Characters / The Walking Dead Comic Atlanta Camp Survivors

Characters from the Atlanta Camp in the comic series The Walking Dead:

The first group of survivors introduced in the series, these survivors initially gathered in a small camp outside of Atlanta near the start of the Zombie Apocalypse after failing to get into Atlanta itself, ironically sparing them when the government safe zone was overrun. Led by Rick Grimes, this dwindling party of survivors have traveled and died all around the east coast in their search for safety and help form the core of any community they are part of. Out of the entire group, only Carl and Sophia survive to the end of the story.

Grimes Family

Rick

Rick Grimes

“They’re fucking with the wrong people.”

^{Click here for his appearance after “A New Beginning”} 

Debut: Issue 1

"It all kind of runs together at this point... hard to narrow it down. It's one solid block of bad all boiling down to one thing... the worst thing I ever did... live. When so many others... who should have... didn't."

Rick is the main character of the comic. A small town cop, he awakens in the hospital after being shot and put in a coma, and finds himself one month into the zombie apocalypse. Setting out to find his family, Rick eventually becomes a leader who desperately tries to retain what little humanity he has left while protecting his loved ones and guiding others through the dangers of a post-apocalyptic world in which the walking dead are not the biggest threat.

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• Abandoned Hospital Awakening: Famously woke up from his coma, only to find the hospital completely abandoned, with the cafeteria on the bottom floor being full of zombies.
• Action Dad: He was a cop, after all.
• An Arm and a Leg: He destroys the bones in his right hand beating Thomas almost to death, and then has it sliced off by the Governor. His leg is badly broken by Negan during the climax of the Saviour War, and he's forced to use crutches and eventually a cane to move around, but it thankfully turns out to not be permanent after all.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: After bleeding out from multiple gunshot wounds he reanimates during the night and is found the next morning by Carl, who puts him down with a headshot.
• Anti-Hero: Evolves into a Type IV.
• Artificial Limbs: Gets a metal claw prosthetic for his right arm after the Time Skip.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Which is acknowledged by several people In-Universe, pointing out he would have to be badass and a charismatic leader in order to command people like Abraham and Michonne.
• Bash Brothers: With Tyreese, although their relationship became very tense and never fully recovered after Carol's suicide attempt, which Rick blamed on Tyreese.
• Battle Couple: Downplayed with Andrea.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Most of the time he is a friendly guy and great leader, but if he gets pissed off or considers somebody a threat to the group, he will not hesitate to put a bullet in their head.
  • After the Time Skip, he seems to have regained most of his lost humanity and is overall a much more reasonable and compassionate man. Doesn't stop him from beating a guard over the head with his cane for failing to clear the road of walkers in time, or from putting a bullet in Dwight's head when Dwight was on the verge of inciting a violent rebellion.
• Big Good: By Issue 127, he has finally reached this status, fully embracing his status as leader of Alexandria and leading a coalition of united communities that are attempting to rebuild civilization.
  • By Issue 193, the ending of the series, he is remembered with immense reverence as the single largest influence behind the safe and relatively benign society that developed out of the apocalypse, with a huge statue of him, arm stump held aloft, in the centre of the capital of the Commonwealth to complete the picture.
• Book Ends: Rick's story begins and ends with him sustaining a gunshot wound (albeit being multiple gunshot wounds with the latter). Furthermore, the shot of Rick dying in his bed mirrors the shot in Issue 1 of him waking up from his coma.
• Boom, Headshot!: His reanimated self is put down for good with a bullet to the head... courtesy of his own son, Carl. What makes it ten times worse is that Carl fires his gun out of instinct and doesn't even realize he killed his dad until after the body hits the floor.
• Cartwright Curse: Assumes he has this by Issue 91 after the deaths of Lori and Jessie, which is why he is hesitant to get into a relationship with Andrea, not wanting to lose someone else because they were close to him. He is proven right 76 issues later, with Andrea's death.
• Combat Pragmatist: Any rules of engagemnt Rick was taught as a police officer went out the window once the fight for survival started, and he quickly learned to use every dirty trick in the book; biting, going for the eyes, sneak attacks, Car Fu, anything goes.
• Character Development: Rick started out as a mellowed survivor to an increasingly cold-hearted leader in order to keep everyone alive, till the war with Negan where he decided to go into more of a peaceful era to stop the massive bloodshed which eventually sticks to the rest of the survivors and the communities now live on in stable society to live in.
• The Chains of Commanding: He struggled for a long time with what exactly it meant to be a leader and its consequences, but has come to accept the burdens and responsibilities.
• Crazy Sane: Talking to a dead Lori on an unplugged phone is one of the ways he tries to stay sane. It's debatable if it works or if it is just making him crazier. He finally gets rid of the phone in All Out War.
• Crusading Widower: After Lori dies.
• Dented Iron: He loses a hand to The Governor, (he has a prosthetic now) and has his leg injured so badly by Negan that around two years later he's still walking with a cane. Plus, Rick has taken his share of beatings surviving over the years. Lampshaded when he is referred to as 'Grandpa Rick' and Rick counters that he's only thirty-nine.
• Determinator: No matter how bad a situation gets, Rick never gives up trying to get his group through it.
• Dying Alone: As Sebastian runs away before he truly passes, he dies alone in his bed in Issue 192.
• Empty Shell: He fears he has become this by Issue 90. Andrea manages to convince him to not become one.
• Fair Cop: What he starts out as. A year of so of surviving the Zombie Apocalypse put a notable dent in his looks.
• The Fettered / The Unfettered: Has wavered between the two for a while, and spent a long time being Unfettered after the loss of the prison. At the end of the war with the Saviors he becomes the Fettered again, deciding that if society is ever going to be rebuilt it needs rules and a code of justice that doesn't stoop to the level of people like Negan.
• Fighting the Lancer: He gets into a fistfight with Tyreese after discovering that he had cheated on Carol with Michonne, with all of the pressures on both characters erupting and causing them to beat the crap out of each other until neither could stand. This leads to the two of them not talking to each other outside of group discussions for many issues, although they eventually make up.
