Rick Grimes (Comic Series)

"We have a common enemy... y'know, the one that comes in and kills us in the downtime between killing each other. What we're doing... that's helping them. We do this long enough... and neither of us win."

- Rick to Negan regarding the war.

Rick Grimes is the main protagonist of Image Comics' The Walking Dead who was first encountered in Issue 1, and one of the last remaining Atlanta survivors. The Comic Series is meant to follow his life for the approximate 300 issue run. Rick is the husband of Lori Grimes and father of Carl Grimes.

Cynthiana, Kentucky
Rick Grimes lived in Cynthiana, Kentucky for most of his life. Academically, he entered College for Police Administration with the intention of becoming a police officer. Within his sophomore year, his parents made Rick chaperon at a New Year’s party set up by them, but, his parents had to attend another party elsewhere. Thanks to his younger brother, Jeffrey Grimes, he was introduced to a high school senior named Lori. Although there was some chemistry between them, they couldn't explore a possible relationship, due to Lori moving away to also attend college. Despite this, Rick and Lori kept in touch with each other while he finished college. After Lori dropped out of her first year in college, she returned to Cynthiana, where they could finally develop their relationship. Soon after, Rick and Lori were wed, so Lori became Lori Grimes.

During this time, Rick officially became a police officer, where he was assigned a partner, and soon best friend, Shane. Life for Rick was perfect, a burgeoning career in the police force and the happy news of Lori's pregnancy. Soon they had a son whom they named Carl.

Days Gone Bye
At the beginning of the series, Rick was wounded in a shoot-out, and was put into a coma for about a month. Upon awakening, Rick finds the hospital and the rest of the town desolated and overrun by zombies. Rick remains dazed by all of the confusion as he stumbles out of the hospital and onto the streets of Cynthiana. He makes his out of the hospital and uses a bike to get back to his house.

He arrives and finds it deserted, he breaks down and after a few minutes heads outside to think, however he is soon hit in the back of the head with a shovel. He wakes up, having been knocked out by the blow to the head, and sees that he is in the house of his old next door neighbors. He is greeted by a man named Morgan Jones, who explains that he and his son Duane Jones have taken refuge in the house. He informs Rick of the outbreak that has happened during his time in a coma. Morgan also informs him that the government was telling everyone to go to Atlanta. Rick is overjoyed upon hearing this, as he sees that Lori might have taken Carl to Atlanta to stay with her parents. He also realizes that he will need both a car and guns. To accomplish this, Rick takes Morgan and Duane to his police department and supplies them with guns, ammo, and a car. He then leaves Morgan and Duane in Cynthiana, so he can go to Atlanta. Along the way, Rick's car runs out of gas, so he decides to continue the trek on foot. Along the way he finds a farm house and goes inside to try and borrow some gas. Upon his entry, he sees that the entire family killed themselves during the initial outbreak. He goes around to the stable, and finds a horse and a hatchet (this becomes his main weapon throughout the rest of the series). He rides the horse for the rest of the trip to Atlanta.

Upon arriving in Atlanta, he finds the entire city overrun. His horse soon becomes spooked, and falls over. The horse is quickly swarmed and eaten, leaving Rick to try and fend for himself. He is, however, thankfully saved by a man named Glenn, who rescues him and leads him to safety along the outskirts of the city, where Glenn stays in a makeshift camp with another group of survivors.

Upon meeting up with the survivor group outside of Atlanta, Rick finds Lori, Carl and Shane. He also meets new survivors including a man with an RV camper named Dale, two sisters taking a road trip named Andrea and Amy, an emotionally burdened man named Jim, a mother named Carol and her six year old daughter Sophia, and a family of four with father Allen, mother Donna, and four year old twins Billy and Ben. Shane explains to him that he was taking Lori and Carl to stay with her parents until the outbreak was over and that he would go back for Rick. Rick quickly takes up a place with the survivors as a hunter along with Shane. During one of their trips Donna is attacked by a zombie that wandered into camp. Rick asks Shane if they could move their camp away from the city, but, the proposition was rejected. Rick accepted this, but, realized that they would need guns.

The next day Rick goes into Atlanta with Glenn. They find a gun store and collect as many guns as they can carry and barely escape the city without dying. This gains Rick favor with the other survivors. He also trains them in target practice. A few weeks later the camp is once again attacked, leading to the death of Amy and the infection of Jim. The group decides (against their will) to leave Jim outside of Atlanta, so he can reanimate and be with his family. After these events, and seeing that the only reason this attack happened was because Shane would not move the camp, Rick confronts him, but, Shane punches him in the face. After seeing this, Lori smacks Shane and yells at him. Shane runs away, but, Rick chases him and confronts him once more on what had happened. Shane turns out to be more hostile and attempts to shoot Rick with a shotgun. Rick is saved by his son Carl, who ends up shooting Shane in the neck. The group buries Shane and, after becoming the leader of the group, Rick abandons the Atlanta Camp in search for a safer refuge.

Miles Behind Us
While on the road, Rick and the group meet up with a man named Tyreese, who is traveling with his daughter, Julie, and her boyfriend Chris; although Lori has some reservations about them, Rick invites Tyreese to join their group. Rick spots a walled-off neighborhood called Wiltshire Estates and since it is around twenty miles from Atlanta, it should be relatively safe. While in the process of clearing out the first house, Rick is tackled by a zombie, and saved by Tyreese, gaining Rick's trust. They discover that the house was overly stocked with canned goods, and would make the perfect new residence for the group. They spend the night in the house and in the morning set out to kill all of the infected in the neighborhood. Rick splits the group into two teams, one headed by Rick and the other by Tyreese. Rick runs back to the RV to grab Tyreese a gun and discovers a previously snow-covered sign that says that the entire neighborhood is festering with zombies. He runs back to the group to inform them that they have to leave, but, he is too late, as Donna had just been bitten in the eye. This event causes Allen to become emotionally compromised (something that he wouldn't recover from for months) and Rick eventually convinces Allen to leave his dying wife and the rest of the group escapes Wiltshire Estates.

After the tragedy of Wiltshire Estates, Rick, Tyreese and Carl go hunting. Carl is accidentally shot in the shoulder by another hunter named Otis. Rick, in a fit of rage, places a gun to Otis's head and threatening to blow his brains out. However, Tyreese stops him by saying that Carl is still alive. Otis suggests that they go to his friend Hershel Greene's farm, where he can patch him up. While Rick and Otis run to the farm, Tyreese returns to the RV to inform the other survivors of what had happened. Tyreese and the survivors reach Hershel's farm just as Rick and Otis arrive with Carl.

Rick watches in fear as the two strangers operate on his son. Hershel removes the bullet, stops the bleeding and leaves Carl to rest, so he can introduce Rick's group to his family and friends, Lacey, Arnold, Maggie, Billy, his young daughters Rachel and Susie Greene, and Otis' girlfriend, Patricia. The group stays at the farm while Carl heals and Glenn begins a relationship with Maggie. It is also during this time that Tyreese begins a relationship with Carol (and by default taking Sophia as a surrogate daughter) and Dale begins a relationship with Andrea.

