Amph Walking Dead comic book discussion (spoilers inside for fans of tv show)

I didn't find a thread already devoted to the comic book so figured I would start one. By the way the comic is far far ahead of the tv show so anybody who watches the tv show but hasn't read the comic and doesn't want to be spoiled might not want to read through the thread.

I think they are at an interesting point right now. It really seems Kirkman is trying to develop a conflict between the Hilltop group and the Alexandria group. The last issue ended with Rick and Andrea talking about how they couldn't just kill people because if they started doing that again they would lose everything that they had built up to this point. And then you turn the page and Maggie is having the Hilltop group hang Gregory.

I really feel that the whole Whisperers and Carl storyline is just there to help fuel a potential feud between Maggie and Glenn. I don't at this point see the Whisperers as being any type of threat to the groups we know now. They just seem to have the mindset that if you leave us alone we will leave you alone.

Maggie and Rick will likely see eachother for the first time in awhile in the next issue or two and Maggie will have to tell Rick that Carl left with the Whisperers. Will be interesting to see what Rick's reaction is.

 

Carl is in love with a girl who licked his eye-hole. That's how it works, right? I think the Whisperers are one of the better ideas Kirkman has come up with, although I was actually kind of okay with the idea that the zombies are "evolving" and can talk, but Whispers society is a really interesting development. And when they came to Hilltop, they actually didn't attack en masse, for once!

Negan is still Negan, even locked up, although I would love to see him interact with the fringe groups. I doubt the Saviours are going to take him back any time soon.

Michone putting away her sword yet again is a tad tired. But at least she's a pirate now, that's cool.

I would love to see The Whisperers storyline eventually make it's way onto the show but I feel the comic storyline and the pace at which it's adapted can only extend for the show's run until I would say "All Out War" would be the series finale. Sure Walking Dead will continue to get great ratings but at a certain point it's too damn pricey to hold onto the cast / make the show. Maybe the Whisperers will show up in Fear the Walking Dead Season 6!

 

I have a hunch that the Whisperers will eventually join one of the already established communities. That was messed up about Carl and Lydia licking his eye socket. I think Carl's reaction after having sex with a girl for the first time was pretty realistic. Negan is an interesting deal. I don't really see him as becoming a villian again but it doesn't seem like Kirkman is ready to kill him off just yet. Eventually somebody is going to kill him and I wonder who it will be. He invented an entirely new character to kill off the Governor.

Yeah I do feel like ending the original series after All out War would be a good plan. There is a lengthy timeskip after that anyways and I'm not sure after all the excitement viewers will get from that war if turning the show into a slow paced civilization building plot would work that well. They could make the war last a good two seasons in my opinion and that would be a good run for the show. If FTWD proves successful they can take over for the main series after that in my opinion.

 

With the massive amount of world building that has been going on for the past year or so, I wonder if we'll ever get a spinoff book. I would totally buy a book about Michonne's adventures on the high seas.

 

They might. They have been doing a Woodbury book series for awhile now with the Governor and Lilly as the main characters. Only the first two are really worth reading in my opinion and you absolutely want to stop reading the series after Fall of the Governor. The latest book was absolutely.
attrocious.

I only want them to write more books however if Jay Bonansinga is not the author.

 

I would read a Michonne Pirate Book if she spent most of it battling (zombifed) sea-creatures of the deep. Maybe she was gone for so long because she went all Moby Dick. But a zombie Moby Dick.

 

So... Issue 144.

You know, I was looking forward to seeing the Whisperers on screen for the TV series, but I never want to see the end of this issue in live action. Kudos to Kirkman for once again topping himself, and though I am pretty disturbed by this development, it made sense considering what we know of Alpha.

Spoiler

Damn, Kirkman really dug deep into the well of minor characters with a couple of those kills (Erin, Amber), but I think he picked extremely well. There is motivation for pretty much everyone from all the communities to be pissed off and want revenge. Ugh, if this is the way Rosita goes out in show... geez. Rosita never really did much in the comic until recently, but I like her role in the show. She's got a spark in her that comic!Rosita never really had, and I do not want to see her head on a stick.

What's going to happen to the Kingdom now? We know pretty much nothing about anyone else who lives there, so does Ezekiel have a successor lined up? This is going to throw everything into chaos.

 

What's interesting about the carnage that closed out Issue #144 is that it's going to be the ending to Compendium Volume #3 (giant tomes that come out every few years encompassing 48 issues of the book). That's why the schedule for Walking Dead was ramped up these past 2 years or so with a few bimonthly issues tossed in so the Compendium comes sooner. It's kind of interesting from a scheduling perspective because the show right now is nearing the end of Compendium #2 and by the time Compendium #3 hits the stands (all out war and onward to 144) if anyone wants to buy the series in bulk to get a jump on the TV series, it'll basically be setting up what I'm thinking the end of Season 6-onward will be an adaptation of Compendium #3.

