Home Comics Comics 101 – The Walking Dead Volumes 1-12
Comics 101 – The Walking Dead Volumes 1-12

Comics 101 – The Walking Dead Volumes 1-12

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After the controversial finale of The Walking Dead season 6, we figured there would be plenty of people who are mad at the showrunners but still big fans of the series, so what better way to get your TWD fill (and avoid a case of blue balls) than by reading the comics! Or, if you don’t have time (or the funds!) to read through 24 volumes, we’ve got you covered on this week’s Comics 101.

Volume 1

Officer Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma to find that he is in a deserted hospital and surrounded by the reanimated dead. After making his way home to search for his wife, Lori, and son, Carl, Rick is mistaken for the undead and knocked out by a boy called Duane Jones. Duane’s father, Morgan, helps Rick and fills him in on the end of the world. Rick then leaves for Atlanta to search for his family.

After being saved in Atlanta by a guy called Glenn, we’re introduced to others at the camp, the main characters being Dale, Carol and her daughter Sophia, his former partner Shane, sisters Andrea and Amy and, lo and behold, his family. With Rick now back with Lori and Carl, arguments start up between he and Shane, who has clearly grown fond of Lori. After acquiring more guns by drenching themselves in walker blood and guts to mask their scent, the two partners teaches the group how to shoot, revealing Andrea to be a natural shot.

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Unfortunately the group is attacked by walkers and Amy is bitten in the neck and is shot by her sister. In a tense ending, Rick and Shane argue once again about the group’s future and the fight gets physical with Shane pulling a gun on his former partner. Before he can pull the trigger, however, he is shot and killed by Carl.

Volume 2

After we learn that Shane and Lori slept together after leaving Rick in the hospital, the group buries Shane and leaves in an RV belonging to Dale. They get stuck on the road and end up meeting Tyreese, his daughter Julie and her boyfriend Chris. They join Rick’s group and Lori reveals she is pregnant.

They find a place called Wiltshire Estates that looks promising but they miss a sign that says ‘All Dead, Do Not Enter’ and ultimately lose another member of the group to a walker bite. Low on food, they hunt and Carl ends up accidentally shot by a man called Otis who works on a farm nearby.

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The farmer, Hershel Greene, is a veterinarian and heals Carl. Hershel and the group have clashing views on walkers as Hershel thinks they’re living people who can be cured. He keeps all the walkers he finds in his barn which proves a terrible mistake as the walkers kill two of his children when they break free.

The group is asked to leave after desposing of the rest of the walkers, but Glenn chooses to stay as he has fallen for Hershel’s daughter, Maggie. After a while on the road, the group discovers a potential home – a prison.

Volume 3

The group clears the prison of walkers and finds four former inmates in the cafeteria inside, who cause problems. They find vehicles and Rick suggests going back to the farm and bringing the survivors there to live with them. Everyone but Otis returns with them.

Tyreese’s daughter and her boyfriend make a suicide pact which results in only Julie dying. Tyreese, mad with grief, beats Chris to death after shooting a reanimated Julie which leads to the all-important realisation that a person doesn’t need to be bitten to become a walker.

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Rick, realising this means Shane is a walker, heads back to Atlanta to put him down. While he’s gone, Hershel’s twin daughters are decapitated and one of the former inmates, Dexter, is locked up. However, the real killer, Thomas, still roams free and tries to attack Andrea.

He is sentenced to death but Patricia, who came from the farm, frees him and he attacks her, leading to Maggie killing him. They throw his body to the walkers and Dexter, Patricia and another inmate turns on the group and tells them to leave at gunpoint.

Volume 4

During the standoff, walkers flood the courtyard and it ends when Rick takes the opportunity to kill Dexter. A newcomer who arrives with two walkers in chains with their jaws and arms removed, Michonne, saves Otis’s live and she becomes part of the group after handing over her katana.

One of the survivors, Allen, is soon bitten by a stray walker in the prison and Rick amputates his leg to try and save him, which ultimately doesn’t work.

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Carol slits her wrists after seeing Tyreese, who she was in a relationship with, being pleasured by Michonne. Tyreese and Rick come to blows and Rick passes out after shooting Allen in the head to stop him turning. The group decides the stress of leading is too much for Rick, and they create a committee made up of Rick, Dale, Hershel and Tyreese.

Volume 5

Rick and Glenn find riot gear and go outside the prison fence to siphon gas. They witness a helicopter crash and leave to search for survivors. At the crash site, they see tracks leading towards a town called Woodbury where their weapons are confiscated by a man called The Governor.

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Rick refuses to give information about their camp and The Governor cuts off his hand. Rick is taken to a doctor while Glenn is locked up and Michonne is beaten and raped after biting off a chunk of The Governor’s ear.

The Governor tells Rick he released Glenn to trail him back to camp but it’s a lie to get Rick to confirm they’re camped at the prison.

Volume 6

The Governor forces Michonne to fight against other gladiators at Woodbury, thinking she’ll be no match for his fighter. She beheads her opponent and the walkers surrounding her, outraging the citizens of Woodbury. Martinez, one of The Governor’s men, helps the group escape and they’er joined by the doctor and his assistant, Alice. Michonne stays behind to get revenge and mutilates The Govenor, leaving him handless, eyeless and close to death.

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She joins up with the others and they get back to the prison in time to see it overrun with walkers. They regain control but Martinez runs off, revealing himself to be a spy, and Rick kills him before he can reach The Governor. Upon returning, Rick tells the group to prepare for war.

