The Walking Dead (Spoilers)

[Bob_at_york]

Finally read 100 and I thought sacrificing Glenn was lame.

Sorry, it makes no sense from pov of negan. Why not kill the guy who's running the group, or at least physically humiliate him like he threatened to, or heck, just cut off his other hand.

At least figure out who the kids are and hold one or both hostage.

No instead just kill one at random, a guy who may or may not be very important. Then let them all walk away, because hey you only underestimated them twice before, and the brain of the operation couldn't form an alliance with the other group.

I think the book is getting bad because I'm now doing what i do in movies with dumb plot-- i start rooting against the good guy. Also, Rick has been an unhinged guy who beats up people first, asks questions later. But he always turns out to be right because there's always a bigger psycho around the corner.

I think we're being given a false dichotomy, between weak people who can't protect themselves and murderous cannibalistic psychos. So of course self righteous borderline-psycho-himself Rick is going to look like a savior.

It helps that the bad guys are so dumb. Let's show up at the gate and stand out in the open even though you know they have a sharpshooter. Rick stands there in the open and they have bunch of guys with guns and not one can hit him? Oh and after hes killed a bunch of your guys, lets just let him go without a scratch on him. I feel like Seth Green in Austin Powers. Why don't you just shoot him right here? Here's a gun, you're the villain who has no compunction about killing, shoot him! Don't talk, don't speechify, don't dawdle, shoot him! Arrrghhh you stupid idiot.

Problem is you kill Rick and story is over b/c you have not developed any other character who can be leader.

Oh and I'm getting sick of Carl too. The know it all kid is like Rick in training. I thought the only good part in 100 was when Negan called him future serial killer.

Kill Rick, kill Carl, start over.

when they got captured, I thought Rick was the one who was going to be killed too. But Negan brought up a good point. If he had killed him then they might have made a martyr out of Rick. I know they can do the same with Glenn but Negan is right, there is a greater chance they rally after killing the leader. Also they needed a leader to go back and tell people that they have to follow Negan. As the leader, they believe if he comes back defeated then the rest of the group will fall in line.

[Thebart]

J

when they got captured, I thought Rick was the one who was going to be killed too. But Negan brought up a good point. If he had killed him then they might have made a martyr out of Rick. I know they can do the same with Glenn but Negan is right, there is a greater chance they rally after killing the leader. Also they needed a leader to go back and tell people that they have to follow Negan. As the leader, they believe if he comes back defeated then the rest of the group will fall in line.

That is such BS excuse! You could say that about any one in the group. Better not kill anybody then, because then s/he becomes a rallying cry for the group.

Ah, but negan needed them to work, you say. But they don't need Rick to do whatever negan thinks they can do. It's like keeping a dangerous pit bull who hates you around so he can fetch you the paper. They don't even know if this crew is good for anything aside killing people. They have plenty of killers already.

They want half. Half of what? They don't even know what these guys have or can produce.

Kill the biggest threat. Either the brain or the muscle. Not some random guy. They kill one of your guys, you kill ten of them. Simple. If you have to do mental gymnastic to justify your action, then you're doing the wrong thing. Or you are having your strings pulled by the writers.

How will his men feel seeing rick and co get off almost scot free? I'm sure that inspires loyalty and confidence.

This book is supposed to be so badass. Ooh, they killed the wife and baby, no one would dare do that. No, they killed the dramatically unnecessary characters. What's so tough about that?

[Bob_at_york]

J

That is such BS excuse! You could say that about any one in the group. Better not kill anybody then, because then s/he becomes a rallying cry for the group.

Ah, but negan needed them to work, you say. But they don't need Rick to do whatever negan thinks they can do. It's like keeping a dangerous pit bull who hates you around so he can fetch you the paper. They don't even know if this crew is good for anything aside killing people. They have plenty of killers already.

They want half. Half of what? They don't even know what these guys have or can produce.

Kill the biggest threat. Either the brain or the muscle. Not some random guy. They kill one of your guys, you kill ten of them. Simple. If you have to do mental gymnastic to justify your action, then you're doing the wrong thing. Or you are having your strings pulled by the writers.

How will his men feel seeing rick and co get off almost scot free? I'm sure that inspires loyalty and confidence.

This book is supposed to be so badass. Ooh, they killed the wife and baby, no one would dare do that. No, they killed the dramatically unnecessary characters. What's so tough about that?

I think Negan's men will be fine with letting Rick go, because they all believe that Rick and his group are going to be their bitches. It is over-confidence on Negan's part. I admit that. Really what he should have done was kill all of them except for Carl and one of the women. He would have left them to go back to the rest of the group with the message.