Rick confronts Hershel about allowing his group to stay in his barn so that they don't have to sleep in the RV anymore. Hershel protests saying that he has been placing all of the zombies that they have encountered in the barn. This information sets Rick off and they begin yelling at each other leading to the discovery that Hershel's oldest son Shawn Greene was bitten and turned at the beginning of the outbreak and that he is in the barn at that moment. Rick tries to explain that it is not his son, but, Hershel keeps denying the fact and walks off. Carl fully heals and as a show of gratitude Rick gives Hershel the rest of their spare guns and invites them to target practice. Rick hosts the target practice next to Hershel's barn, but, Hershel screams for them to stop saying that his neighbors house is next door.

They see another zombie walking in the field outside the fence, and Hershel shows his technique for trapping zombies in the barn. However one of the zombies falls against the barn door and they break out of the barn. Arnold and Lacey attempt to save Hershel, but, are both bitten and killed. Hershel realizes that there is no saving the zombies and finally accepts that they must be killed. Hershel shoots Arnold, Lacey, and Shawn as a form of closure.

With the barn now cleared out Rick and Allen begin cleaning it up so that they can sleep there. However Rick finally cracks and runs off to yell at Hershel about staying in the rooms of the house. This leads to an argument and Hershel informs Rick that after Carl is fully healed he will throw them out of his house. Rick returns to inform Lori of this. She is outraged and goes to yell at Hershel. Lori begins a fight with Hershel and Rick tries to intervene. The fight ends with Hershel about to smack Lori when Rick stops him. Hershel places a gun to Rick's head, but, he is stopped from executing Rick by Otis who takes Rick's side. Rick decides that they will leave and packs everyone into the RV. Glenn decides to stay to live with Maggie, and Rick and the group leaves. The group continues on the road until Dale and Andrea see a prison in the distance.

Safety Behind Bars
Rick instantly sees the prison as a new hope for the group. With three rows of fences, and heavily fortified buildings, he really feels it's the best place for them to start a new life.

The group begins the long process of cleaning out the prison and fixing the fences that had been damaged, when they find that four inmates had been hastily locked in the cafeteria when the place had begun to be overrun. The leader of the inmates, Dexter, introduces the other inmates to Rick's group as Axel, Andrew, and Thomas Richards, as well as giving a tour of the prison to the group. In the weeks since the outbreak, these inmates had survived by the stockpile of food in the cafeteria's pantry, as well as using the walk-in freezer as a latrine.

Wary of the new people, the group attempts to continue the work of fixing up the prison while Rick traveled back to Hershel's farm to bring them all out to their new place. Apparently, things at the farm hadn't been going so well since the weather was warming up, and zombie attacks were on the rise, so the group is happy to come live at the prison. All seems well until Rick is awoken by a gunshot and rushes to see that Chris had killed Julie in a suicide pact by firing too early. Julie reanimates without being bitten resulting in the revelation that all of the survivors were infected. Julie's corpse attempts to eat Tyreese, who is in turn saved by Chris. However, instead of gratefulness, Tyreese is infuriated and proceeds to murder Chris as Rick looks on in shock. Rick wakes up the next morning after having informed the group of what had happened the previous night, and sees Tyreese burning the bodies, and after a quick talk the two proceed to clear out the rest of the prison. Hershel brought with him many of the supplies he needed to farm, and begins planting a garden in the prison yard so that they have a renewable source of food for the weeks and months to come. The inclusion of Hershel and his family allowed the group develop a sense that things would be safe from now on.

Upon the revelation that a bite doesn't turn a person, Rick travels back to the Atlanta Camp to dig up, and shoot Shane, commenting, "You were a good man, Shane, I don't know why you did what you did, but you were a good man.", among other things. He then heads back to the prison, having given his final words to Shane saying, "And I ain't gonna bury you again you son of a bitch."

Meanwhile, the feeling of peace at the prison is short-lived, as tragedy strikes when Hershel's two youngest daughters are found murdered in the prison's barber shop. The survivors instantly blame Dexter, the inmate who had told them he had been incarcerated for murder, locking him in his own room while they decide what to do. It eventually turns out that the murderer was actually Thomas, who attempts to murder Andrea. Rick disarms him of his knife, and in a fit of rage, beats him brutally, almost to death. He then precedes to tell the survivors that Thomas is to be hung, and why. Later, he goes to Dale for medical attention for his hand, which was broken and mutilated by the severity of his attack on Thomas, though he stated he "doesn't regret a thing". However, before they could hang Thomas, Patricia lets him out of his cell in an attempt to rescue him from his death. Instead of gratefulness, Thomas attempts to kill her resulting in Maggie shooting him several times. They then throw his body out for the zombies to feed on. Rick allows Dexter to leave his cell, and then, with Lori, tries to decide on what they should do with Patricia. This is interrupted by a force consisting of Dexter, Andrew, and Patricia all wanting to force Rick's group out of the prison.

The Heart's Desire
The three soon realize that they hadn't shut the door behind them leading to the prison's A-block. The courtyard is soon swarmed with zombies. Rick sends Lori and the kids back into the prison and forces the "revolutionists" to assist in re-clearing out of the courtyard. Rick saves Dexter from a zombie about to kill him, but Dexter is incredibly ungrateful and coaxes Rick with the thought that he should have let it kill him. Rick then takes the opportunity of the mass confusion to kill Dexter and cover it up as friendly fire. This event is only witnessed by Tyreese who is mortified by Rick's actions. The group finishes the clearing of the zombies, and they let Otis into the prison, as he had stayed at the farm to watch over the livestock. During this induction to the prison, the group also allows in the person who had saved Otis's life while he was outside of the gate: a katana-wielding woman named Michonne. They confiscate the katana from Michonne in fear of another possible uprising of the prison.

The group begins to burn the bodies of the newly killed zombies. As this occurs, Andrew runs out into the wilderness, to his awaited zombified state. The group decides to move on to more pressing issues as Andrea calls a meeting. Andrea, with the assistance of Axel, brings out the prison jumpsuits to make into clothes for the other survivors. After the meeting, Tyreese confronts Rick with understanding of his decision to murder Dexter. After this course of events, Rick takes Dale, Axel, Tyreese, and Allen to clear out the A-block. Along the way, they find the prison's library, in which Allen is nearly attacked. After this takes place, the group splits up, Dale and Tyreese leave one way, while Rick, Axel, and Allen go another. Along the way, Dale and Tyreese find a massive generator, meanwhile Allen gets bitten on his ankle. The group carries Allen out into the prison courtyard, where Rick proceeds to amputate his leg. Hershel shows up to assist and stops the bleeding.