• Firing One-Handed: Forced to shoot this way due to the loss of his right hand.
• Game-Breaking Injury: The loss of his hand means he has a lot more trouble with relatively simple tasks. It doesn't affect him that much though, and he still manages to be a badass. Played straight, however, when Negan breaks his leg at the end of All-Out War. It damages him so badly that he is walking with a cane even after the two-year Time Skip, and rarely fights.
• Good Is Not Nice: As Sanity Slippage sets in, Rick starts to use more and more extreme methods to protect those around him. Though after the Time Skip he seems to have become much more stable.
• Handicapped Badass: Even without his right hand, Rick has no trouble taking down zombies or humans.
• Hearing Voices: He hears Lori's voice in a telephone after she dies in the prison assault.
• Heartbroken Badass: After Lori's death.
  • He takes Andrea's death poorly, (it didn't help that he put her down himself after she turned) and the night she dies, he curls up and falls asleep on top of her grave.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Becomes almost as brutal and scary as the villains he fights as the series goes on.
• Heroic Ambidexterity: Implied. He was surprisingly not slowed down much by losing his right hand despite normally using his right hand.
• The Hero Dies: He is killed by Sebastian Milton in the penultimate issue of the comic.
• Hero Protagonist: Though he constantly flirts with becoming a Villain Protagonist.
• I Did What I Had to Do: This pretty much becomes the mantra and central trait of Rick's character and the reason why he believes that he emerges as the leader of the groups he finds himself in. This belief causes him numerous problems and causes him to act increasingly dark and nihilistic, only to be horrified when his son begins falling down the same path.
  • Killing Dexter to stop him from kicking the group out of the prison.
  • Killing Martinez to stop him from reporting back to the Governor.
  • Slaughtering the Hunters to prevent them from continuing to follow and attack the group.
  • Leaving Jessie and Ron to die. This is the only one he expresses some regret over, although both of them were already surrounded and being devoured by zombies.
  • Killing Dwight, who wanted to incite a violent rebellion in the Commonwealth. Although doing this nearly fractures his relationship with Michonne irreparably, as it was through her actions that he did it, and he was none too pleased about being forced to do it.
• Invulnerable Knuckles: Oh so averted. Rick bashes Thomas Richards in the face so badly after it was discovered he killed Hershel's twin daughters that he breaks every bone in his right hand, rendering it useless. Leading to...
• Irony: That same hand is severed by the Governor, after Dale tells him it's useless.
• Knight in Sour Armor: After the fall of the prison. He seems to be recovering some after the zombie herd that attacked Alexandria was defeated and the group came into contact with the Hilltop Colony.
• The Leader: Started out as a type IV, but has been slowly turning into an ill-tempered type III. Eventually became his defining characteristic.
• Living Legend: Becomes this after the Time Skip, both for his leadership during the war with the Saviors, and the stories of his time in Alexandria and the prison. Rick isn't particularly happy with this status, as he feels people are giving him way more credit than he deserves for things that were either a team effort or pure luck. After his death, it blossoms into the outright mythical, to the point that 20 years later, he's treated as the Founder of the Kingdom, with books written about him and even a statue depicting him.
• Man Bites Man: At one point he rips out a bandit's throat with his teeth. He repeats the deed when he is attacked during his leadership of Alexandria.
• Multiple Gunshot Death: How he ultimately meets his end.
• Nerves of Steel: Develops them over the course of the comic.
• Original Position Fallacy: From the fall of the prison safe zone onwards, Rick stresses that survival is the most important thing and that morals simply hold people back. He ends up profoundly shaken when he meets those who take such ideas to their natural conclusion; Gabriel, who abandoned his congregation to hide in his church, The Hunters, who cannibalized survivors, and Eugene, who lied about being able to cure the zombie virus to get people to ensure his survival. In the end, he concludes that he has to do better and make a world worth living in.
• Papa Wolf: Anytime Carl is put into danger is when Rick is at his most dangerous.
• Plot Armor: So far Rick really seems to have better luck staying alive than anyone else around him, to the point that Andrea lampshades their persistent survival as evidence that they 'always live'. It runs out in issues 191 and 192.
• Pragmatic Hero: Is willing to go to quite brutal lengths to keep those around him alive. Though this is finally averted at the end of All-Out War when he spares Negan, deciding that society needs order if it is to ever be rebuilt.
• Second Love: For Andrea, until Issue 167, where Andrea dies.
• The Sheriff: In his pre-apocalypse life and eventually post as well once the survivors reach the Alexandria Safe Zone.
• Survivor's Guilt: After the Prison arc.
• Slept Through the Apocalypse: He was in a coma in hospital after being shot, and only woke up after the first few weeks of the Zombie Apocalypse. How he avoided dying from dehydration is not dwelt upon, though he's noticably much worse for wear in the 2010 tv-show adaptation of this scene.
• The So-Called Coward: He took up this role in Issue 102, pretending to give in to Negan's demands, but he was actually planning to unite the groups suffering under the Saviors' control together and rebel.
• Time-Passage Beard: At various points throughout the comic, due to a lack of opportunity to shave. Grows out a large groomed beard during the Time Skip between Issue 126 and 127.
• Undignified Death: For all of his importance, he is ultimately shot, at first accidentally, then three more times on purpose by Sebastian Milton in his bed in issues 191 and 192. Sebastian is too panicked to even Make Sure He's Dead, so he reanimates the next morning and has to be put down by Carl when discovered shambling around his room in nothing but his boxers and sleeping shirt.
• Villain Protagonist: Progressively as the series goes on. Ultimately avoids it by becoming The Fettered at the end of the war with the Saviors.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He gives it to Michonne for telling Governor Milton about Dwight's desire to subvert her authority, and inviting her to the meeting where Rick and Michonne were going to try to talk him down. Not only does Rick view this as a major breach of his trust, it ultimately leads to a confrontation where Rick is forced to kill Dwight. Rick points out that her actions have essentially forced him to pick sides in a conflict he doesn't want.
• Younger Than They Look: Four years into the apocalypse, Rick looks like he could be well into his forties or maybe even his fifties when in truth he's not even out of his thirties yet.
• Zombie Apocalypse Hero: Rick Grimes is not only The Hero of the setting, but the Big Good, having helped restore order in the post-apocalyptic world.