Oh, and this is a no-duh moment but I didn't realize it until I read it but

Spoiler

all of those heads on pikes, they aren't dead they're zombie heads! So Rosita and Ezekiel are zombie heads on sticks! Also what happened to their bodies?! Ahhh! Also the spread of those last few pages with the shot of head, bottom panel of people asking where they were was genius. I actually kept turning in horror expecting to see Michonne or Andrea heads on sticks, and the panel with Rick looking in horror at a head with the flowing dreadlocks made me think that was Michone but it was Ezekiel. Which was something of a relief. Still horrible, but a relief. Anyway, this post All Out War stuff has been pretty awesome, especially the twist with the Whisperers but I'm pretty much convinced the TV show will end with All Out War. But I would love to see this moment on the show, damn!

 

The end of #144 damn near killed me.

Spoiler

I'd come to quite like Rosita and her relationship with Eugene. And then Ezekiel as well. Dammit Kirkman!

What I liked most about #144 is we finally had Rick doing something for the first time since the end of All Out War. As much as I like characters like Michonne, Maggie, Jesus, Carl etc, it's Rick that's the main attraction for me. I know he's busted up with only one hand and a bum leg, but the day Rick Grimes can no longer kick ass will be a sad day.

I really have no idea what's going on with Alpha. I don't think she's in control as much as she likes to let on, hence why she begged Rick to take Lydia with him and put on the little act exiling her.

 

Alpha would be a hellova juicy part for the TV show, one of the more interesting characters to pop up in the book. Damn, now it has to go like, what, 10 seasons if they want to reach this point?

This seems like a decent place to discuss some casting ideas for the TV show without driving the TV show only viewers in their thread batty. Random suggestion from a website called thearnoldfans but I suddenly REALLY like this idea for Negan, but I'm weird like that.

http://www.thearnoldfans.com/news/2...rdwick-brett-azar-on-zombies-terminators.html

theArnoldFans: You’re the host of Talking Dead and Arnold did a zombie movie recently, so isn’t it time we get Arnold in Walking Dead? What role should he have in it?

Chris Hardwick: "Well, he should just be a whole new character. I wonder if Arnold could be a good Negan?! Yes, Arnold might be a good Negan! There isn’t anything in the books that suggest Negan has an Austrian accent but they’ve deviated before (from the books). So I think Arnold can be Negan!"​

​

​

​

​

Other suggestion / probably false rumour I saw for Negan was Kevin Durand.​

​

​

​

Even though he's on The Strain, I think it'd be great. I actually like him in anything so yeah.​

​

 

Whoever they pick they have to do a better job with him than they did with The Governor. I love David Morrissey, but he was wrong for the role.

If he hadn't played Shane, Jon Bernthal might have made a good Negan.

 

They tried to close out S4 with Rick's "They are ******* with the wrong people" line but AMC didn't let them, which led to the odd "They are screwing with the wrong people" line. Why can't AMC swear anything more intense than the S-word? No F-bombs? No MF-bombs? Wasn't the F-bomb dropped in a few eps of Breaking Bad?

I honestly don't think Negan's swearing is like totally integral to the character but it's a fun character trait. I'm sure he'll still be wordy as hell and I expect them to stick reallll close to how he was presented in the comics.

Anybody notice that the show seems to be overall trending towards closer to the comics anyway, they seem to be dropping characters who didn't survive this long / original characters quite a lot. Morgan turned out way awesomer on the show than the kinda sad sack who popped up in the comics run, though. I do like that. Same with TV Carol who is pretty dang great.

I think Daryl Dixon's time on the show is limited. They gotta kill a big one eventually and he has to real counterpart in the story, especially at this point. Glenn's meeting with Negan is practically an internet meme at this point to Walking Dead fans, pretty sure that's slipped over into TV show viewers knowing it'll happen, and they did show Glenn sort of playing around with a baseball bat so, y'know, FORESHADOWING.

If Negan ain't around by the time S6 ends, I'd be downright shocked.

 

Yeah, since we didn't get comic!Andrea in the show, having Carol there to take part of her role is great, and they've done wonders with her. Although I'm curious as to who Rick is going to romance in the show without Andrea. I seriously doubt it will be Carol, and I don't ever see him and Sasha getting together. I don't want it to be Michonne because I think they have a great dynamic without the romance. Maybe Jessie will last a lot longer in the show than she does in the comic and turn into a competent survivor.

Also, Kevin Durand as Negan is a must. His role on Lost cemented him as a perfect actor to play great love-to-hate villains in my mind.

 

Jessie's exit is so perfectly brutal, they kinda have to keep it. And I think the actress is really good and really cute and it's heartwarming to see Rick be sorta, kinda almost human towards her but the point is he bails on her to get munched to save Carl. Maybe Rick gets a new romantic interest or maybe even Michone? But, as mentioned above, it would really ruin their dynamic. Or maybe he's ridding solo the rest of the series after Jessie's exit. But that's one of the big comic moments it'd be a shame if they didn't adapt it pretty closely.