The next day, Rick gets his bandages removed by Dale, and then proceeds to be a comfort for Carol, who unbeknownst to Rick, had just kicked Tyreese out of her cell for having an affair with Michonne. Rick then gets Lori to try and see how Carol had been taking things and what made the two of them split up. However, instead of a lamenting Carol, they were presented with an overly distraught Carol that had just slit her wrists in front of her daughter Sophia. Rick and Lori proceed to bring Carol to Hershel who would take care of her, and nurse her back to health. Rick takes it upon himself to bring the sudden turn of events up to Tyreese, whom he finds in the arms of Michonne. Infuriated at the realization that Tyreese had actually cheated on Carol with Michonne, Rick proceeds to blame not only the suicide attempt on him, but his daughter's death on him as well. This results in a fight in which both parties wound up tossed over the second floor of the prison and on to the ground where they proceed to briefly pass out. Both Tyreese and Rick are awoken by Glenn and Maggie. However, before they can resume their fight, Andrea enters the room to inform the group that Allen had died. Rick proceeds to get up and shoot him before Allen could reanimate. Suddenly, Michonne and Hershel witness Rick blacking out.

Rick woke up the next morning to find Carol sitting above him, the two talk about the current status of the group before she kissed him with much passion. Rick informed her that he would have to tell Lori, and she left just as Dale walked in. Dale tells him that he won't be the leader anymore, and that the group agreed on forming a committee. This committee consists of Rick, Hershel, Dale, and Tyreese. Rick walks outside to tell everyone he killed Dexter to protect all of them. Lastly, he tells them that they are the walking dead.

The Best Defense
On the next day, the generator is running out of gas. Glenn and Rick are about to go get some gasoline, and they spot a helicopter in the sky that is about to crash. Rick tells Glenn to get a car and they proceed to go into the forest to search for survivors, accompanied by Michonne. They discover the wreckage of the helicopter and multiple sets of footprints: Rick surmises that the possible survivor(s) were carried away somewhere close by.

After following the footprints leading away from the crash site, they found a little town called Woodbury. Suddenly, a gunman tells them to get down, and shoots the zombies. A survivor named Wes drags them to Woodbury, and another man named Caesar Martinez, tells Wes to collect their weapons. He says it's their way to deal with safety and that he can show them around. A fellow survivor, introduced as The Governor, tells Martinez that he can take it from here. Martinez accepts, and The Governor takes the three with him on a tour of the town. Eventually they are led to an arena and Rick asks why they have an arena filled with chained zombies. The Governor explains it replaced television, and tells them that they feed the zombies with strangers.

The Governor's right hand men, Gabe and Bruce Cooper, are revealed to be aiming their guns at Rick and the others. The Governor wants to know where they came from but Rick disagrees, claiming that the three of them were on their own. The Governor doesn't fall for Rick's bluff, and Bruce puts Rick's head onto a table. The Governor tells Rick he doesn't understand the situation, and proceeds to cut off his right hand. Rick proclaims he'll kill the Governor before blacking out. Michonne jumps on The Governor and bites his ear off, but Bruce captures her. He tells The Governor to say the word, and he can snap her neck, but The Governor tells him not to.

Rick is taken to Stevens, Woodbury's head doctor while Glenn and Michonne are taken into cells. Stevens patches up Rick, and when he wakes up, he tries to attack the doctor. Stevens' assistant, Alice, gives Rick a sedative and he falls asleep. Later, Rick wakes up once again and realizing that Stevens isn't like The Governor, asks what's going on. Stevens explains and says that The Governor is a monster, but he did bring a sense of normality back to the town. and reveals that The Governor's name is Philip. The Governor shows up and wants Stevens to change the bandage on his ear. Rick and The Governor are having a tense discussion, and the latter says that Glenn told him all about the Prison and in thanks, let him go. He leaves a fearful Rick by implying that he had someone track Glenn's movements back to the Prison, saying that "if he's stupid enough to go there, he'll lead us right to it."

This Sorrowful Life
Later, a cage fighter named Harold Abernathy, wants Stevens to fix him up and asks both Rick and Stevens if they will go see the fight planned later; they both decline. Another fighter named Eugene Cooney rushes in, and says Harold knocked his teeth out. Harold apologizes but Eugene says that sorry isn't going to cover it, and stabs him in the neck. Stevens tells Rick to help him stop the bleeding, but it is too late.

Martinez pops in, and notices Rick's injury. When asked about what happened, Rick starts to attack him. Stevens stops the fight and tells Martinez to leave. Later, Rick and Alice are talking about Lori, and their child. Martinez splits up the conversation, and tells Rick they have to leave immediately. Rick is surprised, and tells Martinez not to touch him. Martinez says he has noticed that The Governor has become a real monster, and he has Glenn with him. They leave, and take Michonne, Alice and Stevens with them. Michonne leaves to deal with The Governor. As they are leaving the town, Stevens gets bitten by a roamer. He tells Alice to take the supplies he has with him and go on.

After escaping, they spend a night in the crashed helicopter. Michonne gets back, and when asked about The Governor, she says she isn't sure if The Governor is dead or not. They then start to head back to the Prison. When they arrive, Rick discovers that the other survivors had accidentally left the gates wide open for zombies. Glenn, fearful of Maggie's safety, takes their car and drives into the zombies, wrecking the vehicle in the process. Rick and the others go help him, and Rick discovers a zombified Otis. It's assumed Rick shot him. Dale and Andrea discover them from the RV, and Dale tells Rick he saw Otis killed and that Hershel was bitten; the others he can only guess that they made it back inside. The group manage to carve a path through the zombies and reach the doors leading into A-block.

In A-block, everyone is happy to see each other. Hershel confirms that he wasn't bitten, and Carl and Lori are overjoyed to see Rick, but Carl is freaked out from the sight of Rick's missing hand. After explaining to a tearful Lori that it wasn't infected, Rick is told by Tyreese to stay with his family while the others head out to start burning the zombies. While burning them, Rick realizes Martinez hasn't been seen for hours; he's gone to tell The Governor and his men where the Prison is located.

Rick takes Dale's RV and runs over Martinez, crippling him. He kicks Martinez' gun out of his hand and confronts him. Martinez explains that while he was sent by The Governor and that he was going back to Woodbury, he was only going to bring the good people back with him to the prison. Rick reminds him what their people did to him and Michonne. Lastly, Rick strangles Martinez to death. Rick returns to the prison and calls for a meeting. Shortly before the meeting, he tells Lori what he had done and asks her if doing this to protect the group makes him a bad person. At the meeting, Rick tells everyone they have to be ready when the Woodbury people get in the Prison.

The Calm Before
Weeks after, the group begin to prepare themselves in case The Governor tries to take the Prison. Almost immediately after Rick's meeting about Woodbury, Dale suggests finding the National Guard station that Woodbury has been getting their supplies from. Eventually Dale (and Tyreese) convince Rick that finding it is essential for their survival and they take a group out to search for it. While Rick wishes that he could be out there with them, he understands that he is unable to due to missing a hand.

While they are gone, Lori tries to tell Rick about her brief relationship with Shane but he stops her, telling Lori that he already knows. He also acknowledges the possibility that the baby isn't his, saying that his family is "all I have left in this world," and that he understands why she did it. He tells Lori that despite this, "I just can't hear you say it." Several days later, Lori goes into labor. Rick and Hershel rush Lori into the infirmary where Alice immediately starts to prep Lori. After several hours, Lori gives birth to a daughter who she decides to name "Judith."