Lori

Lori Grimes

Debut: Issue 2

Lori is Rick's wife. She slept with his best friend Shane shortly after the apocalypse began when she thought Rick was dead. Her relationship with Rick is strained by this and other factors. She gives birth to their daughter Judith at the prison. Dies with Judith when the Governor assaults the prison.

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• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Tries to act more mature than her companions.
• Character Death: Dies in Issue 48 at the conclusion of Volume 8: "Made to Suffer", being shot by Lily on The Governor's orders as she flees the prison with Judith.
• The Heart: Can usually be counted on to favor the more moral courses of action.
• Heteronormative Crusader: Rather than simply declining Carol asking her to enter into a polyamorous relationship with her and Rick or into a lesbian relationship with her, Lori rages as her and takes this as confirmation that Carol is mentally damaged.
• The Lost Lenore: For Rick.
• Neutral Female: Her role in the group.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If she hadn't been so quick to accuse and lock up Dexter, a lot of unpleasantness could've been avoided.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Has dark black hair and is very pale. Several characters are attracted to her, and Shane becomes rather obsessive.
• Sacrificial Lion: Her death is the ultimate reminder (in case you haven't gotten the hint already) that Anyone Can Die, and it also plays a major part in Rick's Character Development.
• Spiteful Spit: Onto Shane's grave after they buried him.
• Wham Line: At the end of Issue 7:
  Rick: Lori? Lori, is everything okay?
  Lori: No, Rick. I'm pregnant.

Carl

Carl Grimes

^{Click here for his appearance after ”A New Beginning”} 

^{Click here for his appearance in "The Farm House"} 

Debut: Issue 2

Carl is Rick and Lori's son, who is slowly becoming darker, more dangerous, and less childlike as the series goes on. He lost his right eye in Issue 83 to a stray bullet.

