Top 10 Most Shocking Moments from ‘The Walking Dead’

If you haven’t read The Walking Dead and you intend to (and you should because it’s the second best comic of all time), it’s best to come back to this feature some other time because reading these events in their original context is some of the best comic entertainment ever.

Warning: Graphic and disturbing images follow.

The Walking Dead has been a comic series that pulls no punches. From opening with the lead character getting his ass shot into a coma only to awaken to a word gone to hell the shocks come one after another. Kirkman is a smart enough writer to know that simply piling shocks on top of each other will only lessen the impact, but instead balances it out with character development and drama. As a result we get one of the best ongoing series ever. Time to count down the most shocking moments up until Volume 16 of the graphic novels.

10. The Washington Lie

After the massacre at the prison the few remaining survivors were feeling lost. Without a place to call home they were once again at Hershel’s farm. That’s when three newcomers happen upon them with a mission. They’re on their way to the capital where a secret bunker holding the remains of the government were working towards a cure. Eugene, one of the trio, had been in contact and had the information they needed. The survivors had a purpose again, a noble mission and most importantly they had a reason to hope again (as hokey as it sounds). It is later revealed that Eugene had lied – he wasn’t a scientist, he wasn’t in touch with anyone and there was no cure. His story was simply a way to get people to protect him. This reveal is as crushing as it could get at that point in time.

9. Rick Crosses the Line

As distrust between the survivors and the inmates begin to grow, the powerful Dexter takes matters into his own hands. Donning riot gear and arming himself he decides that he’s had enough of Rick and stages a coup. This coincides with a zombie breach that sees dozens of the undead flow into the prison. In the firefight that follows Rick takes the opportunity to put a bullet through Dexter’s head and pass it off as accidental friendly fire. At this point Rick had always done the right thing, willing to give people a chance and refusing to leave people behind. This was the first instance of Rick allowing his primal nature to come to surface and take another human life.

8. The Hunters

A recurring theme throughout the ongoing narrative concerns the savagery of humans when removed from the simple convenience of the modern world. Having already seen the monstrous Governor lead his naive group against them it seemed as though they’d seen people at their worst. While traveling to Washington DC they encounter another vicious breed. Dale is taken by a group who have started treating other people as cattle, hunting them down and picking of the weak to use as a food supply. With a group mentality it had become acceptable to them to use weaker people to sustain themselves – a savage set of principles resorted to by a normal folk.

7. Julie and Chris

As the survivors travel away from Atlanta they meet Tyreese, along with his daughter Julie and her boyfriend Chris, scavenging for food. Falling in the larger group they play an integral role in founding the prison colony. Not long after fortifying their new home are the survivors woken up by gunshots. Julie had been pushed into a suicide pack from the overly dramatic boyfriend. Insisting that they can only be happy together in the afterlife they foolishly planned to simultaneously fire guns at each other. Julie winds up dead before re-animating and attacking Tyreese, being shot again by Chris. Tyreese responds by brutally beating Chris to death, waiting for him to re-animate so he can beat him again. The notion of suicide isn’t uncommon in the story, but the naive approach taken here defies belief, almost juxtaposed against the savage, primal response from Tyreese.

6. Innocence Lost

When Hershel brings his family to prison to join Rick and his band of survivors it seemed as though they’d found a peaceful existence. Maggie was finding love with Glen, Billy and Hershel had plans to start farming and his two very young  daughters can play safely. While everyone is settling in the girls go of to explore in the zombie free areas. Not long after they are found, both dead and decapitated, by the hand on an inmate that they believed was in for embezzlement. Even when they were protected from the hordes of the undead by the fences they were still at risk of those locked it with them.

5. The Governor’s Daughter

Up until a point the Governor of Woodbury seems to be almost understandable. He, like Rick, only wants what is best for the people under his protection. He’s distrustful of strangers, concerned about supplies and defenses and although they have a pretty savage form of entertainment it’s not like they have TV or anything. He reveals his true colours before long, imprisoning and attacking Rick, Michonne and Glen and torturing them. It’s only when we get an insight into his home that that insanity is finally revealed. His collection of severed heads barely compares to his zombified daughter, kept on a chain and fed on scraps of human meat.

4. The Prison Massacre

When the Governor launched his attack on the survivors in the prison it was a hellish experience with no single moment that stands out as the ‘most’ shocking. It’s the sheer body count and impact this has on the group that really hammers it home. Lori and Judy hits the hardest with Hershel, Billy, Axel, Alice and Tyreese adding to to the toll. With the survivors scattered and wounded following the assault it leaves the reader just as confused and lost as the characters.

3. Ben’s Sickness is Revealed

Young twins Ben and Billy were part of the original group of survivors from Atlanta and were unofficially adopted by Andrea and Dale after their parents die. They never play as big a role in the group as Carl or Sophia, but were left to their own devices in the background. Due to this nobody noticed that Ben had turned into something darker. Confused about how the world was working he’d started to kill and mutilate small animals to work things out. This only came to light when he cut open his brother Billy with the expectation that he’d come right back. Uncertain what to do with Ben, the survivors have him locked in the back of the truck until they decide. Just as shocking is that it is Carl who eventually sneaks in and executes the boy, who didn’t understand that he’d done something wrong.

2. Maggie Wants Out

Although Maggie had found happiness with Glenn and taken it the orphaned Sophia to create a family for herself, she still had lost more than almost anyone else in the group. She came from a large family who had fortified themselves against the hordes on their farm. Even before Rick and his group happen upon the farm she’d already lost her brothers Shawn and Arnold, them both being turned an imprisoned in the barn. Her older sister Lacey dies shortly after meeting the group when the zombies in the barn break free. When the family moves to the prison colony her younger twin sisters are murdered by one of the remaining inmates. Finally, her remaining brother Billy and father are killed by the Governor’s people when they attack the prison. Even after all this Maggie seemed to be coping pretty well, making the most out of her new relationships, which is why it came as such a shock when Glenn found her hanging from a tree.

1. Carl Takes a Bullet

One of the great selling points of TWD is that no-one is safe. Regardless of age, role in the group, length of time in the series…anyone could go at any moment. Whether it’s falling among others during a siege or opening a door with a roamer on the other side there never is a time when anyone is completely safe. Except maybe Rick Grimes and his son Carl. It’s Rick’s story, without him there’s no story to tell and his son is an essential part of his story. Even after losing his wife and daughter it seemed impossible that anything could happen to Carl. Which is why seeing him with a gaping bullet wound where he used to have an eye left so many readers feeling physically sick – not at the horrific sight but because the line had been crossed. If you were anything less than stunned at this turn of events then you’re one of the zombies.