After Rick hears that a roamer was brought within the walls, he furiously goes out to shoot it only to be stopped by Alice who wanted to study one and to potentially develop a cure to fight off the infection. Also still angry, he allows it to stay on the condition that it's moved further away from the common area. One day, Carol approaches the roamer and allows it to bite her. After she reanimates, she is shot by Andrea and buried next to Allen. Several more weeks pass by and things start to return back to normal. One day, Rick and Hershel notice big trucks and a tank containing The Governor starting to assemble in front of the Prison's fences.

Made To Suffer
The Governor and his army begin shooting into the Prison group. Rick tells everyone to get down and Andrea (who's up in one of the guard towers) is able to pick off some army members. The Governor orders a cease-fire and tells everyone inside the Prison they have a chance to survive by opening the gates for them. Nothing happens, and he orders the Woodbury army to resume firing. Andrea almost gets a clear shot at The Governor, but fails, because of her helmet. Realizing that the people shooting from the towers were causing many casualties for the army, The Governor angrily tells everyone to retreat.

A few of the survivors believe that the Woodbury people are giving up, but Tyreese speculates that they will regroup and eventually be back. Rick stumbles and falls down, and Tyreese discovers he's been shot. Andrea and Axel are revealed to have been shot during the skirmish as well (although not fatally.)

In the hospital, Rick's family is praying for his life. Alice says she'll need to take a sample of everyone's blood to see who would be a compatible match for a blood transfusion. Patricia confirms she has O-negative blood and Alice tells her to clean Rick's arm and prepare for a transfusion.

Dale convinces Andrea to come with him and take Billy and Ben away from the Prison. He tries to talk Lori into coming with them and let the Woodbury army take the Prison. Lori didn't want to split up again so Dale takes Sophia with him. At the last minute, Glenn arrives and tells Dale that Maggie and himself want to come as well. Michonne and Tyreese leave the Prison in an attempt to ambush the Woodbury army in the woods. Michonne kills two soldiers and disappears while Tyreese gets captured. Rick eventually recovers and is told what happened. Rick believes whereas before they had a chance of surviving; now that half the group has left and Tyreese and Michonne went out to ambush the army, there is little hope.

After trying to fix the place and placing barricades, The Governor brings Tyreese in front of Prison gates. The Governor gives the Prison group two choices; they either let The Governor and his people in to the Prison or Tyreese dies. Rick, Hershel, Alice, Patricia, Axel and Billy, from the tower, can do nothing but watch as Tyreese is decapitated after refusing The Governor's offer. Rick tells everyone that they have to fight or Tyreese died for nothing. In the Prison, later, Rick tells Lori the news and she angrily lashes out at him for not doing anything. She then leaves to feed Judith. Also, Rick tells Carl the news. He isn't sad, because people die all the time. Rick offers Carl to carry the bag, which includes food and some other supplies.

Finally, the Woodbury army arrives for the last time and immediately kills Axel. Hershel and Patricia join Rick in shooting the people from the relative safety underneath the cars. They are able to kill many more of the soldiers and The Governor, in a fit of blind fury, takes command of Jared's tank and drives it through the fences. The survivors begin to run and prepare to leave. Rick finds Alice pointing a gun into Lori's head. Alice quickly explains that it was a ruse in case any of the Woodbury fighters caught them. Rick tells them they have to run and hope they will not get shot.

Outside, after Patricia and Billy are both killed, Rick discovers Hershel. Rick tells him to get going, but Hershel says to go on without him. The Grimes family starts to run and Alice tries to cover them, but is wounded. Alice is then personally killed by The Governor. As the Grimes family nears the truck, Lilly, one of the army soldiers, fatally shoots Lori in the back, killing her and Judith. As Lori falls to the ground dead, Rick, with tears in his eyes, keeps running and tells Carl to do the same. They change the direction they were going (first, everyone is told to go to the truck) and start to run towards the zombie horde. Hershel is killed by The Governor, and The Governor is killed by Lilly after she realized she had killed a baby. After Rick and Carl escaped, Carl notices that Lori and Judith aren't with them and tearfully asks where they are. Rick and Carl hug each other as a couple of zombies slowly approach, the Prison lying in ruins behind them.

Here We Remain
After The Prison assault, Rick and Carl take refuge in an abandoned house. Rick falls ill and passes out for several hours, leaving Carl to fend for himself. Rick manages to recover, and they later manage to meet up with Michonne. After a long and sleepless night, Glenn and Maggie reach them on horseback. Glenn is curious why there are just the three of them and Maggie asks where her family is. Rick doesn't say a word and realizing what happened, Maggie starts to cry.

They leave the road, and go back to Hershel's farm. Andrea, Dale, Sophia, Ben & Billy are in the farm, and Andrea is happy to see Rick and the others again. Carl runs for Sophia and Dale apologizes to Rick. Sophia is inside, alone in a room and Carl says hi to her. Carl says they're both motherless now, and Sophia says her mother is in the other room crying. Carl says that is Maggie, not Carol, but Sophia angrily disagrees. Carl asks if she remembers him, and Sophia says she does, hugging him.

Later, Carl says to his father that Sophia is crazy. Rick says he can't say that, and to not patronize her. Carl agrees, and Rick goes outside. Dale is with him out there, and says Sophia's only problem isn't sleeping. He says it's not the undead he's afraid any more. Rick puts hand into his face and says they should have left with Dale when they had the chance. Dale tries to cheer him up by saying to not focus on the what-if's and to focus on the now, saying he'd be dead if he stays focused on it. Dale then offers to talk with Rick about dealing with the loss of a spouse. Rick thanks him, saying they can talk about it later.

Next morning, they meet three new arrivals; Abraham Ford, Rosita Espinosa, and Eugene Porter. They say they need equipment, and Andrea demands that they drop their guns. They have an argument about the what has happened for the past few months, but Rick is able to diffuse the situation. Abraham says they're on their way to Washington, D.C. and Eugene says he knows how the undead apocalypse began. Later, everyone accepts Abraham's offer to leave the farm and go on to Washington. Before leaving, Rick tells Carl not to trust anyone, even if they seem friendly and safe. Carl accepts, and they leave the farm.

What We Become
While on the road, Rick continually has nightmares over feeling guilty and responsible for the deaths of Lori and Judith. One night, Maggie tries to hang herself and Abraham decided to kill her before she could reanimate, not knowing that she merely blacked out from the attempt. Rick stops him from killing her and later on, Abraham threatens to kill Rick "the next time you put a gun to my head." The following day, Abraham saves Rick from being killed by a roamer and chides Rick for being careless, earning some scorn from Rick. After stopping to check their map, Rick proposes to Abraham that they make a detour to Cynthiana to check in on Morgan and Duane. Abraham is against it until Rick informs him that he still has keys to the local police station, giving them the chance to secure some ammo and guns. Abraham eventually agrees and tells the others that him, Rick and Carl will return in a few days (Rick refused to leave without Carl.)

