Walking Dead’s Most Shocking Moment Was Even Darker In The Comics

Warning! Spoilers for The Walking Dead television series and comic book below!

In The Walking Deadcomic book series, the death of Shane Walsh played out much differently than it did in the popular television series. In the live-action show, Shane was killed by Rick Grimes, and when he reanimates, he’s put down for good by Carl. However, in the comic series, Carl actually kills Shane in defense of his father.

The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard, laid the groundwork for the AMC series of the same name. Many moments from the comic have been adapted to the small screen, but the live-action series has done a good job forging its own path in terms of making different storytelling decisions. For example, characters (such as Carol) live much longer, while others (Carl) have died – even though Carl made it to The Walking Dead comic’s end. One of the biggest earliest changes was how comic series had a much different ending for Shane.

Shane lives much longer in the television series, as he’s killed in season two after trying to murder Rick. He would immediately reanimate as a walker, and be taken down by Carl. In The Walking Dead #6, Shane is still dealing with jealousy of seeing Rick with Lori, after the two shared a night together when he was previously thought to be dead. In a heated moment, Shane punches Rick in the camp, leading Grimes to chase him as he runs into the woods. Once Rick catches up to Shane, he has a gun pulled on him. As Shane tells him he has no family or place now in the group, he tells Rick he was never meant to live. As he pulls up his gun, Shane is shot in the neck by Carl, who followed them into the woods.

Having a nine-year-old kill Shane was much darker than the TV’s interpretation of his death. No one his age should have to deal with killing walkers, let alone real people. While he made the right decision to save his dad, the weight of ending Shane’s life would remain heavy on him for the rest of the series – even if he knew what he did was right. Rick would later revisit Shane’s gravesite to stop the reanimated version of his former friend.

In a zombie apocalypse, one would expect the first time some was forced to fire a gun would be at a reanimated corpse. However, Carl was forced to kill Shane as he was about to kill his dad – who just came back after he already thought he was lost once. Carl was forced to immediately grow up at that moment and saw his childhood disappear as soon as he fired the shot. In The Walking Dead comic series, Shane’s death was much darker and a long-lasting impact on Carl Grimes.

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Liam McGuire
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Lead writer for Screen Rant’s comic team. [email protected]. Find me on Twitter @LiamRMcGuire for comic news and reporting.

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