[Libaax]

Why would you drop the book because someone died? People are always dying.

You just mentioned the strenght of the series and why i Always read it first in My monthly hauls. It has been longtime since original characters did but nobody is safe and i would never drop the series even if Rick, Andrea My Two biggest favs died. I was surprised and sad in the brutal way poor Glenn died.

Im more intrested in how Rick is gonna beat Negan When he has an Army of killers.

Im so angry at that prick for what he did to Glenn.

[Libaax]

I think Negan's men will be fine with letting Rick go, because they all believe that Rick and his group are going to be their bitches. It is over-confidence on Negan's part. I admit that. Really what he should have done was kill all of them except for Carl and one of the women. He would have left them to go back to the rest of the group with the message.

He cant kill the leader who is gonna work his group to give supplies Negan. Why kill the free Labour......

[Fonecrusher]

Yeah Glenn's death was lame and blatantly for shock value and #100 hype... But man it was a heart breaker, after I finished reading I kinda just sat there staring at the last panel for like a minute or two... To see a character who I love go out like that was brutal.

On the subject of how Negan will (eventually) get his... I'm calling it: Rick (or even Maggie or Michonne) will give him some of his own with Lucille.

[los530]

Yeah Glenn's death was lame and blatantly for shock value and #100 hype... But man it was a heart breaker, after I finished reading I kinda just sat there staring at the last panel for like a minute or two... To see a character who I love go out like that was brutal.

On the subject of how Negan will (eventually) get his... I'm calling it: Rick (or even Maggie or Michonne) will give him some of his own with Lucille.

Yeah I'll be shocked if Negan doesn't meet the business end of Lucille. I think Negan kills Rick, Carl kills Negan and becomes focus of story.

[jetter_cheeze]

Nagan = Governor, part 2.

[Godzilla78]

Just read it and not really shocked at all, c'mon we all expected something nasty to happen. What about Negan's little rant about not wanting to be seen as a racist, does anyone think this was a deliberate ploy by Kirkman? I mean he always gets dogs abuse in the letters column when he kills an ethnic character and perhaps this was done with angry fans in mind. On a brighter note I got the Frank Quietly varient so was quite a happy bunny about that.

[Rumblecat]

Yeah, I got the feeling that whole 'choosing who to kill' thing was a bit of a wry comment on some of the letters.

I was pretty shocked by it, maybe because Glenn is one of the few characters I still like in the comic... but I did pause for a long time before turning the page before that first baseball bat blow came. It was kind of pathetic, I was sitting there thinking 'C'mon, Kirkman... don't do this...'

Oof. Took it like a champ. :(

[ImpulseUCF]

Yeah, Negan's monologue was definitely Kirkman breaking the 4th wall and giving some meta-commentary. I liked it and thought it worked well within the story because it was plausible for a smarmy, confident brutal thug to posture and think like that. Poor Glenn, though.

[Chris S.]

Yeah I'll be shocked if Negan doesn't meet the business end of Lucille. I think Negan kills Rick, Carl kills Negan and becomes focus of story.

While I'd be interested to see Kirkman kill off Rick, I just can't imagine he would do that. People watching the show identify with Rick, and I don't think it would be good business for Kirkman to kill the character.

Its like how Marvel started an Avengers book to harken to the movie.

[SatanBigsby]

The only way I'd want to see The Walking Dead without Rick is if they sped things up, which I kind of think will happen. I could see him either flashing forward to when Carl is an adult and having Rick die then, or having Rick die and then flashing forward to when Carl is an adult. It would make sense to shake up the book and would also fit into the narrative. Say they find another prison like setting that would be perfectly safe (if not for a Woodbury like interference) then I would be fine with Kirkman just skipping through the peace and returning ten years after living in safety to find Carl and Sophia grown.

Would you guys be mad if he did that?

[Rumblecat]

If Rick's death was significant enough... if it felt earned... then I'd be okay with it.

I do like the idea of jumping forward in time though. Carl living in the city or a small town- a section closed off to the rest of the city. The world doing it's best to get back to normal, small communities... and then something bad happens which isn't some bad guy with a bunch of bad guy friends showing up and shooting people...

Um. This is probably a terrible example but Desperate Housewives did something similar once (no, not smash someone's head in with a baseball bat)- it jumped forward five years at the end of one season, and it worked really well- there was something enjoyable about the confusion in seeing characters in whole new different situations and having to mentally catch up with what's been going on.

Yeah. Great example. Thanks. :)

[eDKeener]

I'm waiting to see what happens with the group that was waiting outside the Alexandria community. They seemed like they were ready to storm the place as Rick and group were leaving.