During the first night Rick, Carl and Abraham are ambushed by a gang of bandits. At first the bandits just want their supplies, but one decides to try and rape Carl. Rick attempts to fight back, but is overpowered by one of the bandits. Rick escapes by biting his captor's neck, releasing him. While Abraham shoots the one guarding him, Rick demands that the one holding Carl be unhurt, growling 'he's MINE!' Rick then proceeds to chase the bandit down and brutally kills him. After the ordeal, Rick learns of Abraham's past and talks with Carl about the things they've both done.

The next day, the three arrive in Cynthiana. Rick goes and tries to find Morgan when he is hit from behind with a shovel. He looks and sees Morgan above him. Morgan notices who it is and drops the shovel. Rick asks him what happened and Morgan shows him a zombified Duane chained up in the house. After hearing how Duane died, Rick offers Morgan to leave with them and go to Washington, handing him a gun to shoot Duane. Morgan instead shoots Duane's chain and agrees to leave with them. After making a trip to the police station (and taking the rest of the guns and ammo), the four of them begin to make their way back to the group.

Unfortunately on the way back, Rick, Carl, Morgan and Abraham encounter an enormous herd, wrecking their car and forcing them to continue on foot. Noticing that their current path will lead the herd back to the others, Rick and the others try to lose the herd by keeping them busy at a nearby farmhouse. The attempt fails and the herd follows them back to the group. Rick tells the others they must leave now, but Dale has other plans: Fed up with how Rick always seems to put everyone in danger, Dale wants to stay at a nearby house with Andrea and the twins. Eventually, Andrea convinces Dale that they have to leave with them, much to the latter's disappointment.

Fear The Hunters
After meeting back up with the others, Rick and the group continue to make their way to Washington. While on the road, Ben kills his twin brother, Billy. Abraham says they must kill Ben so he doesn't kill everyone else later. While the idea makes his skin crawl, Rick agrees that it has to be done, angering both Dale and Andrea. Later that night, a gunshot is heard which wakes Rick up, Ben is found dead and both Rick and Glenn (the former being the first one on the scene and the latter who was on watch) says they didn't see anyone approaching the van, leaving the identity of Ben's killer a mystery. They soon meet Gabriel Stokes, who says that he can lead them all to his church which is close by. Following a zombie attack later on, Rick tries to humor Dale who is grieving over both Billy and Ben's deaths. Dale curses Rick and walks away. Rick tells Andrea to tell Dale that he is sorry.

After learning that Dale has vanished, Rick forms a search party to find him. Eventually Rick calls off the search for the day and they leave to go in search of Gabriel's church, promising Andrea that they'll get back to looking for Dale the following morning. She asks him whether Gabriel had a hand in Dale's disappearance and Rick mentions that the thought had crossed his mind.

Rick and the others eventually arrive at the church. Andrea notices someone watching them from the woods and angrily confronts Gabriel, accusing him of having some part in Dale's disappearance. Rick joins in and Gabriel tells them his story. The following day, Dale is found dropped off in front of the church, missing his other leg. Rick notices someone in the woods as well. Telling Glenn and Abraham to take Dale to the church, Rick starts shooting towards the forest to provide them with some cover. Abraham informs Rick that the ones who took Dale are toying with them; he pointed out that while Glenn was shot in the leg it was to wound him, not kill him. Rick asks Dale what he remembers of where he was kept. After forming a search party consisting of himself, Abraham, Michonne and Andrea, Rick has Gabriel lead them to several possible locations where Dale may have been kept. Rick finds Chris, the leader of the Hunters who took Dale, and after trying to reason with them, leads the others to brutally kill them. Rick and the others return and Dale thanks Rick for leading their group, dying later that night. After burying Dale and reminiscing what he did to the Hunters, Rick says that Carl probably couldn't bear to look at him if he knew what he had done. Rick hears something behind him; he turns and finds Carl tearfully looking at him. Carl tells his father that he was the one who killed Ben.

Life Among Them
Several weeks later, Rick is seen looking for supplies with Carl in a nearby town. When they meet up with the rest, he asks Eugene if he could try the radio since they are close to reaching Washington; the latter insists that they should wait at least another day. Rick then tries to take it, which results in a struggle and the revelation that the radio had no batteries inside it. When pressured, Eugene admits that he was lying the whole time about being a scientist and is attacked by Abraham. That night, Rick and Abraham are approached by Aaron who offers them to join the community he lives at called the Alexandria Safe-Zone. Remembering how friendly The Governor was when he first arrived to Woodbury, Rick knocks out Aaron and has him tied up. After fighting off a small wave of roamers, Aaron asks again if they are interested in going. Only after everyone else agrees with Aaron's offer does Rick finally relent and agree to go, later meeting up with Aaron's partner Eric. As they are closing in on Alexandria, Rick and his group take part in helping two other residents of the Safe-Zone Heath and Scott, who were out on a supply run, return back safely.

Eventually Rick and his group finally arrive at Alexandria. Taken aback by the sense of normality the community has (noting to Aaron that he saw something he'd never believe he'd ever see again: smiling and happy children), Rick is taken to see the leader of Alexandria named Douglas Monroe. After hearing of his past background as a police officer, he makes Rick a constable and officially welcomes him and his group to the Safe-Zone. However when they arrived, Abraham told Rick that it was a little suspicious that their weapons were taken from them and locked away, hinting that something may be a bit fishy with the community after all. Rick decides that this does seem odd, so he sends Glenn to scout the armory and to find a way to get their weapons back.

Too Far Gone
Rick learns that one of the other residents of Alexandria, Peter Anderson, has been abusing his wife and son but is told by Douglas that they cannot get rid of him due to him being a doctor. Rick then argues over the importance of how the residents behave before attacking Pete in his home and pulling a gun out on Douglas when he tells Rick he has to leave. Michonne attacks Rick from behind and has someone confiscate his gun. Rick looks up at her and realizes what he's done. Shortly afterwards, an angry and vengeful Pete tries to kill Rick but ends up killing Douglas' wife Regina instead, leading Rick to shoot him after Douglas gives him permission to do so.

After the funeral of Scott, Regina and Pete, Douglas relinquishes control of Alexandria to Rick, saying that he is no longer fit to run the community. During this time, Pete's widow, Jessie Anderson, moves in with Rick and the two start a relationship with each other.

No Way Out
During a routine sweep of the perimeter, a herd of roamers are seen approaching the Safe-Zone, prompting Rick to initiate the community to help fend off the herd. When they later break through the walls of the Safe-Zone, Rick is seen killing zombies alongside his friend Morgan, who is bitten on the arm during the assault. Later, when he and Michonne took Morgan to Rick's place, Dr. Denise Cloyd arrives to stop the bleeding. Rick is seen hiding in his house along with Jessie, Ron, Carl, Morgan, Denise, Michonne, Maggie and Sophia. He wants everyone to escape, and come back for the others once they are safe. Everyone except Maggie and Sophia, and later Denise, agree to leave. Rick employs the technique he used with Glenn earlier in Atlanta; rubbing zombie guts on themselves to mask their scent from the roamers, so they'll ignore them. They get out, but Ron unknowingly attracts the roamers to him, causing him and Jessie to get eaten by zombies. As she's being devoured, Jessie is still grabbing Carl's hand and to prevent Carl being eaten, Rick apologizes to her and cuts off her hand.