The zombie horde attack on Alexandria (teased in the S6 trailer) is pretty memorable not mostly cuz how it happens but how it ends with the Carl / Jessie moment. I get the feeling the Wolves will be the ones who unleash the horde because the TV show showed them stockpiling zombies. I have this vaguely annoyed feeling The Wolves will end up being The Saviours however that would really bother me if Negan's crew rolled up all with W's carved into their foreheads.

 

I doubt the Wolves are the Saviors. Very different MOs and they would not change it up that much.

And that is a good point about Jessie. Her death needs to stay for sure, although I wonder how it will change since she has two kids in the show instead of just one.

 

See I think Rick and Michonne as a couple wouldn't ruin it at all. If anything it seems like a logical continuation of their relationship.

 

Comic has been on a bit of a slower pace (even by Walking Dead standards) after the craziness to the ending of the heads on the pike issues. And the most recent issue had some good character stuff but ending with Carl's girlfriend waving a gun around seemed a bit like "oh, final page, gotta have a cliffhanger, I guess" but it's going to be interesting to see how exactly the whole situation with The Whisperers plays out since Rick is dead set against a giant confrontation.

Actually, speaking of the comic and the TV show, the big horde in S6 did happen in the comic but the "super-horde in the hole" is actually from The Whisperers more recently, the Horde that attacked Alexandria in the comic just kinda showed up but the setup between where they started in the TV show is pretty similar. I think it's kind of awesome that they're taking the horde attack from the comic and seemingly stretching it out for the first half of S6, pretty intense but I like it. Jessie's time has to be limited, her death in the horde is pretty darn awful. I still think that's a sign that the show isn't going to reach the post-All Out War timejump / Whisperers period. Unless they start throwing giant buckets of cash and manage to get the show to go onto 13 seasons or something. The Wolves, total guess, may end up being wiped out by Negan's Saviors, it'd certainly make them live up to their name.

As for the big thing - Glenn getting eaten thing - that happened on the show this week, I'm of two minds about it. If it's a fake-out, it'd be a great setup for if/when Negan smashes in Glenn's head. Like if they set up earlier in the season that Glenn escaped certain death, it'd make his death at Negan's Lucille come as more of a shocker. But if Glenn is dead, I admit it's odd to see him go out as a Not Negan death but it was still really horrible anyway, which sorta counts. But you need a big major character to fall to Negan, either Daryl or Carol, one of the TV show big ones.

However, there seems to be a definitive TV show spoiler answer

Spoiler

there's setpics of Glenn shooting the show later on in the season so, yeah, somefreakinhow Glenn isn't dead. Which means he is still the probable Negan victim.

As for more Comic / Walking Dead media crossover did anyone see what Teltale is up to? Walking Dead: Michonne!

http://www.thewalkingdead.com/next-installment-of-telltales-twd-revealed/

set around "All Out War" and "Pirate Michonne" era in the comic, that sounds like a blast.

 

S6 finale, Negan walks into frame & either does Lucille thing as the finale or the S7 opener.

As for the comic, Kirkman always says that it's the zombie movie that never ends but I think he also once said "300 issues" may be the limit. The show is never going to leave Alexandria, I'm convinced it's going to end with All Out War as S7/S8. But the comic may finally end up leaving when the Whisperers thing shakes out, which is a shame because they have a full on society in between Hilltop & Alexandria & The Kingdom. But they also have Pirate Boats! Maybe Rick & Co. will be ousted from Alexandria, like it'll still be there but everyone will be so ticked with Rick's non-reaction to The Whispers they replace him as the Leader. Then it's Walking Dead on the High Seas for issue 200 and onward! Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!

 

Yeah the book has been at Alexandria / DC for, like, almost 70 issues now? Sure, a lot of the overall point of the book is World building in the zombie apocalypse aftermath (and probably the biggest theme of the series) and there is definitely still fallout to be taken out (we still don't know what the Saviours are up to post-Negan) and there isn't that much explored in the post timeskip communities but I think we have a general gist of it (a lot of farming, apparently). However, I think the book is due for another big turn in location eventually, when this Whisperers stuff shakes out, however long that will be.

Now I have it in my head it's going to be a zombie killing on the high seas with Team Grimes going avast! Michonne as Captain. Negan as First Officer. Rick demoted to, like, Cabin Boy or something.

 

here's the trailer for the "what happened to Michonne when she was a freakin' pirate!" Teletale game. Since I'm down with the comics, the games and the TV series, it's neat to see his hole in the comic filled in with the game creators (possibly pound-for-pound some of the best Walking Dead storytelling per-capita). I'm sure this may confound the bejesus outta people who just see this trailer and don't know the comic (or the people who watch the TV series and play the game but don't know the comic.)

Anyway, Pirate Michonne: the Game, goddamnit!