle.

Volume 15: We Find ourselves

The Alexandria Safe-Zone recovers from a herd attack, and Rick makes decisions that will lead to Alexandria's long-term sustainability. Carl is in a coma following his injury, and his survival is unclear. Some residents question the bold choices Rick makes for their community and his attempt to take control of Alexandria. Rick cancels the rebellion. Carl wakes up with amnesia.

Volume 16: Bigger World

The Alexandrians encounter a man named Paul Monroe while searching for supply scraps. Monroe claims that he is a recruiter for a nearby group of 200 or more people called the Hilltop Colony. Rick and the others travel to Hilltop Colony and find that its appearance appears to be even safer than the one from Alexandria, although it has a dangerous enemy called the Saviors. The Saviors demand half of the colony's food and supplies in exchange for killing neighboring walkers. The Walking Dead comics read in Russian
Volume 17: Something to Fear

Rick and the team face off against the Hilltop Colony's enemy, the Saviors. The Saviors are a brutal gang led by a man named Negan. Rick underestimates the Saviors and dismisses their threat level until his best friends start dying in cruel, savage ways. Alexandria is forced to begin paying tribute—half of their supplies—to the Saviors. Enraged, Rick vows to kill Negan.

Volume 18: What Comes After (the walking dead who killed negan in the comic)

Rick's group explores what living by Negan's rules really means. Rick devises a new strategy to deal with the Saviors, but a member of his group disappears after the Saviors collect their fee from Alexandria. Rick is forced to stop his plan. Paul takes Rick to seek help from an exotic man named Ezekiel, the leader of a community called the Kingdom. The Kingdom is based in Washington, D.C., where one of the Saviors makes an independent bid to help fight against Negan. The Walking Dead comics read in Russian

Rick, Paul and Ezekiel decide to trust the Savior, Dwight, and begin their attempt to end the reign of the Saviors. The three communities come together to formulate an attack, but Negan shows up early to collect his tribute from Alexandria. The Union takes advantage of the opportunity to kill Negan, but Negan retreats and declares war.

Volume 20: All War - Part One

Rick leads his combined army, with the Apex and the Kingdom, in an attack on Sanctuary, the Saviors' base. Rick's forces seize an early advantage and manage to trap Negan in the Sanctuary, but their attack on Negan's outposts falters as many of Rick's closest friends fall. They wonder if their initial victory was simply luck. Negan organizes a possible counterattack on Alexandria, and her situation goes from bad to worse.

Volume 21: All War - Part Two (issues 121-126)

With the war at its peak, Negan attacks Alexandria and Summit and destroys the former's defenses. On the verge of defeat, Rick offers Negan a truce as a trap. Negan falls for Rick's trick. Rick slits Negan's throat and demands that the war stop. Negan survives Rick's attack. The Walking Dead comics read in Russian

Volume 22: A New Beginning (issues 127-132)

Two years have passed since the war with Negan. Civilization was restored and the communities established a successful trading network. Karl moves to the Summit. The new group arrives in Alexandria and meet the imprisoned Negan.

Volume 23: Whispers into Screams (issues 133-138)

A new threat appears as living humans, disguised as attacking walkers, calling themselves Secret Informants. Tensions arise in the Apex after Karl loses his temper. Some question about the residents and him and their leader. Meanwhile, Paul has captured a member of the Secret Informants and discovers the full consequences of this new threat to the Apex.

Volume 24: Life and Death (issues 139-144)

Carl continues to learn more about the Secret Informants, and the fate of the breadwinner is sealed while the other leaves. Gross mistakes are made and a deadly promise given that is all too real. The lines are countered that desire affects everyone. The Walking Dead comics read in Russian

Volume 25: No Return (issues 145-150)

Rick reveals the survivors who died at the hands of Alpha and the Secret Informants. Residents of the communities are demanding retribution and some leadership from Rick the Question. Rick declares war on the Secret Informants and must use his former enemy as a last resort.

Volume 26: Call to Arms (issues 151-156)

With a conflict against the approaching Secret Informants, Rick must ensure the readiness of the newly formed community militia while also dealing with various conflicts within each community's walls, including rescuing a dangerous prisoner. Read the Walking Dead comic in Russian

Volume 27: Gossip's War (issues 157-162)

In other media

Based on the comic book plot, the television series “The Walking Dead” was filmed, which premiered in 2010. The series loosely follows the comic book storyline. The rights to film the series of the same name were bought by the AMC channel. The franchise has also spawned numerous additional media properties, including video games, the Fear The Walking Dead series, the webisode series The Walking Dead: Torn apart, The Walking Dead: Cold Storage, and The Walking Dead: The Oath, as well as various additional publications, including the books The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor.

When the television series aired, Image Comics announced the release of The Walking Dead Weekly. The first 52 issues of the series began to be published on January 5, 2011, one news release per week for a year.

The comic is periodically reprinted in trade paperbacks that contain six episodes, each hardcover book with twelve episodes and sometimes bonus material. Read the Walking Dead comic in Russian