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• Anti-Hero: Type III.
• Bookworm: He rarely read before the Zombie Apocalypse, but now that there is much less to do, he has found that he enjoys reading.
• Brutal Honesty: Carl is quite blunt and is not afraid to express his opinion, occasionally to the point of being rude or inconsiderate. He isn't mean spirited though. Carl simply doesn't put up with other people's delusions or stupidity.
• Catapult Nightmare: When he dreams about executing Ben, which he has no memory of after getting shot in the head.
• Chick Magnet: After the time skip he has three potential love interests in Sophia, Anna, and Lydia. He ends up losing his virginity to Lydia. He later marries Sophia in the finale.
• Childhood Friend Romance: The final issue reveals that he married Sophia and had a daughter with her.
• Children Forced to Kill: He has had to kill other humans multiple times, and has threatened others a few times. The first was shooting Shane in defense of his father and then Ben in a Vigilante Execution.
  • As of Issue 101, he is willing to hold people he knows well at gunpoint to make them back off from his father during an argument, although he later claims that he would not have shot them.
  • During the war against the Saviors, he killed several of Negan's men. In this case, he didn't need to, he wanted to.
• Combat Pragmatist: Carl is willing to do anything to survive a fight and has no issues with dirty tactics such as ambushing his opponents and sucker punching them. He takes after Rick in this regard.
• Cool Shades: Starts wearing a pair after the Time Skip, with the glass on the left side of them taken out and the right side covering his missing eye.
• Creepy Child: Especially after his Eye Scream.
• Deuteragonist: While Rick is the protagonist Robert Kirkman has stated that the series is really about Carl's journey. This seemingly comes to fruition when Rick is killed in Issue 192, but the Grand Finale reveals that despite Carl's evolution being a crucial part of the story, it was really Rick who was The Hero of the comic.
• Extreme Mêlée Revenge: When two Hilltop bullies beat the shit out of Sophia Carl responds by beating both of them over the head with a shovel. This causes problems when the parents of the bullies want to punish Carl.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After years of being in mortal fear of his life every day, losing home after home, and having to outlive all of his biological and adopted family, he finally marries Sophia and has a daughter with her.
• Eye Scream: He is accidentally shot in the right eye by Douglas Monroe when the Alexandria Safe-Zone is breached by zombies, creating a giant hole in his head. Dr.Denise Cloyd manages to save him, but he loses part of his memory and his personality becomes even darker.
• Eye Patch Of Power: Or bandage in his case. Negan eventually takes it away from him, saying he looks more badass without it. He eventually covers it with his hair worn longer on that side and with darkened sunglasses. Terrifyingly, the effect makes him look, with his post-Time Skip hairstyle and gun, not unlike the Governor's Volume 8 appearance.
  • After the time skip between issues 192 and 193, he gains a large leather one that also covers the scars on his face.
• Handicapped Badass: He is still a good shot after losing an eye.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Killing Ben. Unlike most of Rick's IDWIHTD moments, this is shown to torment him afterwards.
• I Will Find You: Strikes out on his own at the end of Volume 23 to save Lydia from the Whisperers, which he successfully does at the end of the next volume.
• Morality Chain: He was pretty much the only thing keeping Rick from becoming a complete Villain Protagonist for a long time. Now it is the other way around.
• Near-Rape Experience: By a bandit on the highway while he, Rick, and Abraham were traveling to Cynthiana for supplies. Luckily Rick and Abraham were able to kill the bandits before it happened.
• Papa Wolf: Like his father, Carl shows shades of this when a walker that escaped from Hershel Jr.'s travelling show wanders onto his farm, and he kills it straight away. Realizing where it came from, he immediately goes to see Hershel, and slugs the younger man in the face when Hershel confirms that the walker was his. This leads to Carl having to attend a formal hearing after Hershel tries to press charges, and Carl states that I Did What I Had to Do for the safety of his daughter. He's released, and then proceeds to slaughter the rest of Hershel's walkers during the night, even though he knows that this will bring the law down upon his head. When brought before the High Court of the Commonwealth, he's completely unrepentant, stating that he's prepared to accept the consequences for keeping Andrea safe.
• Puppy Love: With Sophia, until she began to dislike him due to his increasingly jerkass nature. Their relationship improves after the Time Skip, being friends with a slight romantic undertone. The two become an official couple during the final Time Skip, and have a daughter together.
• Retired Badass: After all of the shit he's survived and the legacy he and his father have left he ultimately chooses to lead a quiet, simple life with his wife and daughter out in the countryside in Issue 193. He still occasionally does runs and stuff, but aside from the occasional danger of a stray walker his life has finally settled into something that resembles the old world he left behind when he was just a boy.
• Sexy Flaw: Taken to a nightmarish extreme by his first lover Lydia who is so attracted by his missing eye she puts her tongue in the empty socket.
• Sole Survivor: With his dad's untimely death at the hands of Sebastian in issue 192, poor Carl is the last living member of the Grimes family, until the birth of his daughter Andrea during the Time Skip.
• Time-Passage Beard: He grows a beard during the time skip between issues 192 and 193.
• 'Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain: A realistic version in Issue 83. He loses his eye and part of his head, suffering some brain damage. It is down to luck, rather than his badass nature, that he survives it with the help of Dr. Cloyde. Also, due to the brain damage, he develops a very different personality, and has memory loss.
• Took a Level in Badass: Several over the course of the series...
• Took a Level in Jerkass: ...along with several levels in being a Jerkass.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: He rapidly matured right through his childhood - a natural consequence of being raised in a zombie apocalypse - and has developed quite a dark personality. He also personally executed several people before even reaching his 10th birthday and lost his virginity at merely 13 years old.
• Two-Faced: The right side of his face took a lot of damage from the bullet that destroyed his eye.
• Unstoppable Rage: Carl beats two boys with a shovel, clearly trying to kill them when they hit him with a brick and attempt to kill Sophia.
• Villain Takes an Interest: Negan is fascinated by Carl, and when first meeting him says he could not kill him because he has to know how Carl will turn out in the future.

Judith

Judith Grimes

Debut: Issue 39

Judith is Rick actually Shane's and Lori's infant daughter born at the prison. Killed with Lori when the prison is attacked by the Governor.

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• Ludicrous Gibs: Infant plus rifle equals...
• Who's Your Daddy?: Word of God says Shane.

SPOILER CHARACTER

Andrea Grimes

Debut: Issue 193

The daughter of Carl and Sophia.

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• Cheerful Child: Very much so. It's a key indicator of how much better things have gotten during the Time Skip that Andrea has grown up without the same sense of continuous fear that her parents had.
• Dead Guy Junior: She's named after her father's stepmother who died years before she was born.
• Walking Spoiler: As the daughter of Carl and Sophia who was named after Andrea her very existence is a massive spoiler in and of itself.

Andrea's family

Andrea

Andrea

Debut: Issue 2

Andrea is a former law clerk turned Zombie Apocalypse badass. She found safety with her sister Amy at the camp outside of Atlanta, but was forced to shoot Amy in the head after she was killed in zombie attack. Despite having never fired a gun before Rick and Shane's training, she quickly became the best shot in the group and the designated sharpshooter/lookout. She entered into a relationship with Dale and the two adopted Ben and Billy after their parents' deaths. Her new family quickly fell apart on the road to Washington D.C., with Ben murdering Billy and Carl secretly killing Ben to protect the group, and Dale dying of a zombie bite plus cannibal attack. In the Alexandria Safe-Zone, Andrea has established herself as Rick's most trusted advisor and now lover.

