The Walking Dead (comic)

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Comic
title the Walking Dead
Original title the Walking Dead
Thewalkingdead-comic-logo.svg
logo
country United States
author Robert Kirkman
Illustrator Tony Moore (No. 1–6)
Charlie Adlard (since No. 7)
Stefano Gaudiano (Indian ink
artist since No. 115)
publishing company Image comics
First publication October 2003 - July 2019
expenditure 193

The Walking Dead ( listen ? / I ) was a monthly comic series , which in the United States from between October 2003 and July 2019 Image Comics was published. The idea for the comics came from author Robert Kirkman and illustrator Tony Moore , who wasreplacedby Charlie Adlard after the sixth edition. Up until the 24th issue, however, Moore still drew the individual covers . In Germany, the comic series has beenpublished in saddle booksby the Cross-Cult publishing housesince January 13, 2006. A television series based on the comicbegan on October 31, 2010 in the United States on AMC. The comic won the 2010 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series at San Diego Comic-Con International . Audio file / audio sample

The series is about a group of people who after a worldwide zombie - apocalypse fighting in the devastated United States to survive. Main character Rick Grimes, a township policeman from Cynthiana , Kentucky , his family and other survivors have banded together after zombies overran the earth. As the series progresses, the characters evolve and their personalities change under the stress of the zombie apocalypse.

In July 2019, the publisher surprisingly announced for many readers that the comic series would no longer be continued after 15 years and 193 issues. Kirkman himself commented on this, stating that he wanted the series to end as unpredictably as the surprising deaths in the comics happened.

action

Seeking Refuge (Volumes 1-4)

Police officer Rick Grimes is shot on duty and falls into a coma . A few weeks later he wakes up in Cynthiana's hospital, but finds it devastated and populated by the undead. Rick escapes them and returns to his house, which he finds just as destroyed as everything else. His wife Lori and his son Carl have disappeared. Rick meets the survivors Morgan Jones and his son Douane, who enlighten him about the events of the past few weeks. Rick decides to go to Atlanta because during the zombie invasion the government asked the population to flee to the big cities. When he arrives in Atlanta, zombies have long overran the city and attack Rick. Glenn, who is looking for supplies in the destroyed city, saves Rick and leads him to the camp of the survivors, where Rick finds his wife Lori and his son Carl safe and sound. Among the survivors is his police colleague and best friend Shane, who took Rick's family to Atlanta but started an affair with Lori. Rick also meets other survivors: the married couple Allen and Donna with their sons Billy and Ben, the housewife Carol with her daughter Sophia, the pensioner Dale, the sisters Amy and Andrea and the mechanic Jim. In the days that followed, Rick integrated himself into everyday life in the camp and tried to improve the overall situation of the group. However, he gets into an argument with Shane: While Shane continues to hope for rescue and therefore prefers to stay near the big city, Rick considers their camp location too dangerous. There is also growing evidence that Shane loves Lori and sees Rick as a rival. A gun procurement tour to Atlanta heightened Rick's concerns about the safety of his camp, which was confirmed in a massive zombie attack that followed quickly, killing Amy and biting Jim. Thereupon there is an open argument between Rick and Shane, in the course of which Shane wants to shoot Rick. Rick kills Shane; Carl shoots Shane while he transforms to defend his father.

After this event, the group, in which Rick is now practically the leader, gives up the insecure camp and goes in search of a safe place where they can rebuild their lives. On the way they meet Tyreese, his daughter Julie and her friend Chris, who join the group. In the supposedly safe settlement of Wiltshire, the group narrowly escapes a zombie horde, but loses Allen's wife Donna. Shortly before, Rick learns that his wife is pregnant. Carl is accidentally shot and taken to the farm by Hershel Greene, who rescues Carl and offers Rick's group to stay on the farm until Carl's recovery. In addition to Hershel, the group meets his children Lacey, Arnold, Maggie, Billy, Susie and Rachel as well as Hershel's neighbors Otis and his girlfriend Patricia. Here, too, conflicts arise when Rick learns that Hershel is locking the roaming zombies, the "strays" who get lost on his farm, in his barn. Because Hershel's son Shawn turned into a zombie after being bitten and Hershel clings to the hope that they can be cured again. When Hershel tries to lock another stray in the barn, the trapped zombies break out and kill Lacey and Arnold. A little later, after an argument, Hershel evicted Rick's group from the farm. Only Glenn, who started a relationship with Maggie, is allowed to stay. For the rest of the group, the search for refuge and the struggle for survival continue. Eventually they discover an abandoned prison - the perfect refuge.

In prison, the group encounters dozens of zombies and finally four surviving convicts: the robber Axel, the tax evader Thomas, the drug addict Andrew and the murderer Dexter. The group settles in the cells while Rick returns to Hershel's farm one more time to take him and his family to the prison, which is safer than the farm and has more space. Tyreese's daughter Julie and boyfriend Chris attempt to kill each other in a double suicide. However, Chris pulls the trigger too early, kills Julie and is killed in affect by Tyreese. Since Julie "came back" after her death without having been bitten, Rick returns to Atlanta, where his suspicion that Shane was also buried undead is confirmed: Apparently all dead become zombies; even those who were not bitten. During his absence, the situation in prison escalates: on the one hand, the angry Tyreese throws himself into a horde of zombies in the prison gym; on the other hand, Hershel's daughters Susie and Rachel are found brutally murdered and Dexter is suspected. Upon Rick's return, the group finds Tyreese alive in the gym, surrounded by mountains of dead zombies. A short time later, the alleged fraudster Thomas, who is actually a psychopathic misogynist, sadist, instinctive female murderer and the real murderer of Susie and Rachel, attacks Andrea and is beaten almost to death by Rick. There is a heated argument in the group after Rick announces that he wants to hang Thomas. When Patricia secretly frees him, he attacks her too and is shot by Maggie. The open rift between Rick and Dexter, wrongly accused of the murders of Susie and Rachel, can no longer be repaired. Dexter and his friend Andrew secretly arm themselves from the prison arsenal and attempt to evict Rick and his group from prison. Surprisingly, they are supported by Patricia.

When they obtained weapons, however, Andrew and Dexter accidentally freed more zombies. In the subsequent defensive battle against the undead, Rick shoots Dexter. His partner Andrew escapes from prison. Meanwhile, Otis reaches the prison together with another survivor, Michonne, who is traveling with two zombies without arms and jaws, whose stench keeps the other undead away from her. She joins the group. While exploring prison block A, from which Dexter and Andrew had obtained the weapons, the group discovered a working emergency generator. Allen is bitten in the ankle by a zombie and Rick amputates his lower leg to stop the infection, but Allen dies a few hours later from severe blood loss. Tyreese is seduced in Michonne's gym, driving his girlfriend Carol into crisis and attempting suicide. The incident leads to an argument between Rick and Tyreese, which ends with a violent fight between the two. The group decides to form a leadership committee because they believe that Rick can no longer cope with the burden of being a leader alone. Rick accepts this, but in a speech in front of the group clears up all illusions regarding their rescue by outsiders and makes it clear to the group that there will be no rescue and that they themselves are already "living dead" who inevitably sooner or later become zombies whether bitten or not.