Volume 7

Surprisingly, there’s a break after the escape from Woodbury and Glenn and Maggie get married while the others prepare for an attack. On a supply run to a Wal-Mart, however, Maggie, Glenn, Andrea, Michonne, Tyreese and Axel are attacked by The Governor’s men, and Glenn gets shot. He is fine thanks to his riot gear.

Lori goes into labour and gives birth to a girl called Judith. Dale is bitten and loses his leg after being bitten by a walker. Unlike Allen, he survives. His injury causes paranoia for Dale and he thinks Andrea, who he is in a relationship with, will leave him.

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A live walker is brought into the compound for target practice and for Alice to study, despite Rick’s reluctance. Carol, meanwhile, sleeps with Hershel’s son, Billy, and allows the tied up walker to bite her. Soon after, The Governor shows up with all his men for revenge.

Volume 8

The Governor manages to survive and uses the death of Martinez and the doctor to convince the Woodbury residents to attack the prison. He waits for them to let their guard down and attacks. He shouts that if they surrender that nobody has to die but they don’t believe him. Andrea and Axel are shot but The Governor retreats, so they regroup.

Rick comes out of the prison bleeding from the stomach and requires a transfusion from Michonne. Most of the group leave in the RV before The Governor can return but Tyreese and Michonne put on riot gear and bring the fight to him.

Rick wakes to find the best shooters gone and he prepares the prison for attack with those he has left. Tyreese is soon caught by The Governor’s men and one of them, Gabe, claims that Michonne was killed and presents her katana as proof.

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The Governor returns to the prison and says he will kill Tyreese if they don’t open the gates. When they don’t, he cuts off his head with Michonne’s katana but she soon gets the drop on him. However, Gabe shoots her but the body armour offers protection and she grabs her sword and escapes.

They put up a good fight and Andrea returns in the RV to help, but the group can’t hold them off. The Governor destroys the fences and Axel, Billy, Patricia and Hershel are killed. Everyone flees the prison but Lori and the baby are gunned down. Rick and Carl have to keep running.

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The woman who shot Lori and Judith, horrified at what she’s done, turns and shoots The Governor in the head and feeds him to the walkers.

Volume 9

Michonne finds no survivors at the prison and follows footprints leading away from it. Rick, who takes a large dose of antibiotics, sleeps on and off for a few days before getting strong enough to search for food with Carl. He ends up going a little loopy for a while as the person on the other end of a phone call claims to be Lori.

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He unplugs the phone but she continues talking, causing Rick to descend into madness after facing his guilt. Carl is soon attacked by a walker and Michonne suddenly saves him. The three continue on together and they soon run into Glenn, Maggie, Dale, Andrea and Sophia, who all head back to the farm.

They soon meet three strangers who arrive n a truck; Abraham, Rosita and Eugene. The latter claims to have a cure for the outbreak and has to get to Washington DC. The group decide to join them after a huge herd of walkers attacks the farm.

Volume 10

Maggie, grieving for her family, attempts suicide but is saved by Glenn and Abraham. Michonne ends up protecting the group after Rick decides to leave with Carl and Abraham to check on Morgan and Duane. They’re soon held up at knifepoint on the road and one of the attackers threatens to rape Carl. In response, Rick bites into the neck of the man holding him back.

Abraham shoots the man restraining him as the other bleeds out and the third tries to run, only to be run down and repeatedly stabbed by Rick. He says that only killers survive in their new reality after Abraham confides in him about the horrors his family went through.

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They soon find Morgan but Duane turned and, unable to kill him, Morgan chained him to the wall. He leaves with Rick after shooting Duane’s chains but the group run into a few thousands walkers as they try to get back to the others.

Volume 11

Andrea searches for the 5 year old twin brothers, Ben and Billy, who she agreed to look after for Allen after he died, only to find that Ben has murdered Billy. As he is displaying sociopathic tendencies, the group can’t decide what to do about him. A priest called Gabriel shows up as they discuss whether to kill him.

Morgan sees Carl shooting Ben before the group heads out for Gabriel’s church. Problems arise when the group becomes wary about the length of time it takes to get to the church. Dale, wallowing in depression after the death of the twins, is captured as he walks in the woods by two strangers who have been following them.

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Andrea freaks out over Dale’s disappearance and blames Gabriel, who admits he selfishly locked the church and denied shelter to his parishioners, but said he had nothing to do with Dale.

The Hunters, the ones responsible for kidnapping Dale, are cannibals and as Dale comes to they reveal they’ve eaten his leg. He starts laughing hysterically and tells them they’re “eating tainted meat” because he’s been bitten.

He’s used as bait and the group soon finds him still alive. The Hunters attack them and Glenn is shot in the leg. Dale reveals to Andrea that he left the group to spare her the pain of watching him turn. Rick hunts The Hunters and slaughters them.

After burying Dale, Carl admits to Rick that he killed Ben.

Volume 12

The group hits the road and it is soon revealed that Eugene lied about being a government scientist and he says he is just a high school science teacher. The group argues and a stranger called Aaron shows up saying he has been watching the group.

Rick knocks him out and when he wakes up he says he is from a community of 34 people called Alexandria and that they want the group to join them. He soon earns the trust of the group after a walker attack and the group heads to Alexandria.

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The leader of Alexandria, Douglas Monroe, interviews the group individually and they get settled in. However, severla of them struggle with the naiveté of the people living there. Rick, paranoid after the horrible events of the past few months, says they could take it over if they need to and he prepares for the worst.

Check back with The Arcade in a fortnight for the second part of this Comics 101 series which will cover volumes 13 – 24.
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