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• Action Girl: Nobody else in the group can match her skill with a gun. She's at a bit of a physical disadvantage against male human survivors in one-on-one physical combat, though she can win those fights if she is crafty enough.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: Rick hesitates to put her down after she passes, causing her to briefly reanimate before he finally stabs her in the head.
• Anti-Hero: Type III.
• Battle Couple: Downplayed with Rick.
• Big Damn Heroes: Saves Rick from Derek's sniper and kills Derek. Later she shows up too help Glenn and Heath save Spencer.
• The Big Girl: Shares the role with Michonne, although their skill sets are radically different and useful in different situations.
• Break the Cutie: The deaths of nearly everyone close to her has taken a toll.
• Broken Bird: Almost from the start due to Amy's early death, but it really sets in after Dale dies.
• Deadpan Snarker: She's very snarky.
• Everyone Loves Blondes: Has hooked up with Dale and now Rick.
• Face Death with Dignity: She accepts her fate with remarkable grace after being bitten on the neck, and gives Rick and Carl some meaningful advice before passing.
• Friendly Sniper: Once she learned how to shoot, she became extremely good at it. Rick often has her hidden in a sniper perch as the "ace in the hole" to protect the group. To those she cares about, she's one of the nicest characters in the book. But if someone is trying to hurt those she cares about and she has them in her sights, they're as good as dead.
• Glasgow Grin: Andrea gets a scar from ear to mouth on the left side of her face after surviving an attack from Thomas Richards.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Despite not having any prior firearms experience or training before the zombie holocaust, Andrea quickly becomes an elite sniper almost entirely as a result of natural talent.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Gets bitten on the neck while saving Eugene from walkers.
• The Lancer: To Rick after the group arrives at Alexandria.
• Long-Range Fighter: She's a sharpshooter but isn't very strong as shown when fighting Thomas Richards and Connor.
• May–December Romance: With Dale. She was in her mid-20's while he was in his late 60's.
• Parental Substitute: Acts as this to Carl in lieu of the late Lori after the two-year Time Skip, from Issue 127 onward. Though it was developing before, it is only then that he has taken to calling her "mom".
• Pragmatic Hero: She's just as brutal and pragmatic as Rick and Michonne.
• Relationship Upgrade: With Rick, from friends to lovers. He's initially reticent about the idea, but Andrea believes they're the two most suited to be together and convinces him that given their histories, they deserve to take the opportunity to be happy.
• Reused Character Design: In the first story arc, Andrea is depicted as having long hair that she wears down, and no freckles; her sister Amy is the one with a ponytail and freckles. For whatever reason, after Amy's death Kirkman apparently decided he liked her design better and Andrea switched to looking exactly like Amy had at first.
• Sacrificial Lion: Her death redefines the entire series.
• Scars Are Forever: Gets the lower part of her left ear cut off, and the cut also extends down the side of her jaw toward her mouth. It healed up nice but is still noticeable. She also has a long scar on her left temple where a bullet grazed her during the prison raid.
• Second Love: For Rick, until her death in issue 167.
• She Who Fights Monsters: Like several other characters, Andrea's morality is slowly worn down over the course of the series, to the point where even Rick is sometimes shocked by how callous she can be.
• Staking the Loved One: Shoots her sister Amy in the head after she is killed by a zombie to ensure she doesn't come back. She later has to do this to Dale after he turns.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: Even the most badass, seemingly unstoppable survivors can go down if there are walkers on all sides and just one manages to get a bite in.
• Survival Mantra: "We don't die."
• Survivor Guilt: Gets this after the war.
• Tank-Top Tomboy: Starts wearing tank tops almost constantly after Volume 8, which coincides with her taking on a more aggressive and ruthless personality.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: How she wears her hair.
• Tragic Keepsake: Keeps Dale's hat after his death. She even talks to it for a while, the same way Rick used an old phone to talk to Lori, but stops much sooner after realizing how crazy she's acting.
• Youthful Freckles: She has them.
• Zombie Infectee: In Issue 165 she gets bit on the neck like her sister, and succumbs to the infection two issues later.

Amy

Amy

Debut: Issue 3

Amy is Andrea's younger sister. She is the first casualty of the series, to establish that Anyone Can Die.

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• The Cutie: One of the most innocent characters in the series.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Is blonde and one of the sweetest characters.
• Kill the Cutie: A character as nice as her would never last in a series like this.
• Nice Girl: Easily one of the nicest characters in the series.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Being the first casualty of a series where Anyone Can Die is never fun, but the only real purpose of her character is to serve as a tragic loss for Andrea and show that none of the survivors are truly safe.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: She dies in Issue 5 to a zombie bite before getting a Mercy Kill from Andrea.

Carol's family

Carol

Carol

Debut: Issue 3

Carol is the mother of Sophia and an attractive young widow. She is best friends with Lori and pursues a relationship with Tyreese. The relationship falls apart when Michonne is introduced to the group, and she committed suicide via zombie after slowly going insane.