Conflict with Woodbury (Volumes 5-8)

The group continues to explore the prison and settle down. On a gasoline procurement tour to the prison parking lot, Rick and Glenn discover a helicopter that crashes in the woods shortly afterwards. Rick, Glenn and Michonne set out to look for the wreck to help any survivors. When they find the helicopter, they realize that someone was faster. Their search for this someone leads them to the town of Woodbury , Georgia , where they meet the sadistic "Governor" Philip and his gang of thugs who keep the survivors living here happy with "games" and feed strangers to trapped zombies and his zombie daughter . This fate has already overtaken the occupants of the helicopter and is now supposed to affect Rick and his companions. But first they should tell him where they come from. When Rick refuses, Philip chops off his right hand. While Rick is being cared for by Doctor Stevens, Woodbury's involuntary doctor, Michonne is raped and mistreated several times by Philip, and Glenn is locked in a room next to the zombies, where he has to overhear everything. Finally Philip learns through a trick that Rick and his friends have come out of a prison and plans to conquer it for his own people.

With the help of the security guard Martinez, the group manages to escape together with Stevens and the nurse Alice, but Stevens is killed by a zombie immediately after overcoming the wall. Michonne stays behind and tortures Philip almost to death for hours. This survives, but not without the loss of various body parts. On their return to the prison, Rick and his companions discover that the prison has been overrun by zombies again and Otis has been killed by them. However, the others from Rick's group managed to entrench themselves. Together they reclaim the outside areas. When Martinez secretly tries to flee back to Woodbury, he is caught and killed on the way by Rick so that he cannot reveal the location of the prison to Philip. Glenn proposes to Maggie, which she accepts. The group realizes they need to prepare for an attack by the governor and his people.

After their wedding, Maggie and Glenn set out with Andrea, Axel, Michonne and Tyreese to look for a National Guard base from which the survivors in Woodbury can get their weapons. After discovering, looting and then blowing up the camp, they also visit the local WalMart and get into a fight with guards from Woodbury. Glenn is shot, but thanks to his protective equipment he survives with only a few bruises. Meanwhile, Lori goes into labor. Dale is bitten in the leg while getting gasoline for the generator, but survives because Alice amputates his leg and tends the wound in time. Lori gives birth to a girl who is named Judith. Shortly afterwards, the depressed Carol commits suicide by being bitten by a zombie that Alice had captured for research purposes. The situation in the prison came to a head when a little later the survivors from Woodbury, led by Philips, launched their major attack and even deployed an M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle.

The first attack on the prison fails because the attackers are untrained civilians and unable to take the prison unscathed as Philips instructed. Many of the attackers are killed, Andrea and Axel are wounded, and Rick is shot in the stomach, which is life threatening. Michonne and Tyreese counterattack the attackers, in which Tyreese is captured and Michonne is apparently killed. Dale, Andrea, the twins Ben and Billy, Glenn, Maggie and Sophia return temporarily to Hershel's farm, as they see no chance of holding the prison in the face of the hostile superiority. The captured Tyreese is beheaded by Philip with Michonne's sword when the group around Rick refuses to leave prison. Michonne suddenly appears in Philip's camp, shoots several of his people, but fails to kill Philip. During the second attack on the prison, Axel dies from a shot in the head. The attackers suffer heavy losses again. When this attack threatens to fail, Philip breaks through the prison fences with the tank and the attackers break into the prison. Patrica, Alice, Billy and Hershel die in the following firefight. A woman from Woodbury shoots Lori and her newborn on the run and, when she realizes what she has done, gets so enraged that she turns her gun on Philip. When the zombies storm the prison, Philip shoots them and flees to a cell block with the rest of the surviving attackers from Woodbury. There, however, they finally run out of ammunition to defend themselves from invading zombies. Meanwhile, Rick and Carl barely manage to escape from prison.

Regrouping (Volumes 9-11)

Rick and Carl flee to an abandoned town and hide in one of the abandoned houses. There Rick struggles for days with an infection that has infected the abdominal wound while his son is on his own. After Rick has recovered somewhat, the father-son team moves on. Meanwhile, Rick is increasingly plagued by hallucinations: he "calls" his dead wife and blames himself for her death and everything that has gone wrong. On their way they first meet Michonne and then Glenn and Maggie, with whom they return to Hershel's farm and meet Andrea, Dale and the children again. While Rick is recovering there, Sergeant Abraham Ford, his companion Rosita Espinosa and the scientist Dr. Eugene Porter a. The three are on their way to Washington and want Rick and his group to accompany them. Ultimately, Rick and the others join Abraham and head for Washington, where, according to Dr. Porter is said to be the last great refuge.

Nightmares and guilt continue to plague Rick as the group first moves to Atlanta. While resting, Maggie tries to kill herself but is saved. There are differences between Abraham and Rick because Abraham is outwardly a hardened soldier to whom his mission, Dr. Bringing Porter to Washington before human life goes on. At one stop, Rick, Carl and Abraham decide to return to Rick's old hometown to raid the local police station. On the way there, they meet muggers and Rick learns Abraham's story, which is as marked by guilt and loss as his own. Meanwhile, the rest of the group goes in search of a usable place to stay and discovers an abandoned farm that - like so many other things - appears like a little paradise in hell. In Cynthiana, Abraham and Rick meet Morgan, who survived the whole time there. However, his son Douane has become a zombie and "lives" chained in Morgan's house, as he did not have the heart to kill him for good. Rick convinces Morgan to come with them and shoot Douane, but Morgan releases him. Then they loot the police station and make their way back to the group. They run into a huge group of zombies that they cannot shake off and thus force the others on the farm to flee again. Meanwhile, Ben, one of the two twins, shows the first signs of severe psychosis unnoticed when he starts killing animals completely emotionless.

On their way to Washington, Ben's mental disorder breaks through when he kills his twin brother Billy without realizing the scope of his crime. Shortly afterwards, the group meets Father Gabriel Stokes, who is roaming the country in complete trust in God in search of food. Carl shoots Ben the following night after overhearing the adults discussing how to proceed and their disagreement. The group is attacked by zombies and Dale is kidnapped by cannibals, who cut off his remaining leg and eat it, unaware that Dale was bitten in the zombie attack and went into the woods to die alone. When Rick's group retreats to Father Stoke's Church, a war of nerves begins between the cannibals and Rick's group. Glenn is deliberately wounded by the cannibals in order to panic Rick's group. However, this has the opposite effect that Rick, Abraham, Michonne and Andrea, led by Father Stokes, go in search of them. After finding her, they tortured her to death - an act that convinced Father Stokes present that Rick and his companions were his punishment for letting his congregation die outside the church gates to himself during the collapse save. Dale dies of the bite and re-amputation, and his mate Andrea shoots him in the head to prevent his return as a zombie.

The Alexandria Settlement (Vol. 12-16)

When Rick's group reaches the outskirts of Washington, it turns out that Eugene Porter is not a scientist, but a science teacher, so he lied all along, which drives Abraham into a rage. Shortly afterwards, a man named Aaron appears who is looking for "compatible new citizens" as a scout of a community of survivors. After another zombie attack, the group around Rick decides to follow Aaron. When they reach Washington, they see the distress signal from a gang of runners who have gotten into trouble in the city. To help, Aaron, Rick, and Abraham head to the abandoned and zombie-infested city. There they manage to save the two runners and, with the help of the actual rescue team, escape from the city. They then go to the Arlington settlement of the survivors, Alexandria, which is headed by former Congressman Douglas Monroe. Rick and the others in his group are accepted into the community. Rick becomes a constable, the others get different tasks. However, it is very difficult for the survivors, and especially for Rick, to integrate into a group that is obviously trying desperately to maintain the "old" world with all its banalities. It also quickly becomes apparent that even in this seemingly perfect refuge, not everything is what it seems. Rick starts taking precautionary measures.