Douglas, who had resigned himself to be eaten by roamers, suddenly begins to haphazardly shoot the roamers as they approach him. As he is overtaken by them, he fires his gun and accidentally shoots Carl in the head, destroying his eye and taking out a chunk of his face. Rick takes him to Denise and tearfully asks her to save his life. After several grueling minutes, Denise is able to stop Carl's bleeding. Rick goes out and attacks the herd head-on; this, in turn, inspires others to come out and join him. After killing a good number of roamer, Michonne tells him to go to Carl and they'll deal with the rest. When he arrives, Denise tells Rick that Carl is alive but is currently in a coma. After she leaves, Rick promises Carl that he knows how to turn Alexandria into a fortified community and will do everything he can to make it an overall better place for him and all the other residents.

We Find Ourselves
During the aftermath of the herd invasion, Rick is mainly seen with Carl by his bedside and eventually Carl coughs. Rick is excited about that but Denise informs that it didn't mean anything. Andrea offers Rick to come over to her house to eat, which makes Rick grateful for her. Suddenly, Denise tells Rick that Carl is waking up. Rick is happy to see his son alive, until Carl asks where his mother is. Rick doesn't answer yet and just hugs him. Outside, Rick asks Denise what he should tell Carl regarding his mother. Denise becomes speechless.

Later, Rick tells Carl about what happened to Lori and Judith. Carl doesn't remember Judith, but notes he's sad about their death. Carl says he remembers the deaths of Amy, Tyreese, Morgan, Jessie and Ron. Rick is surprised he remembers Jessie and Ron. Carl asks if he can go to sleep, and Rick says he can.

Rick replaces Glenn, when a group of survivors goes to scout the immediate area for provisions. At the end of Issue 88, Rick is found by Andrea crying in an office room. When asked what's wrong, he tells her that Carl isn't the same and while talking to him, he saw no chance of his son ever being a little kid again. After defusing a tense stand-off with Nicholas, he tells Andrea that he actually thought of killing the man while he was reasoning with him. Rick goes on to tell her that he doesn't feel like he can act within a normal community anymore and with everything that's happened, it feels like he died a long time ago. Andrea disagrees, leading her to comfort him with a kiss.

A Larger World
A few weeks later, Rick is told that Abraham, during a scouting run with Michonne, was being held hostage by a stranger. The man introduces himself as Paul Monroe and offers to establish a trade system with their respective colonies. Rick has him knocked out and held in the infirmary. After talking with both Aaron and Andrea, Rick decides to go with Paul to see the community the latter belongs to and takes Michonne, Glenn, Andrea and (unknowingly Carl) with him. There, he is shown around and introduced to Gregory. Another resident of the colony, Ethan, returns from a failed mission where all of his companions were killed except for himself and a woman named Crystal. Ethan then tells Gregory he has a message for him and stabs him. Rick tackles Ethan to the ground and in the struggle cuts his throat, while the rest of the residents stare at him, shocked.

Later, Paul tells Rick, Glenn, Andrea and Michonne about a wandering band of killers that both protect and terrify the residents of Hilltop known as The Saviors. Carl asks if they would be willing to trade with the Safe-Zone if they helped eliminate the Saviors, an idea which Rick agrees with. After some time, Rick is called to see Gregory and discusses the idea with him as well. Afterwards, it seems as if both Gregory and Paul agree with the plan and send Rick's group back to the Safe-Zone with some supplies. Although Michonne is upset by the idea, Rick says that it'd be worth it, saying "We've been surviving in order to reach this moment; where we can stop surviving and start living."

Something To Fear
As they return from Hilltop colony back to the Safe Zone, Rick's group is ambushed by a group of the Saviors. After threatening the group and subsequently killing them, Rick sends the lone survivor back to Negan with a warning to stop terrorizing the residents of Hilltop. He later calls a meeting with the Safe Zone, suggesting that they can protect the Hilltop colony in exchange for supplies. After spending the night with Andrea, Rick wakes up and is told that another group of Saviors are outside the walls and have taken Eugene hostage. After killing a good number of them (and the rest retreating back to Negan), Rick and Andrea find Abraham's body being eaten by roamers and take it back to the Safe Zone to be buried. When asked by Andrea what do they do now, Rick is genuinely afraid and says that he doesn't know.

Rick assembles a group comprising of Carl, Glenn, Maggie, Sophia, Heath, Michonne and himself to go immediately to the Hilltop to get Paul and others to fight the Saviors. Although they follow the same route Paul showed them, they are unable to make it to the Hilltop in one day. During the night, Negan and a large group of fifty Saviors ambush them. Addressing Rick by name, Negan demands that the Safe Zone belongs to them now and has to punish them for killing so many Saviors. He eventually decides on killing Glenn, brutally beating him to death with his bat named 'Lucille'. Rick breaks down into tears and swears that he will personally kill Negan for what he did. Negan dares him to do it and leaves, giving Rick and the others one week before they return for their first offering to the Saviors.

Arriving at the Hilltop, Rick is greeted by Paul who is surprised to see them again so soon after their last meeting; Rick shows him Glenn's body and Paul immediately takes them all to Gregory. Rick recounts what happened to Glenn and Abraham and accuses Gregory of withholding information from them. Gregory says that they didn't know that Negan actually existed; since no one had ever seen Negan in person before, they believed that he was made up by the Saviors to intimidate the residents of Hilltop. Paul resolves to go back with them to Alexandria and see what he can do to help. Rick and the others depart, leaving Maggie and Sophia at Hilltop after they expressed their desire to stay, in honor of Glenn's wish to start a new life there. Before they go, Rick embraces Maggie and promises her that he'll do everything he can to make Negan pay for killing Glenn.

When they arrive back to Alexandria, he sees that the Saviors attacked the colony while they were gone. He fears for the worst, but Nicholas and Andrea arrive, telling him that no one in the community was injured or killed and that they killed a good portion of the Saviors who attacked. After hugging Andrea, she shows Rick another piece of good news; during the fight, they were able to capture one of the Saviors as a hostage: Rick recognizes him as Abraham's killer, Dwight.

After Andrea punches Dwight, Rick tells her to stop. Later on, he tells her about what happened to Glenn on the way to Hilltop. She argues that this is the perfect reason they should be fighting back against the Saviors, but Rick disagrees. He blames himself for Glenn's death, saying that he thought of Glenn and Maggie as hope for a better future. He also says that they had no idea what Negan was capable of doing and was caught back with how apathetic he was while killing Glenn. Realizing that using the same tactics employed against The Governor will not work in this situation, Rick decides that Alexandria has no choice but to submit to Negan's rule for the time being and releases Dwight, much to the anger and uneasiness of several members of the Safe Zone, including Andrea, Michonne, Carl, and Holly. As everyone disperses, Rick, wanting to know what they are up against, tells Paul to tail Dwight and find out as much as he can about the Saviors and report back.