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• Ambiguously Bi: While Carol mainly displays attraction to males (such as Tyreese, Rick, and Billy), she is also seen kissing Lori (albeit without Lori's permission), implying that she may be bisexual. However, due to her deteriorating mental state at the time, it remains unclear whether she kissed Lori out of actual attraction or simply desperation.
  • Made somewhat less ambiguous when she proposes a polyamorous marriage between her, Lori and Rick.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: After letting herself be bitten she dies quickly. She reanimates and is immediately put down by Andrea.
• Bookworm: She loves reading, and is overjoyed by the library at the prison.
• Break the Cutie: As a consequence of breaking up with Tyreese and later having her advances on Lori and Rick rejected, her metal condition deteriorates over the course of the series.
• Broken Bird: She starts to become this over the course of the series, as she is constantly relying on everyone for support and comfort. Without it, her mental state starts to deteriorate.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: After breaking up with Tyreese and slitting her wrists, the lines of reality start to become blurred for her.
• Desperately Craves Affection: Carol is an extremely clingy, dependent and needy person, always needing someone to rely on for affection and support. This is why she starts to spiral into depression after breaking up with Tyreese and eventually commits suicide.
• Driven to Suicide: Twice. She tries to slit her wrists after she breaks up with Tyreese, but she survives and regrets it. Cut to some more Sanity Slippage later, Carol lets a captive zombie bite her, thinking she had finally found someone who liked her.
• Domestic Abuse: She mentions a few times that her husband didn't always treat her the best.
• Everyone Loves Blondes: Played straight with Tyreese, but averted when she tries to get with Rick and Lori at the same time.
• Hates Being Alone: Even before the outbreak, Carol couldn't stand being left alone, which is why she married Sophia's father despite the domestic abuse. Her hatred of being alone is what ultimately led her to committing suicide.
• Marry Them All: She proposes to Lori a system where she, Lori and Rick would all be married and raise Carl and Sophia together. Lori finds this creepy and rejects the advance.
• Not Good with Rejection: Breaking up with Tyreese, and being rejected by Lori and Rick does not help her mental state.
• Sanity Slippage: See Break the Cutie.

Sophia

Sophia

^{Click here for her appearance in "The Farm House"} 

Debut: Issue 2

The young daughter of Carol, and the longest-lasting female character in the comics overall.

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• Break the Cutie: She did not take her mom's death well. Nor the death of her adoptive father.
• Demoted to Extra: She was never the most major character, but ever since her move to the Hilltop it's a genuine surprise when she actually shows up.
  • Starting in Issue 131, her prominence has increased greatly.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After years of losing everything she had, and having to deal with the stress of having to be ready to run for her life at a moment's notice, she marries Carl a decade into the future and has a daughter with him.
• First Girl Wins: She was the first girl Carl met, the first boyfriend she had, and by the end of the series, she ends up being married to him.
• Happily Married: With Carl in the ending of the comic series.
• Informed Attribute: Maggie claims that she's not sane but we don't see too much evidence of this.
• Puppy Love: With Carl.
• Put on a Bus: Moves to the Hilltop Colony with Maggie.
  • The Bus Came Back: Like Maggie, she's getting some focus again in recent issues.
• Sanity Slippage: After her mother dies. She starts to claim that Glenn and Maggie are her parents, although she later admits she was merely pretending because it helps her deal with the situation.
• Took a Level in Badass: After the time skip she's reintroduced as an older, much tougher tomboy who kicks the crap out of two bullies in the Hilltop.
• Youthful Freckles: Has them.

Allen's family

Allen

Allen

Debut: Issue 2

The husband of Donna and father of Ben and Billy. He was a shoe salesman before the Zombie Apocalypse, running a small store at a mall in Gainsville. He has a major Heroic BSoD after Donna dies. During the prison arc, he is bitten on the leg by a walker. Rick amputates the limb to save his life, but this causes him to die of blood loss.

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• Action Survivor: Despite being a Non-Action Guy he lasts longer than you'd expect. Until Volume 4.
• Big "NO!": When he sees Donna being eaten by zombies.
• Character Death: Dies of blood loss after losing his leg.
• Country Matters: He drops a c-bomb to Andrea when she confronts him over his wife's death and his inability to deal with it.
• Happily Married: To Donna. Her death breaks him.
• Life-or-Limb Decision: Subverted; he loses both.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Shooting at one of the zombies devouring his wife, while understandable, brought all of the zombies in Wilshire Estates out of the homes and made them converge on the survivors. This made it impossible for them to grab the food and other supplies in the house they had secured, since they had to rush to escape.
• Non-Action Guy: And he is not very successful when he tries not to be.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Unsurprisingly after Donna is killed. It caught a lot of readers off guard when he even became the first person to use the c-word in the series, as mentioned above.
• Wangst: In-Universe, this is how Dale and Andrea view his breakdown over Donna since they've both been through the same thing (having loved ones killed in front off them) and he's got two kids to take care of.

Donna

Donna

Debut: Issue 3

Donna is the wife of Allen and the mother of Ben and Billy. She is religious and slightly snotty, but warms up to the rest of the group eventually. She is eaten by a zombie at the Wiltshire Estates.