While life in the community goes on as usual, the individual members of Rick's group try to fit in as best as possible. Abraham is assigned to the construction team that is supposed to expand the protective fence and soon takes over its leadership. Father Stokes becomes a parish priest but continues to struggle with his past. During a "run" into the city, Glenn and his runner-colleague Heath encounter another group of survivors, who are besieged by zombies and ruthlessly sacrifice one of their own in order to escape. Meanwhile, Rick gets into a conflict with Monroe over the appropriate response to the local domestic violence case. Rick has a fight with the woman bully Pete and even points his gun at Monroe when Monroe tries to stop him with an unspoken threat. Michonne knocks Rick down and puts an end to the hustle and bustle. Still, he remains a constable because Monroe has realized that he needs someone like Rick. In the period that followed, all members of the community had to struggle with their own problems: Glenn and Maggie's marriage was in crisis and Rick “telephoned” his dead wife Lori again. The doctor Pete can't cope with the forced separation from his family and freaks out. He wants to kill Rick at the funeral of a deceased runner. Monroe's wife Regina interferes and is killed by Pete. Rick then shoots him with Monroe's consent. The shot sets a large number of zombies marching in Washington in the direction of the sound. It also enables the raiding party Glenn and Heath saw to locate the community. The next day they reach the gate of Alexandria and threaten to take over the settlement by force if they are not allowed in. In the subsequent firefight, all members of the looting force are killed, thereby attracting even more zombies, who are now marching from Washington towards Arlington. At his wife's funeral, Monroe tells Rick that the truth is that the community needs Rick to be the leader and not himself because he has neglected too many things.

A herd of zombies soon encircles the settlement and besieges the survivors until it finally breaks through at a weak point in the wall. Alexandria suffers heavy losses in the defensive battles. The zombies overrun the settlement and force the survivors to hide in the houses. Rick, Carl, Jessie and Ron, disguised as the undead, dare to try to escape, in which Ron and Jessie die and Carl loses his right eye due to a ricochet from Monroe's weapon, which himself falls victim to the zombies. Rick rescues himself with his seriously injured son in Dr. Cloyd's infirmary, left in their care and then continues to fight the zombies with Michonne. Their determined resistance shakes up the others and Rick's “old” group soon rushes to their aid. They succeed in completely destroying the zombie herd without suffering any losses themselves. This gives Rick new hope: If people organize themselves better and stick together, they have a future. He wants to make this future come true for his son.

After the survivors of the attack clear up the bodies, important decisions have to be made. Rick swears his people on his vision of a better future and the survivors reinforce the barriers that are supposed to keep the zombies away with an upstream ditch and obstacles made of car wrecks and steel girders. However, this leads to a conflict with some of the “long-established residents”. Nicholas in particular thinks that Rick and his group have usurped the city and want to kill all the other residents. As Rick and others explore the area, the conflict escalates and can only barely be defused. Meanwhile, the community is running out of supplies.

Winter is here, the supplies are almost at the end, the area is grazed. The situation of the small group of survivors is slowly becoming critical. A mysterious stranger appears who calls himself "Jesus" and comes from another settlement on the other side of Washington. He claims to want to establish trade relations, but initially meets Rick's suspicion. Nevertheless, Rick and a few others make their way to the "hill" with "Jesus". Once there, they learn that the residents are being terrorized by a brutal gang who are trying to force the settlement to “get food for protection”. In view of his own supply situation, Rick concludes a deal with Gregory, the leader of the hill: He and his people take care of neutralizing the gang, in exchange for food for the winter.

War (Volume 17-21)

On the way back to Alexandria there is direct contact with members of the ominous gang that calls itself "Negan's Savior". The Savior tells Rick's group to hand over all of their belongings or to die, which Rick answers with the command to fire. The only surviving savior is supposed to deliver the message from Rick to his leader Negan, in which he is asked to give up and submit. Upon returning to Alexandria, Glenn learns from Maggie that she is pregnant and Rick begins a relationship with Andrea. Abraham and Porter leave the settlement to locate an ammunition factory. In doing so, they are attacked from behind by other saviors who have located the community and shot Abraham. The subsequent attempt of the redeemers to use the porter who was taken hostage as a means of pressure to get into the settlement, however, fails with losses. The attack shakes the community badly and scares them that Alexandria is no longer safe. Glenn then decides to move to the top of the hill to bring Maggie to safety. Accompanied by Rick, Carl, Sophia and Heath, they make their way there. At night they are ambushed and captured by the Redeemers who come in overwhelming strength. For the first time, Negan also shows himself personally, who is deeply angry about the past events and leads a regime based on strict rules and heavy penalties. To teach Rick and his people a lesson about the consequences of their resistance, Glenn is beaten to death in front of the others by Negan using "Lucille," a barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat. Then Rick's group is let go again and the Redeemers withdraw under Negan's announcement that they will be visiting Alexandria soon. After Glenn's body, the grieving Maggie and Sophia have been handed over to the care of the local residents on the hill, Rick, Carl and Heath return to Alexandria with Jesus. There they learn that the Redeemer have carried out their threat and have attacked the settlement in the meantime. One of Negan's “lieutenants”, a man named Dwight, was captured. Faced with an opponent who is able to carry out simultaneous attacks, can strike anywhere at any time, and about whom practically nothing is known himself, Rick decides to pretend to surrender. He lets Dwight go, but secretly sends Jesus after to find out as much as possible about Negan and his people for a later fight. Outwardly, he plays the broken one in order to protect his own group should his plan fail. Only Andrea is initiated.

Jesus pursues Dwight to an outpost of the Savior, but is caught himself and is supposed to be taken to Negan. When his captors reach Negan's main base, the so-called "Sanctuary", with him, he manages to escape, which Dwight subsequently hides from Negan. Meanwhile, Negan enters Alexandria to collect his tribute. The Redeemers collect half of all supplies, but they pocket "half of everything" and not "half of everyone" - for example, they take all the medicinal opiates with them, but leave the "simple" stuff untouched. Carl hides unnoticed in one of the vehicles with Abraham's assault rifle and arrives at Negan's base, where he kills several Redeemers before he is himself captured. Negan is genuinely impressed by the boy and shows him around personally, giving Carl a deep insight into Negan's system: Negan rules like an absolutist ruler, but who puts the rules above everything. His subjects have to work for their privileges. Negan himself has a harem, whereby the women living there have exchanged a life of hard work for total submission and of course can get out at any time if all privileges are lost. Violations of the rules are severely punished, so Carl has to watch the punishment of a man who was with one of Negan's "companions". Even after her “election” he continued to have a love affair with her and gets to feel “the iron” for it: Negan burns his face with a glowing iron, whereby he never tires of emphasizing how much he detests this, but the rules would have to be adhered to. Then he brings Carl back to Rick unharmed, with which he wants to express his point of view - as the "opposite pole" to Glenn's murder: on the one hand, he is ready to resort to extreme brutality if his rules are violated, but on the other hand, he can also be extremely sensible if its rules are accepted. Jesus returns with his information about Negan's base and introduces Rick to a potential ally, Ezekiel, the "king" of a small "kingdom" nearby. At Ezekiel's base, a fortified school, Rick unexpectedly meets Dwight again, who declares his willingness to join the resistance against Negan. He wants revenge on Negan, who appropriated his wife as a companion and also “ironed” his face.

