As a comic, The Walking Dead is known for its frightening scenes that send a shiver down the spine of the reader. How it's done varies from issue to issue. Sometimes it's through intense gore via The Governor or Negan, and other times it's more psychological. The series doesn't get enough credit for just how scary it can be.
The best example is the many traumas Hershel Greene goes through in the series. Something twisted seems to always be happening to a character every other issue, even the ones meant to let the characters breathe.
10 Issue 6 Shows The Devolution Of Shane As He Snaps & Tries To Kill His Best Friend
The frightening thing about this issue is how unhinged Shane becomes. He's slowly been unraveling since the second issue, and he's hit the breaking point here. The fact it all happens in front of his best friend is tough to watch and made even worse when he tries to kill him, only to get stopped by Carl, of all people. It's a moment that affects Carl the rest of the comic and is his turning point as a character. It's an emotionally difficult issue.
9 Issue 14 Involves A Suicide Pact Gone Wrong
Chris was always a little creepy in the series, but no one would have expected him to form a suicide pact with his girlfriend. That's a level of Romeo & Juliet that has no place in this apocalyptic setting. Much like the classic tale, their pact goes awry as only Julie is killed, leaving Chris alive, briefly. Briefly is the key as Tyreese, Julie's father finds the body and proceeds to brutally pummel Chris to death, making him wish he'd shot himself.
8 Here's Negan Part 14 Is The Genesis Of Negan's Development
The issue is where Negan gets his first kill with Lucille, but that's not what makes it so frightening. What does that is how careless the man he kills is with human life. He treated women as if they are goods that can be traded off to other people.
He even calls them merchandise in the chapter. It's also the chapter that is the entire genesis of the character seen later in the books.
7 Issue 144 Ends With Numerous Characters Having Their Heads Mounted On Pikes
The best way to introduce a new villain in Walking Dead is through their brutality. The ante for that always kept rising more and more, making the new villains bigger and badder. That's what they tried to do with Alpha and the Whisperers. She lured numerous survivors away from camp and beheaded them, mounting those same heads on pikes for Rick & company to see. It's genuinely shocking and may have been more frightening had the act not happen off-panel.
6 Issue 66 Has Rick's Group Go To A Dark Place When Dealing With The Hunters
The issue is one where the villains aren't the ones causing the pain and suffering, the reverse happening. After finding out what the hunters did to their kids, Rick and company turn the tables on them, going to a dark place in the process. They end up brutally torturing and killing all of them in a montage reel. What makes it so bad is it's done in a way where the reader is likely to support what Rick and company are doing, almost cheering them on.
5 Issue 11 Has Many Of The Greenes Devoured By Barn Zombies
Issue 11 forces Hershel to see the world for how it really is, that the zombies are not humans who can be saved. He'd been so steadfast in keeping them alive that his actions end up leading to the deaths of many in his family.
The damage of seeing both Arnold and Lacey be devoured before his eyes had to be immense, especially when it was all his fault. Lacey is one of the first characters to get pulled apart by the zombies in a rather graphic death too.
4 Issue 29 Shows How Deranged The Governor Is
The Governor was the first major villain that the group faced, and he was one of the most deranged. His depravity in this issue alone was sickening. It would be one thing if he decided to torture Michonne through normal means, that would have been expected for this series, but the fact he sexually abuses her as well makes it all the more frightening. It isn't a one-time occurrence either and rather something that's done every single day.
3 Glenn's Death In Issue 100 Will Always Be Iconic In Its Brutality
For a hundredth issue, The Walking Dead made sure they made a bang. Not only does it mark the arrival of Negan, the series most charismatic villain, but it has its most iconic moment. Negan playing eeny meeny miny moe with Rick's group of survivors was chilling, leaving the reader in suspense over who would die. That tension builds to a truly horrible moment where fan-favorite Glenn gets his head caved in by Lucille, Negan's nail-covered bat.
2 Issue 15 Ends With One Of The More Horrifying Deaths In The Series
Nothing before issue 15 could prepare the reader for what awaited them on that final page. Seeing the fate of both Rachel and Susie was horrifying. There'd been death up until that point, but none of it involved children, nor was it quite so graphic. Seeing the decapitated heads of two girls as young as them showed that The Walking Dead was never going to pull a single punch when it came to violence. No one and nothing was off-limits.
1 Issue 48 Is One Of The Bloodiest In The Entire Series
There's more blood and gore in issue 48 than there was in some volumes of the series. The issue is the apex of Woodbury's assault on the prison, featuring the deaths of Hershel and the Governor himself. All of them are just appetizers to what happens to Lori Grimes and her unborn baby. Seeing her gunned down is an awful sight, one made even worse when the arm of Judith is visible beneath her as she died. It's one instance where the comic likely went too far.
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