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• Defrosting Ice Queen: She spends most of the first arc bitching at other characters or complaining about things. She becomes nicer and less judgmental in the second arc. Allen even lampshades the trope.
  Allen: The ice queen melteth.
  Donna: Oh, hush.
• Eaten Alive: She is quickly swarmed and devoured by zombies.
• Happily Married: Despite her issues with the other members of the group, her and Allen are always shown getting along fine.
• The Fundamentalist: To a slight degree. She is very judgmental about Andrea and Amy living with Dale in his RV, although she is completely wrong about the situation. She starts to ease up in the second arc.
• Straw Feminist: In the first arc, she complains about the men being the ones who go hunting while the women stay at the camp to do things like laundry. She even says she wonders if they will still be allowed to vote when things get back to normal. Lori tells her that she is being ridiculous, and that it makes sense for them to be doing laundry since none of them know how to shoot.
• Too Dumb to Live: She doesn't pay attention while searching the houses of Wiltshire Estates, never noticing a zombie coming right out of a nearby house until it began chewing on her face.

Ben and Billy

Ben and Billy

Ben.

Billy.

Debut: Issue 2

Ben and Billy are the twin sons of Allen and Donna. They are raised by Dale and Andrea after both their parents die.

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• Boom, Headshot!: Carl executes Ben this way to prevent any more murders.
• Cain and Abel: Subverted. Ben kills Billy, but he doesn't do it out of hatred. He just wanted to prove that anyone can come back from death now. It's stated he doesn't even realize why what he did is wrong.
• Creepy Child: Ben. At first he just eviscerate animals then gets worse.
• Enfante Terrible: Ben. The adults realize that he has serious mental issues they can't fix while focusing on survival. Abraham even mentions in the pre apocalypse world the child would have likely been locked in an institution with no real cure for his disorder.
• Obliviously Evil: Ben murders his own brother Billy in cold blood, completely unaware that what he did was wrong. He seems to truly believe that walkers are still people, and that killing a human won't really matter if they come back.
  Ben: Don't worry, he's going to come back. I didn't hurt his brains.
• Shoot the Dog: Carl decides to shoot Ben dead to keep the group safe.
• Those Two Guys: They are always seen together, to the point where they're basically the same character. Which makes it all the more shocking when Ben murders Billy.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Ben, who eventually ends up murdering his own brother with a knife when the two are alone.

Other Atlanta Camp survivors

Glenn

Glenn

Debut: Issue 2

Glenn is the first survivor encountered by Rick, and his closest friend in the post-apocalyptic world. He led Rick back to his camp which reunited him with his family, and has served as a scout and scavenger for the group at every safe-haven they find. While staying on Hershel's farm, he fell in love with Maggie Greene and eventually married her, with both of them adopting Sophia after Carol's suicide. He is murdered by Negan in the 100th issue of the series.

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• Action Survivor: He prefers to use stealth and avoid zombies, but is more than capable of taking them down if he needs to.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Understandably starts begging Negan to spare him in his last moments, as he's about to die one of the most horrific deaths in the series and his family is being forced to watch.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Was heavily in debt when the outbreak happened, and would have done anything to escape it. That problem doesn't seem so bad any more, though.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Dear God: he is hit repeatedly in the head by a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire as he tries to call out to Maggie as she, his adopted daughter, and his friends are forced to watch him die. The first hit knocks his left eye out of socket, and by the end, there is almost nothing left of his head.
• Deadpan Snarker: Glenn can always be counted on to say something funny.
• Death by Pragmatism: His decision to move with Maggie and Sophia to Hilltop since it had better walls and more defenders ends up getting him killed when Negan captures them, Rick, Carl, Michonne, and Heath and choses to make an example of Glenn.
• Facial Horror: One of the most extreme examples in fiction; his head is literally reduced to a pile of mush by the time Negan's finished beating him to death.
• Guest-Star Party Member: He appears in the very first episode of The Walking Dead (Telltale), which takes place during the first few days of the apocalypse, holed up in the Everett family drug store in Macon, and briefly joins Lee and his group of survivors before leaving for Atlanta at the end of the episode, setting up his eventual meeting with Rick.
• Happily Married: To Maggie.
• Hates Their Parent: Implied; he mentions that his crippling debt problem would have forced him to come crawling back to his parents until he could get back on his feet, which he greatly resented, as he'd hoped to never have to talk to them again.
• The Heart: Despite being one of the longest-lasting survivors, he's notable for never having killed a living human.
• Justified Criminal: He used to steal cars to make money, which is likely why he has the skill set he does.
• Le Parkour: He's skilled at it, which is good since he's The Scrounger.
• Nice Guy: Glenn is the Nice Guy of the series.
• The Reliable One: He usually be counted on to get done any task that is assigned to him.
• Retirony: The series likes to play with this a lot during the Alexandria arc, having multiple scenes where Glenn says goodbye to his family before going out on "one last supply run". He always survives though, and when he does die he's with his family.
• Sacrificial Lion: His death along with Abraham's kick-starts the conflict with the Saviors. Also, he dies in issue 100, a landmark issue for the series.
• The Scrounger: He is the groups go-to guy for searching for supplies due to him being fast and smart. When the group reaches the Alexandria Safe-Zone, this becomes his official job for the town.
• The Smart Guy: He's intelligent and is frequently counted on to get supplies.
• The Sneaky Guy: Prefers to use stealth to get around walkers and other threats.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: One of the most kind and decent people in the series, he ends up dying in the most painful, horrific, and senseless way possible.

Dale

Dale

Debut: Issue 3

Dale is an elderly survivor whose RV serves as the groups main transportation. He lost his wife early in the apocalypse began and started a relationship with Andrea shortly after Amy died, and the two of them adopt Ben and Billy after both Allen and Donna died. At the prison, he is bitten by a zombie and has his leg amputated in a successful attempt to save him. As the series goes on, he becomes increasingly frustrated with Rick's leadership and their friendship becomes strained, although he makes up with Rick before dying of a zombie bite.