While the preparations are in progress and Rick is negotiating with Ezekiel, Negan appears surprisingly in Alexandria and unceremoniously settles in one of the vacant houses. Spencer seeks him there, who has not agreed to Rick as leader for a long time. He offers himself to Negan as a “better” alternative to Rick if Negan eliminates Rick for him. Negan is not at all enthusiastic about this suggestion, however, as he disgusts Spencer's tactic of letting someone else do the dirty work. Without further ado, he kills Spencer, which Denise discovers. When Rick returns a little later, he confronts Negan in a rage. When Negan tries to pull away, accompanied by only eight of his saviors, Rick seizes the opportunity for a blow. While Negan is supposedly trapped, his backup team - surprisingly armed with firearms - intervenes and disarms Rick and his people. Negan is furious about the attack and plans to kill them one by one. Meanwhile, Carl undertakes an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Negan, which only makes him madder. He decides to kill Carl in order to break Rick, which is prevented by the community, which Carl does not want to hand over him. An escalation is prevented by the interference of Jesus, who manages to take Negan hostage. Ezekiel also intervenes with his people in the event, with his tiger, Shiva, forming a resounding vanguard, and Negan and his people flee despite their numerical superiority. These events start a war that Rick's people are not as prepared for as they would like to be.

Since Negan and his people have withdrawn in flight, Rick decides to follow up immediately: Together with the people from the kingdom and from the heights, he advances towards Negan's refuge. There it turns out, surprisingly, that Gregory, the leader of the hill, has secretly come to terms with Negan out of fear. He asks his people to withdraw, but hardly anyone does. After Negan refused to surrender, Rick and his people fire at the windows of the refuge, creating a noise that attracts hordes of zombies as planned. Holly breaks the fence with a cart so that Negan and his people are trapped inside the refuge. She herself is captured and Negan initially believes she is Rick's friend. Holly is later almost raped by an outsider from Negan's group, who is killed by Negan as a punishment. Meanwhile, Rick's allies shut down the Savior's outposts, but Ezekiel's attack fails with heavy losses. He loses practically all of his people and also Shiva, who wants to defend him against the zombies. With the support of this outpost, Negan breaks the siege and goes straight to the counterattack. He marches up in front of Alexandria and sends Holly back to the settlement with her face covered. Denise wants to help her and doesn't notice that she was sent back as a zombie. Denise is bitten and in the general confusion, Negan's people begin a heavy hand grenade attack on Alexandria. Meanwhile, Gregory has returned to the ridge with the few men who have followed him and immediately clashes with Maggie, who is furious when she learns what he has done. She describes him as a coward and confronts the inhabitants of the hill with the consequences of Gregory's behavior: bondage and arbitrariness under Negan's regime. She manages to rally the people behind her and moves with them to Alexandria, where she forces Negan to retreat through her surprising appearance. But Alexandria is badly hit: the settlement is on fire, there are dead and injured. This position has become untenable and Negan, who sees the smoke some way off, is sure that he has almost won.

In view of the damage in Alexandria, Rick gives up and retires with his allies to the heavily fortified hill. Eugene Porter and the people who fell into Negan's hands at the munitions factory are taken to refuge and Eugene is interrogated. Negan is so confident that he doesn't notice that there is a crisis in his own ranks. Meanwhile, Rick hopes that Negan will need time to reorganize, but he is already planning a direct counterattack on the hill. He has his weapons prepared with the highly infectious zombie poison, so that any injury caused by it is fatal. When Rick is hit with a crossbow bolt by Dwight during the skirmish, Negan believes himself to be the winner. At the refuge, Eugene and his people, as well as two other civilians from Negan's group, manage to escape with Carson's help. The battle for the hill continues even after Rick's wounding, but the darkness hinders both sides. Ezekiel and Michonne manage to switch on the lights of the parked vehicles, which suddenly makes Negan's people stand in the light and thus become an easy target. They suffer heavy losses and are eventually forced to retreat. Nevertheless, Negan believes Rick is practically dead and expects the hill to surrender. He is all the more surprised when Rick appears on the wall in the best of health the next morning. Dwight only seemingly poisoned his bolts so Rick didn't get infected. This succeeds in forcing Negan to listen and to make him understand the vision of a better world. Negan's insight comes late and Rick cannot count on Negan to change either. Therefore, he attacks him surprisingly and injures his neck, so that Negan threatens to bleed to death. In this way he wants to get the Redeemer to surrender, but Negan, although critically wounded, attacks Rick until he himself loses consciousness through the loss of blood. Rick has a bad broken leg. As a result, Dwight takes command of the Redeemer and ends the war. Negan is rescued by the doctor on the hill on Rick's orders. Rick later tells him that he wants to lock him up for the rest of his life.

A New Beginning (Volume 22)

After the costly war against the Redeemer, the storyline is followed by a leap in time in which the years of reconstruction are passed over. Alexandria has been rebuilt, a stable network of trade relations and roads between the known settlements secured by armed horsemen have been established, and society has reached a level that roughly corresponds to the development of America up to the early 19th century. Carl has grown into a young man and wants to start training as a blacksmith with Earl Sutton on the hill, but his father has some problems letting him go so easily, since he is the last survivor of his family. Negan has been in a prison built especially for him since his capture, Dwight is the leader of the Savior, but tired of the post. The zombies have also become a predictable danger, Eugene has developed a system with which herds can be detected early by scouts and can be safely guided past the settlements like a herd of cattle with horn signals or mounted drivers. During one of these diversion actions, a small group of survivors is in distress when, through no fault of their own, they end up in the stream of a diverted herd. Except for one, they can be saved by Jesus Monroe and brought to Alexandria. Their leader Magna, however, is extremely suspicious from experience and cannot imagine that Alexandria is really what it seems to be. Meanwhile, Carl asserts his career aspirations and moves up the hill. While Rick is on his way there, Magna's group secretly penetrates the prison and discovers Negan's cage in the basement, but does not take away his outrageous story and pretended panic in front of Rick. Andrea finally informs her about Negan and the reason for his imprisonment.

The Whisperers (Volume 23-25)

As life goes on in Alexandria and the other communities, the situation on the top of the hill worsens. First a patrol disappears, then Carl and Sophia are attacked from behind by two boys with whom Sophia has had several arguments. One of the attackers hits Carl on the head with a rock, then they beat up Sophia with the intention of killing her and making it look like a mistake. This is prevented by Carl, who is completely beside himself and almost kills both attackers with a shovel. The parents of the two then demand retribution because they see their sons as victims, but Maggie refuses them because she wants to hear all the statements first. Gregory, the former Hilltop leader who has never resigned himself to being out of command, promises the angry parents that they will get their retribution once he is the leader again. All you have to do is kill Maggie. However, his poison attack fails because he miscalculates the dose. Gregory ends up in jail and plays the misunderstood helper.