What Comes After
After Rick sends Paul to tail Dwight, Rick goes back home to find Andrea packing her things. When asked, she says she's still angry about him letting Dwight go and that she's moving out. As Andrea leaves, Rick finally tells her why he did it; Rick wants Negan to think that himself and the residents of Alexandria will submit to his rule. After biding their time and resources, then they can strike back at Negan and the Saviors. Andrea forgives Rick and kisses him, but asks why she was left out of the loop. Rick answers that he did it to keep her, Carl and the other residents safe.

The following day Negan arrives to Alexandria with a group of his Saviors. He demands that their one week is up and that they be let into the Safe-Zone. After menacing Rick to 'not make him ask' to be let in, Rick complies. Negan taunts Rick by demanding that he hold Lucille, the same weapon that killed Glenn, while he goes off to search some houses for supplies with the other Saviors. After hearing that Denise and Carl are threatening Negan, Rick is able to defuse each situation. As the Saviors leave, Negan takes back Lucille from Rick and says to him, "I just slid my dick down your throat and you thanked me for it.'

After the Saviors leave, Rick is confronted by Denise who admonishes him for his actions. He angrily says that he doesn't want anyone to go off half-cocked again and cause them all to be killed. He also says that he's no longer in charge and if anyone wanted to leave, they are free to do so. After going home, Rick asks Carl to come have a talk with him, but gets no response. After looking around and not finding him anywhere (and noticing that Abraham's machine gun was missing from the armory), Rick realizes that Carl either went off to find the Saviors on his own or was abducted by them while they were at the Safe-Zone. Him, Andrea, Michonne and Nicholas go off to try and find Carl but are forced back at the end of the day.

As Rick is sleeping, he is awoken by Paul who tells him to come take a walk with him. Paul tells Rick that he knows where the Saviors are holding up at and that when he escaped, he had heard machine gun fire; Rick tells him about when Carl went missing and both realize that Carl is with the Saviors. They immediately wake up Andrea and Michonne and head off to the Saviors' stronghold. When asked how they will get inside (since the Saviors' base is surrounded by a wall of zombies), Rick says that he will simply knock on the front door; he reminds them that he wants Negan to feel that they are submissive to his rule and that knowing where his group resides will throw Negan off and reveal where Carl is.

While on the road, Rick's group is met by Negan and some of the Saviors going in the opposite direction. Negan says that this was mighty convenient because they were on their way to the Safe-Zone; Rick says that they were on their way to see him. Negan is suspicious and asks what they are doing here but Rick demands to know where Carl is. Negan says, believe it or not, that that was the reason he was heading over and that he can't wait for Rick to see what he's done to Carl.

After hearing this, Rick assaults Negan, but is eventually overpowered. He frees himself by biting Negan's arm, something that genuinely surprises the latter. Negan reveals that Carl was unharmed and admits that he was trying to get a rise out of Rick by implying that he did something to his son. Negan tells Rick that he can be reasonable and that he also takes no pleasure in killing; he only does it to establish boundaries, "to make people aware of the consequences of their actions. I take no joy in those deeds." Rick says that while he is grateful for Carl not being harmed, "this doesn't change anything" and both Rick's group and the Saviors head back home. Rick addresses the community and says that Carl was returned safely and that Negan can be trusted; when asked by Andrea what the community will think once they realize that Rick has been lying to them, Rick claims that they will be safe and it'll be worth the risk. After hearing from Carl the information he has about the foundry the Saviors reside in, Paul says that 'it's time that you met Ezekiel."

The following day, Rick and Paul are traveling to see Ezekiel when they are stopped by two men on horseback, and are then taken to a school, known as The Kingdom. Paul tells Rick that Ezekiel and his group of survivors live inside the school during the winter months and during the warmer months, they stay outside in tents. As they arrive, Ezekiel comes out, greets Paul warmly and welcomes Rick to the community. Rick is taken aback when he sees that Ezekiel has a tiger; Paul mentions that he forgot about that and says the tiger is named Shiva. After agreeing to provide assistance to Rick, Ezekiel says they have another visitor and Dwight appears, admitting that he is one of the last people Rick would want to see but asks Rick to trust him. Rick is furious and yells that as a member of the Saviors, Dwight can NOT be trusted and he refuses to listen to what he has to say. Dwight says that at first, he believed Rick was intimidated by Negan but found out differently when he found Paul had followed him back to the foundry. Also, Dwight says that until Rick came along, Ezekiel was the only one who "had the balls to stand up to Negan." He goes on to say that he is willing to share everything about the Saviors and offers to kill Negan himself and bring them his "head on a silver platter."

March To War
Rick decides to ultimately trust Dwight and proceeds to form an alliance with Dwight and Ezekiel in regards to getting rid of Negan once and for all. After returning to Alexandria, he tells Andrea, Carl, and Michonne about his plan to unite The Kingdom, Hilltop and other communities with Alexandria to fight the Saviors. When Carl insists that he not be left out of fighting, Rick tells him that he is welcome to join them in the assault. Michonne is upset that she will be fighting again so soon and reminds Rick that she wants to be done with fighting all the time, saying that she ultimately wants to destroy her sword; Rick swears to her that once Negan is gone, she is free to 'melt it down.' He later visits Eugene and inquires about ammo production; he then tells Eugene about his plan. Eugene says that he believed his bullets would be used to fight roamers and as part of the offering to the Saviors, not to kill people; Rick counters that the bullets would be used against people who want to kill them. Andrea, Carl, Michonne, Heath and Aaron prepare to go with Rick for what is believed to be a supply run, but are told by Rick that they are actually going to The Kingdom. After arriving, he introduces them all to Ezekiel and stops Michonne from attacking Ezekiel when the two cross swords; the latter claims that he merely wanted to see whose sword was bigger.

It is revealed that Rick has assembled quite a few people to take down Negan and the Saviors, including twenty people from the Hilltop and roughly thirty from the Kingdom. He tells Andrea that there is a chance they can launch an assault against The Saviors soon, although he wishes that Abraham was still alive because he was good at planning strategies while Rick isn't. Despite the Saviors having higher numbers, he believes that with Eugene's  'ammunition pipeline', they have a good chance at evening the odds and succeeding. When Paul arrives with the men from the Hilltop, Rick asks Ezekiel if they've heard back from Dwight; Ezekiel reassures him by saying that they'll have to wait for the right moment. Until then, 'focus our forces on their outposts and take them out.'

Unbeknownst to Rick, Negan arrived in Alexandria several days ahead of schedule and decided to wait for him to return. When Rick arrives back, no one is at the gate and roamers begin to surround the van. While Michonne dispatches them, Olivia arrives, opens the gate and informs Rick that Negan is waiting for him. Immediately following this, Denise runs over and informs them that Negan slashed up and killed Spencer. Rick flies into a rage and confronts Negan leading to a heated debate between the two men. Negan mentions that he has been more than reasonable (giving Carl back despite him killing several Saviors) and says that he never would have allowed his men to abuse Carl in any way. In a surprising act of charity, Negan says they can keep all the supplies they gathered but Rick refuses, saying that "A deal is a deal."