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• An Arm and a Leg: Loses both legs before he dies.
• Badass Driver: Drives the group's designated RV.
• Berserk Button: He has a few, and if one is pressed hard enough, he will fly into an extremely angry rage.
• Captured by Cannibals: Which he found hilarious, since a zombie had bitten him and they ate his leg before they found out.
• Cool Old Guy: He is very old and can definitely kick ass.
• Foreshadowing: Delivers a metric ton of it in the prison arc, first by telling Rick the he'll never be able to use his right hand again after Rick beat Thomas half to death (just before the Governor severs it) and ponders aloud if there were another, larger, more organized group living out of a Wal-Mart or something that would want their prison and supplies.
• Defiant to the End: After being captured by the hunters he simply laughs hysterically and explains how he was bitten before they grabbed him, mocking them for eating "tainted meat". It's a bit of a delayed example however as he is rescued and doesn't actually die until a few hours later.
• Grumpy Old Man: Gradually leans into this after the prison arc, especially towards Rick.
• Face Death with Dignity: Accepts his fate pretty quickly after being bitten on the shoulder. He insults the Hunters without fear, and after being returned to the group he amends his friendship with Rick before dying peacefully with Andrea by his side.
• Life-or-Limb Decision: The only one in the series that takes.
• May–December Romance: With Andrea.
• Regret Eating Me: Taunts the Hunters over the fact that they were eating "tainted meat", showing no fear at all.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He develops a streak of this hard throughout the Farm and Prison arcs, almost to catchphrase levels, whenever something looks bad, or a place looks "safe" he will bring up to Andrea that he wants to ditch the rest of the group and go their own way. The one time he manages to actually convince Andrea to do so, is the worst possible time, as he takes the groups best sniper away just as the Governor invades the Prison, causing heavy losses to the group, even when they return for a Big Damn Heroes moment.
• Sex for Solace: His relationship with Andrea starts out this way, before developing into something permanent.
• The Smart Guy: Level headed, intelligent, and seems to have a decent bit skill as a mechanic.
• Team Dad: Is a surrogate father to many of the characters.
• Zombie Infectee: After being bitten on the leg when out getting gas from cars around the prison with Billy Greene, though, unlike Allen, his leg being chopped off helps. However, he later gets bitten again, only this time on the shoulder, which makes amputation impossible. Rather than burden the group with having to put him down, he leaves camp in the middle of the night to go off and die, but is captured by the Hunters. He amuses himself by declaring he is "tainted meat" after revealing to them that he was infected after they had already eaten part of his leg.

Shane

Shane

Debut: Issue 1

Shane was Rick's police partner, and escorted Lori and Carl down to Atlanta when the Zombie Apocalypse began. He fell in love with Lori and slept with her once, and became the leader of a group of survivors outside of Atlanta. He was overjoyed when Rick showed up, but quickly grew jealous of him and Lori. After slowly going crazy, he tried to kill Rick, only to be shot by Carl.

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• And Then John Was a Zombie: Reanimates after being buried. Rick digs him out to confirm if all the dead become zombies.
• Comforting the Widow: What he tried to do with Lori. They slept together once on the road to Atlanta, which Lori considered a mistake and never let happen it happen again.
• Crazy Survivalist: Displays shades of this.
• Face–Heel Turn: Due to his Sanity Slippage in Issue 6.
• Jerkass: While he wasn't one before the apocalypse, Rick returning and taking Lori from him twists him into an aggressive asshole very quickly.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice/Heroic Build: Shane looks like a superhero with stubble. A sharp contrast to the more thinly-built Rick. Ultimately subverted after his Face–Heel Turn.
• Love Makes You Evil: By Issue 6, where he tries to kill Rick due to his jealousy and lust over Lori.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After hitting Rick in the face in full view of camp, causing everyone to react in horror. This leads to the final stage of his...
  • Sanity Slippage: A very sudden example throughout Issue 6, eventually leading him to threaten Rick.
• The Starscream: Tries to kill Rick out of jealousy.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Fits this trope to a T.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Carl shoots him when he threatens Rick in Issue 6.
• We Just Need to Wait for Rescue: He insists on the group staying outside of Atlanta, even though zombies are always coming closer to the camp and supplies are running out as it becomes winter because he is convinced the military will arrive any day to save them.

Jim

Jim

Debut: Issue 2

Jim is a mechanic from Atlanta.

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• Major Injury Underreaction: Says "It's just a scratch" when half his forearm has been gnawed off.
• The Quiet One: He doesn't speak much, which makes his Unstoppable Rage moment very jarring.
• Survivor Guilt: He saw his entire family eaten by zombies when escaping Atlanta, and was heavily traumatized by it.
• Together in Death: What he wants with his family due to them all being killed right in front of him while he fled from the zombies. When he gets bitten he prefers to be left alone to turn, hoping to reunite with his loved ones in death.
• Unstoppable Rage: When fighting the zombies that happen upon the camp, he flies into a rage while fighting them.
  Jim: MY FAMILY! MY FAMILY! YOU KILLED THEM!
  • Extreme Mêlée Revenge: He takes out his rage by beating the walkers to a pulp.
• Zombie Infectee: Gets bitten in Issue 5, and is left under a tree to die in Issue 6, hoping that he will be reunited with his family.

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