Before that, the situation in no man's land will worsen. A search party led by Jesus is attacked by zombies who are armed with knives and proceed in a coordinated manner. It turns out that they are people disguised as zombies. Jesus captured one of the attackers, a young girl named Lydia, and brought him to the top of the hill. At the same time, a survivor from another patrol appears and, with immense fear, reports of a herd that he and his injured companion narrowly escaped and about which "there was a whisper in the air". His statement that "the dead whisper" does not help to calm you down.

Nor that suddenly “Alpha”, the leader of a hitherto unknown group called “Whisperers”, stands in front of the gate and wants her daughter, Lydia, back. In exchange, she offers the missing patrol people. Maggie lets Lydia go, much to the displeasure of Carl, who had previously spoken to Lydia for a long time, stood up for her and obtained her - limited - release from the cell. Lydia also told him that it is customary in her group for the stronger to dominate and exploit the weaker, which, especially for women, always involves the risk of rape. Lydia has also been abused several times and her own mother did nothing about it. Carl is upset about this, especially since he and Lydia had become intimate with each other recently. When Maggie agrees to the exchange, he tries to prevent it and when that does not succeed, he follows the Whisperers into their territory and tries to be captured by them so as not to lose sight of Lydia.

Meanwhile, Gregory's fate is sealed on the hilltop. He is hanged for the attempted murder of Maggie, whereby Maggie at the same time violates Rick's top priority not to kill each other. Maggie then travels to Alexandria, where a large market is held, attended by many members of all congregations. When she informs Rick of the events and that Carl has disappeared, Rick is furious and immediately sets off to get his son back - although Maggie has also given him Alpha's warning to stay out of their territory. As expected, Rick and his companions Dante, Andrea and Michonne are intercepted by the whisperers, Rick is brought to their camp, where he meets Carl. Alpha, however, is not there - she questioned Carl and has come to the conclusion that she needs to take a closer look at the "people from the old world". Without her zombie mask, she mingled with the people in the market undetected and observed and rated Alexandria and the people there.

And their rating was not good. On her return, she promptly clashes with Rick, who has ignored her warning - and the blood-stained machete Alpha carries with her on her return suggests nothing good, especially for Rick's companion. Something terrible has happened and when Rick tries to find out what Alpha has done, she describes him and his way of life as outdated and stuck with yesterday. To make it clear to Rick that he shouldn't mess with her, she shows him "her horde" - thousands of undead who can be directed at will by her whisperers, who act as "lead zombies". She then tells Rick to take his son and never come back. Carl still doesn't want to go and tells Rick about the rapes. When Rick asks Alpha if this is true, she describes rape as a primal urge and meaningless momentary pain that can be overcome. One can be guided and determined by emotions, then one is weak - or one is strong by suppressing emotions, continuing on and on and becoming strong enough to dominate others. Rick and his people are weak and the new world is a world of the strong - for this reason, too, she allowed her own daughter to be raped.

Lydia herself has meanwhile recognized how numb and cold her mother and her view of the world is. Given the alternative, she confronts her mother tearfully with the fact that she allowed the abuse. Alpha's self-control breaks, but only because she concludes that her own daughter is not strong enough for the new world. Thereupon she cast off her daughter in tears because she “cannot offer her the life she needs - the life in yesterday” and sends her away with Rick. When saying goodbye, she warns Rick again not to come back. Should he or one of his people cross the border again and enter their territory, then they will send their horde to his territory. To see the border is not a problem, it has marked it and he will recognize it.

What she means by that, Rick has to find out in a cruel way on the return trip: Alpha has set up a border marking out of stakes - the head of a person from Alexandria, the hilltop or the kingdom is on each of the stakes. Alpha murdered (at least) a dozen innocent people to underline that line. Rick finds the heads of Olivia, Eugene's pregnant friend Rosita and Ezekiel, among others. At the sight of it, Rick collapses with grief and anger. But not only he has found the limit - Andrea and Michonne have also discovered it and the signs are once again for storm.

Faced with the new threat, Rick decides it is time to raise a standing army dedicated solely to defending the communities. Negan manages to escape unexpectedly and he crosses the border. His plan to pretend to be a survivor traveling alone, however, fails because Beta encountered the chase squad. Nevertheless, Negan can convince Alpha to tolerate him first. Negan works for a position in the group and immediately takes advantage of it when Alpha visits him to talk to him. When she drops her cover for a brief moment, he kills and beheads her. But instead of taking over the leadership of the Whisperers, he returns to Alexandria with Alpha's head.

The War of the Whisperers (Volume 25-)

Now that it is clear that there will be war, Rick calls all available fighters to Alexandria as he awaits the attack here. The kingdom and the hilltop respond, but the Savior refuses to send their people. They are fed up with Rick's community in which they see themselves as losers. Rick's men move into position to intercept the Whisperer army. But when they arrive at their intended position, they must find that the Whisperers are already there.

Rick’s people fight a grueling and loss-making fight with their opponents. By clever tactics they can disperse the zombies and eliminate most of the whisperers. The Whisperers' first attack can be fended off, but even though there are already hundreds of zombies, that's only the vanguard. Meanwhile, Beta attacks with a herd of the undead and some archers the hilltop, which is only weakly occupied, and burns it down. The defenders, however, under the leadership of Maggie, can completely crush the whisperers and zombies that have invaded the settlement. Beta's next attack is now against Alexandria.

The zombies

The zombies are zombies of the classic kind - they are walking dead in different stages of putrefaction and decay, some without limbs or almost skeletonized. They are slow, stupid, and individually safe for an attentive and armed person. They follow the most elementary instincts and respond to sounds and movements. They are driven by their hunger for carnal food, but they don't just hunt people, they eat meat of all kinds. They don't eat spoiled meat, however. You can tell the difference between their own kind and living people by the stench. This makes it possible to “camouflage” yourself for a limited time by smearing zombie blood and carrying zombie parts with you. Michonne traveled alone for a long time and was safe because she tied the zombified bodies of her friends to herself (after removing her arms and jaws).

The bite of a zombie is fatal because of the infection of the bite wound which is inevitably transmitted by pathogens, putrefactive bacteria and corpse poison. So far, it has only been possible to prevent the fatal course by directly amputating the injured part of the body. What causes the "zombification" does not appear to be fatal, however, since people who have not been bitten generally come back after their death. So they must also have been infected with the "zombie plague" without this showing any direct effects before their death.

The time between a person's death and their “return” varies. Tyreese's daughter “comes back” after a few minutes. Shane's body is not reanimated until after the funeral. In episode 6 of the film adaptation , the scientist at the CDC speaks of a period of three minutes to eight hours.

Only by destroying the brain can the zombies be killed. A beheading means that the head is still trying to bite.

"Strays" (in the original Walkers ) are those zombies who wander aimlessly through the area. They are particularly dangerous as they tend to form packs and encourage other zombies to follow them. They form groups that can get bigger and bigger until, in the worst case, so-called “herds” are formed, which can comprise several thousand zombies - a practically unstoppable flood. In addition to the strays, there are also "stationary" zombies that linger motionless in one place and wait for careless prey to come near them.

Each group of survivors has their own names for the zombies, in Woodbury, for example, they were generally called "mud pears". Rick's group, on the other hand, call the zombies " Biters ".

Publications

The American and German book editions are identical in the comic section. The German editions contain additional exclusive articles on the subject of zombies.

The comic series was published in the following collections:

Trade Paperback (6-part collection)

The trade paperbacks each contain six issues, but do not include the individual covers. In the English editions, each title consists of exactly three words. The German editions appear as hardcover in a reduced format.

Title (US / DE) ISBN (US / DE) Publication (US / DE) expenditure
The Walking Dead Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye
The Walking Dead 1: Good old days
US: ISBN 1-58240-358-9 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-936480-31-1 (HC)
ISBN 978-3-95981-216-0 (SC)
May 14, 2004
January 13, 2006
September 14, 2015
The Walking Dead No. 1-6
The Walking Dead Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us
The Walking Dead 2: A Long Way
US: ISBN 1-58240-413-5 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-936480-32-X (HC)
ISBN 978-3-95981-217-7 (SC)
November 24, 2004
May 29, 2006
November 16, 2015
The Walking Dead No. 7-12
The Walking Dead Vol. 3: Safety Behind Bars
The Walking Dead 3: The Refuge
US: ISBN 1-58240-487-9 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-936480-33-8 (HC)
ISBN 978-3-95981-218-4 (SC)
May 18, 2005
November 15, 2006
December 23, 2015
The Walking Dead No. 13-18
The Walking Dead Vol. 4: The Heart's Desire
The Walking Dead 4: What the heart desires
US: ISBN 1-58240-530-1 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-936480-34-6 (HC)
ISBN 3-959812-19-1 (SC)
November 30, 2005
April 16, 2007
February 24, 2016
The Walking Dead No. 19-24
The Walking Dead Vol. 5: The Best Defense
The Walking Dead 5: The Best Defense
US: ISBN 1-58240-612-X (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-936480-35-4 (HC)
ISBN 3-864258-07-3 (SC)
September 27, 2006
October 24, 2007
May 26, 2016
The Walking Dead No. 25-30
The Walking Dead Vol. 6: This Sorrowful Life The Walking Dead 6: This Sorrowful Life
US: ISBN 1-58240-684-7 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-936480-36-2 (HC)
ISBN 3-864258-08-1 (SC)
April 11, 2007
May 13, 2008
September 1, 2016
The Walking Dead No. 31-36
The Walking Dead Vol. 7: The Calm Before
The Walking Dead 7: Before the Storm
US: ISBN 1-58240-828-9 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-936480-37-0 (HC)
ISBN 3-864258-09-X (SC)
September 26, 2007
October 22, 2008
November 28, 2016
The Walking Dead No. 37-42
The Walking Dead Vol. 8: Made To Suffer
The Walking Dead 8: An Eye for an Eye
SC: ISBN 1-58240-883-1 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-936480-38-9 (HC)
ISBN 3-864258-10-3 (SC)
June 25, 2008
March 23, 2009
May 17, 2017
The Walking Dead No. 43-48
The Walking Dead Vol. 9: Here We Remain
The Walking Dead 9: In the dark valley
US: ISBN 1-60706-022-1 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-941248-39-1 (HC)
ISBN 3-959814-09-7 (SC)
January 21, 2009
August 27, 2009
or August 16, 2017
The Walking Dead No. 49-54
The Walking Dead Vol. 10: What We Become
The Walking Dead 10: Demons
US: ISBN 1-60706-075-2 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-941248-40-5 (HC)
ISBN 3-959816-13-8 (SC)
August 12, 2009
March 17, 2010
or November 15, 2017
The Walking Dead No. 55-60
The Walking Dead Vol. 11: Fear The Hunters
The Walking Dead 11: Hunters and the Hunted
US: ISBN 1-60706-122-8 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-941248-90-1 (HC)
ISBN 3-959816-14-6 (SC)
January 6, 2010
September 30, 2010
or February 14, 2018
The Walking Dead No. 61-66
The Walking Dead Vol. 12: Life Among Them
The Walking Dead 12: Brave New World
US: ISBN 1-60706-254-2 (SC)
DE: ISBN 978-3-942649-22-3 (HC)
ISBN 978-3-95981-758-5 (SC)
August 3, 2010
March 10, 2011
or July 11, 2018
The Walking Dead No. 67-72
The Walking Dead Vol. 13: Too Far Gone
The Walking Dead 13: No Going Back
US: ISBN 1-60706-329-8 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-942649-23-3 (HC)
ISBN 978-3-95981-907-7 (SC)
November 23, 2010
May 23, 2011
or November 14, 2018
The Walking Dead No. 73-78
The Walking Dead Vol. 14: No Way Out
The Walking Dead 14: In the Trap
US: ISBN 1-60706-392-1 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-942649-24-1 (HC)
ISBN 978-3-95981-903-9 (SC)
June 22, 2011
October 10, 2011
or March 13, 2019
The Walking Dead No. 79-84
The Walking Dead Survivors Guide US: ISBN 1-60706-458-8 (SC) November 1, 2011 The Walking Dead Survivors Guide No. 1-4
The Walking Dead Vol. 15: We Find Ourselves
The Walking Dead 15: Your will be done
US: ISBN 1-60706-440-5 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-942649-25-X (HC)
ISBN 978-3-95981-982-4 (SC)
December 27, 2011
June 15, 2012
or July 10, 2019
The Walking Dead No. 85-90
The Walking Dead Vol. 16: A Larger World
The Walking Dead 16: A Larger World
US: ISBN 1-60706-559-2 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-86425-098-6 (HC)
ISBN 978-3-95981-151-4 (SC)
June 19, 2012
October 15, 2012
or August 14, 2019
The Walking Dead No. 91-96
The Walking Dead Vol. 17: Something To Fear
The Walking Dead 17: Do not be afraid
US: ISBN 1-60706-615-7 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-86425-099-4 (HC)
ISBN 978-3-95981-363-1 (SC)
December 4, 2012
March 23, 2013
or December 4, 2019
The Walking Dead No. 97-102
The Walking Dead Vol. 18: What Comes After
The Walking Dead 18: Limits
US: ISBN 1-60706-687-4 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-86425-100-1 (HC)
ISBN 978-3-95981-376-1 (SC)
June 18, 2013
August 23, 2013
or February 12, 2020
The Walking Dead No. 103-108
The Walking Dead Vol. 19: March To War
The Walking Dead 19: On the Warpath
US: ISBN 1-60706-818-4 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-86425-101-X (HC)
ISBN 978-3-96658-140-0 (SC)
November 19, 2013
December 18, 2013
or May 13, 2020
The Walking Dead No. 109-114
The Walking Dead Vol. 20: All Out War: Part One
The Walking Dead 20: War - Part 1
US: ISBN 1-60706-882-6 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-86425-102-8 (HC)
March 11, 2014
April 28, 2014
The Walking Dead No. 115-120
The Walking Dead Vol. 21: All Out War: Part Two
The Walking Dead 21: War - Part 2
US: ISBN 1-63215-030-1 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-86425-102-8 (HC)
July 23, 2014
September 16, 2014
The Walking Dead No. 121-126
The Walking Dead Vol. 22: A New Beginning
The Walking Dead 22: A New Beginning
US: ISBN 1-63215-041-7 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-86425-416-7 (HC)
November 5, 2014
February 12, 2015
The Walking Dead No. 127-132
The Walking Dead Vol. 23: Whispers Into Screams
The Walking Dead 23: The whisper is followed by the scream
US: ISBN 1-63215-258-4 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-86425-417-5 (HC)
May 12, 2015
June 29, 2015
The Walking Dead No. 133-138
The Walking Dead Vol. 24: Life and Death
The Walking Dead 24: Life and Death
US: ISBN 1-63215-402-1 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-86425-418-3 (HC)
September 1, 2015
November 9, 2015
The Walking Dead No. 139-144
The Walking Dead Vol. 25: No Turning Back
The Walking Dead 25: Among Wolves
US: ISBN 1-63215-659-8 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-86425-419-1 (HC)
March 30, 2016
May 23, 2016
The Walking Dead No. 145-150
The Walking Dead Vol. 26: Call to Arms
The Walking Dead 26: To Arms
US: ISBN 1-63215-917-1 (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-95981-221-3 (HC)
September 20, 2016
October 11, 2016
The Walking Dead No. 151-156
The Walking Dead Vol. 27: The Whisperer War
The Walking Dead 27: The War of the Whisperers
US: ISBN 1-53430-052-X (SC)
DE: ISBN 3-95981-225-6 (HC)
March 7, 2017
April 12, 2017
The Walking Dead No. 157-162
The Walking Dead Vol. 28: A Certain Doom The Walking Dead 28: Certain
Death
US: ISBN 978-1-5343-0244-0 (SC)
DE: ISBN 978-3-95981-229-0 (HC)
September 12, 2017
October 11, 2017
The Walking Dead No. 163-168
The Walking Dead Vol. 29: Lines We Cross
The Walking Dead 29: One Step Too Far
US: ISBN 978-1-5343-0497-0 (SC)
DE: ISBN 978-3-95981-233-7 (HC)
March 13, 2018
April 11, 2018
The Walking Dead No. 169-174
The Walking Dead Vol. 30: New World Order
The Walking Dead 30: New World Order
US: ISBN 978-1-5343-0884-8 (SC)
DE: ISBN 978-3-959812-37-5 (HC)
September 11, 2018
October 16, 2018
The Walking Dead No. 175-180
The Walking Dead Vol. 31: The Rotten Core The Walking Dead 31: Corrupted to the Core
US: ISBN 978-1-5343-1052-0 (SC)
DE: ISBN 978-3-959812-41-2 (HC)
March 12, 2019
April 17, 2019
The Walking Dead No. 181-186
The Walking Dead Vol. 32: Rest in Peace
The Walking Dead 32: Rest in Peace
US: ISBN 978-1-5343-1241-8 (SC)
DE: ISBN 978-3-959813-54-9 (HC)
August 13, 2019
October 16, 2019
The Walking Dead No. 187-193

Hardcover

All hard covers contain the material of the comics as well as the cover and some additional material. The books are bigger than the paperbacks . Each volume contains twelve issues of the series. Each volume was also published in a signed luxury version limited to 300 copies.

Title (US / DE) ISBN (US / DE) Publication (US / DE) expenditure Cover figure
The Walking Dead Book One HC: ISBN 1-58240-619-7 July 19, 2006 The Walking Dead No. 1-12 Rick
The Walking Dead Book Two HC: ISBN 1-58240-698-7 March 7, 2007 The Walking Dead No. 13-24 Michonne
The Walking Dead Book Three HC: ISBN 1-58240-825-4 December 19, 2007 The Walking Dead No. 25-36 The Governor
The Walking Dead Book Four HC: ISBN 1-60706-000-0 October 29, 2008 The Walking Dead No. 37-48 Lori and Judith
The Walking Dead Book Five HC: ISBN 1-60706-171-6 May 5, 2010 The Walking Dead No. 49-60 Abraham
The Walking Dead Book Six HC: ISBN 1-60706-327-1 October 13, 2010 The Walking Dead No. 61-72 Carl
The Walking Dead Book Seven HC: ISBN 1-60706-439-1 October 18, 2011 The Walking Dead No. 73-84 Rick
The Walking Dead Book Eight HC: ISBN 1-60706-593-2 October 2, 2012 The Walking Dead No. 85-96 Andrea
The Walking Dead Book Nine HC: ISBN 1-60706-798-6 4th September 2013 The Walking Dead No. 97-108 Negan
The Walking Dead Book Ten HC: ISBN 1-63215-034-4 September 9, 2014 The Walking Dead No. 109-120 Ezekiel
The Walking Dead Book Eleven HC: ISBN 1-63215-271-1 February 25, 2015 The Walking Dead No. 121-132 Paul 'Jesus' Monroe
The Walking Dead Book Twelve HC: ISBN 1-63215-451-X September 30, 2015 The Walking Dead No. 133-144 Rick
The Walking Dead Book Thirteen HC: ISBN 1-63215-916-3 5th October 2016 The Walking Dead No. 145-156 alpha
The Walking Dead Book Fourteen HC: ISBN 1-53430-329-4 October 11, 2017 The Walking Dead No. 157-168 Dwight
The Walking Dead Book Fifteen HC: ISBN 978-1-5343-0850-3 October 10, 2018 The Walking Dead No. 169-180 Juanita "Princess" Sanchez
The Walking Dead Book Sixteen HC: ISBN 978-1-5343-1325-5 September 10, 2019 The Walking Dead No. 181-193 Rick
The Walking Dead: All Out War Artist's Proof Edition HC: ISBN 1-63215-038-7 October 1, 2014 The Walking Dead No. 115-126 Rick and Negan
The Walking Dead: The Covers
The Walking Dead - Die Cover 1: From 2003 to 2010
HC: ISBN 1-60706-002-7
HC: ISBN 3-942649-26-8
October 6, 2010
October 10, 2011
The Walking Dead No. 1-50 (Cover) -
The Walking Dead: The Covers - Volume 2 HC: ISBN 1-60706-595-9 TBA The Walking Dead No. 51-100 (cover) -
The Walking Dead: Here's Negan
The Walking Dead: Negan Ist Hier
HC: ISBN 978-1-5343-0327-0
HC: ISBN 978-3-95981-630-4
October 4, 2017
November 22, 2017
First published on 16 issues of the monthly Image + magazine distributed between April 27, 2016 - July 26, 2017 -

Omnibus editions

Limited Edition Omnibus Editions contain 24 issues in a slipcase with various extras. The first edition was signed by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard and is limited to 300 copies. The second version is limited to 3000, there is also a Deluxe Limited Edition (signed by Kirkman and Adlard), of which only 300 were also printed.

title ISBN publication expenditure
The Walking Dead Volume 1 Deluxe HC HC: ISBN 1-58240-511-5 . December 14, 2005 The Walking Dead No. 1-24
The Walking Dead Volume 2 Deluxe HC HC: ISBN 1-60706-029-9 . February 17, 2009 The Walking Dead No. 25-48
The Walking Dead Volume 3 Omnibus HC HC: ISBN 1-60706-330-1 . February 8, 2011 The Walking Dead No. 49-72
The Walking Dead Volume 4 Omnibus HC HC: ISBN 1-60706-616-5 . December 25, 2012 The Walking Dead No. 73-96
The Walking Dead Volume 5 Omnibus HC HC: ISBN 1-63215-042-5 . 19th November 2014 The Walking Dead No. 97-120
The Walking Dead Volume 6 Omnibus HC HC: ISBN 1-63215-521-4 . 2nd December 2015 The Walking Dead No. 121-144
The Walking Dead Volume 7 Omnibus HC HC: ISBN 1-53430-335-9 . 7th November 2017 The Walking Dead No. 145-168
The Walking Dead Volume 8 Omnibus HC HC: ISBN 1-53431-356-7 . November 12, 2019 The Walking Dead No. 169-193

There is also a limited hardcover edition of the first edition, with a black leatherette cover and red foil.

Compendium Edition

These editions each consist of 48 issues and are available as paperbacks.

title ISBN publication expenditure
The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1
The Walking Dead - Compendium 1
US: ISBN 1-60706-076-0 (SC)
DE: ISBN 978-3-86425-358-4 (SC)
May 6, 2009
November 14, 2013
The Walking Dead No. 1-48
The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 2
The Walking Dead - Compendium 2
US: ISBN 1-60706-596-7 (SC)
DE: ISBN 978-3-86425-359-1 (SC)
October 16, 2012
June 19, 2014
The Walking Dead No. 49-96
The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 3
The Walking Dead - Compendium 3
US: ISBN 1-63215-456-0 (SC)
DE: ISBN 978-3-86425-360-7 (SC)
October 13, 2015
November 9, 2015
The Walking Dead No. 97-144
The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 4
The Walking Dead - Compendium 4
US: ISBN 978-153431-340-8 (SC)
DE: ISBN 978-3-95981-369-3 (SC)
October 2, 2019
December 4, 2019
The Walking Dead No. 145-193

The Walking Dead Cutting Room Floor

For 2012 the book The Walking Dead Cutting-Room Floor with previously unpublished stories was announced by Image Comics , but has not yet been published.

The Walking Dead in Playboy

For the March 16, 2012 issue of the US playboy , Robert Kirkman wrote the story of Michonne from the comic series in collaboration with cartoonist Charlie Adlard.

reception

Max Brooks told Kirkman that he read The Walking Dead and liked it, but Kirkman said he couldn't read World War Z until he finished The Walking Dead . IGN's Eric Sunde named The Walking Dead the best monthly comic series.

Other media

Games app

A game for the series was released as a mobile app in 2018 .

TV adaptation

On August 12, 2009, AMC announced that they had acquired the rights to the series. Frank Darabont is to act as a screenwriter , director and executive producer . Charles H. Eglee also as a writer and executive producer.

The order for a pilot for the series was announced on January 21, 2010, and filming began on May 15. The actors include Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori), Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes), Jon Bernthal (Shane Walsh), Steven Yeun (Glenn), Laurie Holden (Andrea), IronE Singleton (T- Dog) and Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale). The first season consists of six episodes and started on October 31, 2010 in the United States.

On November 5, 2010, the FOX Channel began broadcasting in German.

Animation film

AMC released an animated short film from the first part of the first issue. The animations were created by Juice Films , the voiceover is Phil LaMarr and the drawings are by Tony Moore.

Video game

On February 17, 2011, the development studio Telltale Games announced that a video game based on the comic series was in the works. The publication was initially planned for autumn 2011, but has been postponed to an indefinite time. The first episode was released on April 25, 2012, on April 27 for the Xbox 360. In the meantime, all parts (5 episodes) have been released for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. The German Xbox Live marketplace was an exception. After Microsoft first announced that The Walking Dead - The Game would not appear on the marketplace, the first episode appeared there too late on May 8, 2012.

The first episode of Season 2 of the Telltale series was released for all platforms in December 2013. The remaining parts (episodes 2–5) followed by summer 2014.

Activision released a game called The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct , which describes the common history of the series protagonists Merle and Daryl Dixon on their way to Atlanta. The game first appeared on March 19, 2013 in North America, then on March 22 in Europe. It's for Windows , Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 and Wii U available.

Book series

On October 11, 2011, Robert Kirkman published the novel "The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor" with Jay Bonansinga in the American publisher Thomas Dunne Books . There should be a total of three novels about the background story of the "Governor" Philip, which does not appear in the comics. The second volume “The Road to Woodbury” was published on October 25, 2012, the third volume “The Fall of the Governor” is planned for the end of 2013.

On July 9th, 2012 Heyne Verlag published the first novel in German under the name The Walking Dead . The second novel followed on April 9, 2013 under the name The Walking Dead 2 . Also, The Walking Dead 3 (2012) and The Walking Dead 4 (2013) was published in German.

Audio book / radio play

Board game

Cryptozoic Entertainment released the official board game for the comic series in March 2012.

Collectible figurines

The company A Diamond Select published 27 March 2012 The Walking Dead figures, designed and sculpted by Art Asylum .

Aircel range

In 1989, a four-part comic series appeared under the name The Walking Dead by Aircel Comics . Another special episode followed in 1990. Apart from the zombie issue, there is no connection between the Aircel and Image issues.

literature

  • Andreas Wronka: “Are we the Walking Dead?” The question of human freedom based on the comic “The Walking Dead”, in: RelliS issue 1/2014, pp. 45–50.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Michael Patrick Sullivan: WEEK OF THE DEAD I: Robert Kirkman. Comic Book Resources, May 19, 2008, accessed September 10, 2010 .
  2. Michael Patrick Sullivan: WEEK OF THE DEAD II: Charlie Adlard. Comic Book Resources, May 20, 2008, accessed September 10, 2010 .
  3. Tony Moore: The Walking Dead. Retrieved October 11, 2017 .
  4. Surprising ending for cult comic "The Walking Dead". Retrieved July 4, 2019 .
  5. Film starts : This is how the "Walking Dead" comic series ends - and at some point the series too? Retrieved July 4, 2019 .
  6. The Walking Dead, Volume 3: The Refuge
  7. The Walking Dead, Volume 4: What the Heart Desires
  8. The Walking Dead, Volume 5: The Best Defense
  9. The Walking Dead, Volume 6: This Worrying Life
  10. The Walking Dead, Volume 7: The Calm Before the Storm
  11. The Walking Dead, Volume 8: An Eye for an Eye
  12. The Walking Dead, Volume 9: In the Dark Valley
  13. The Walking Dead, Volume 10: Demons
  14. The Walking Dead, Volume 11: Hunters and the Hunted
  15. The Walking Dead, Volume 12: Brave New World
  16. The Walking Dead, Volume 13: No Going Back
  17. The Walking Dead 14: Trapped
  18. The Walking Dead 15: Your Will Be Done
  19. The Walking Dead 16: A Bigger World
  20. The Walking Dead 17: Do not be afraid
  21. The Walking Dead 18: Limits
  22. The Walking Dead 19: On the Warpath
  23. The Walking Dead 20: War, Part One
  24. The Walking Dead 21: War, Part Two
  25. The Walking Dead 22: A New Beginning
  26. The Walking Dead 23: The whisper is followed by a scream
  27. The Walking Dead 24: Life and Death
  28. The Walking Dead 25: Among Wolves
  29. The Walking Dead 26: To Guns
  30. The Walking Dead 27: The War of the Whisperers
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