As Negan and his men load up and get ready to leave, Rick runs home and tells Andrea to get up in the bell tower, saying that it's possibly the best chance they'll get at killing Negan; he also tells her to assemble the rest of the Alexandria defenders and have them up on the wall. As Negan leaves, he sees Rick behind him and wonders why Rick is following them; a second later, the driver of the vehicle is shot through the head. Angry and confused, Negan grabs Lucille and exits the vehicle as another Savior is shot and killed. As Rick aims his gun at Negan's head, it is revealed that Negan had Saviors outside the walls and they shoot the Alexandria defender's guns out of their hands. Negan claims that they are "fucking fucked" and walks up to Rick, holding Lucille in his hands.

Negan insults Andrea, causing Rick to try and strike him several times. Carl shoots off a portion of Lucille, earning Negan's rage. He shouts for Carl to be thrown over the wall, saying "I want him to pay for what he's done!" Rick tries to object, but Negan demands that they "Give me the boy or I'll bash in all four skulls of the people out here!" Rick says that if Carl dies, their agreement will be over but Negan states that it already IS over. He orders his men to line up Rick, Heath, Nicholas, and Holly, then begins to decide who to kill first. Negan and Rick notice a figure falling from the bell tower and both believe it to be Andrea, causing Rick to scream out her name.

Negan says that "she went quick" and invites Rick to sing along as he chooses who to kill. With tears streaming down his face, Rick says 'just get on with it.' Suddenly Paul, who was hiding in the trench, causes a diversion resulting in him taking Negan hostage while Rick and the others to run towards the trench. The Kingdom survivors come up from behind the Saviors and attack them as well. During the commotion, Negan is able to free himself from Paul's grasp and is able to flee. Rick demands that they follow them but Ezekiel disagrees, saying that the Saviors still outnumber them. Rick then runs towards the bell tower and finds Connor's broken corpse. Inside, Rick and Michonne find Andrea's body; despite all the wounds she received from Connor, she is still alive and Rick demands that they get her to Denise immediately.

Rick has his hand looked at by Denise and is told that it should heal in a few weeks. Rick wryly remarks that's good; "otherwise I'd be out of hands." After both Andrea and Michonne question Rick about losing their advantage over Negan, Rick still insists that despite the attack today, Negan still knows nothing about his overall plan. He then wants to have everyone who's able to fight from Alexandria, the Hilltop and the Kingdom gathered up in a few days and ready to "burn their place to the ground."

As Rick walks through Alexandria with his son, he commends Carl on how he acted during the stand-off and showed that he is someone Rick can count on. Despite this, Rick says that he wants Carl to stay in Alexandria. Carl protests, saying that he's the only one who knows the layout of the foundry, but Rick says there is another reason; he tells Carl that the Safe-Zone won't be safe when the Saviors come again and due to how Carl handled the Alexandria defenders, Rick wants him to be in charge of defending the Safe-Zone while they are taking the fight to Negan. Carl, visibly disappointed, agrees but only if Rick swears that he'll kill Negan; "I will."

As they return home, Rick is greeted by Paul who says that today's attack could have gone better; Rick says it could have worked, but agrees that from now on their attacks will need to be planned out. Paul then tells Rick that all of this couldn't have happened without him. Paul sees that Rick is building something that can change the world and wants to be a part of that. He also commends Rick that he's the first one to stand up against Negan: Gregory wanted everything to be smooth and Ezekiel hated Negan, but still obeyed for the most part. "You give people courage, you inspire people to stand up... to fight for what's right. You're a leader we can follow."

All Out War - Part One
Several days later, Rick wakes up and prepares himself to begin the war on the Saviors. He admits to Andrea that while everyone looks to him for leadership, he is doubtful about what he can do and is burdened by Paul's view of him being a leader that people can follow. Andrea assures him that despite this, he doesn't give up and keeps going. She says that "whatever comes of this... it'll be worth it." Later, Rick meets up with Eugene and asks about the ammunition production. Eugene replies that they have made two additional crates of ammo on top of what they've already produced. Rick thanks him and all the other workers on their contribution towards the war. He then meets both Paul and Ezekiel one last time before he calls for volunteers to go with him and the other two to Sanctuary. He then hugs both Andrea and Carl goodbye, promising them that he'll be back as soon as possible.

Eventually Rick's army arrives and he shoots twice into the air, getting Negan's attention. Rick offers Negan the chance to surrender, saving lives on both sides. Negan initially plays along and asks what they will do with him and the others who have fought against them already. Rick recalls back to the rule he made back at the prison where 'you kill, you die' and if Negan refuses, they'll come inside and "whatever happens, happens." Negan refuses, and reveals to them Gregory, who was kidnapped after the assault in Alexandria. Gregory states that the Hilltop will be siding with Negan, and that any Hilltop resident who refuses will be ejected from the colony. Rick looks to Paul, saying that he'll understand if Paul wants to leave but the latter says he's staying. Only eight people leave the army and return to the Hilltop, earning Negan's wrath (due to Gregory saying that half of the assembled army came from the Hilltop.) After Negan kicks Gregory off the balcony and admitting that he thought more would leave, Rick offers Negan one more time to surrender. Negan refuses once again and immediately his snipers open fire, killing several members of Rick's army.

He orders them to fall back and to take out the snipers at the windows. Paul notes that the roamers around the walls are getting agitated and asks Rick if he's sure about this and Rick replies yes. After several minutes, Rick's goal is revealed; all the sound and noise they made by shooting the windows attracted roamers from several miles to begin surrounding the fences (similar to the herd that attacked and broke through Alexandria.) Rick orders everyone back on the buses and, according to the plan made between him, Paul and Ezekiel, will stay behind and ram a truck through the fence to fill the Sanctuary with roamers. He is confident that once Negan finds him, he won't be killed immediately and Rick can potentially meet up with Dwight inside the foundry. Unfortunately, another member of the army decided to stay behind as well: Holly. Rick orders her back to the bus, but she responds that Abraham's killer is inside and that she has to be the one to carry this out, saying that she's strong. Rick agrees, but still refuses to allow her to do this. She knees him in the groin and steals the truck, driving off towards the fence and leaving Rick behind, who futilely yells at her to come back. He is then somehow able to make his way back to the rendezvous point and says that the army shouldn't be celebrating right now; "the war has only just begun."

As the army is camping outside, Rick tells his forces about the next phase of his plan: with Negan having to focus his attention towards eliminating the roamers that threaten his life and those inside Sanctuary, the Saviors are essentially cut off from the rest of the world. Therefore, all of the Savior's outposts are now vulnerable and will be easier to attack and conquer. He tasks Michonne to take a group back to Alexandria to provide support for Carl and the other defenders while himself and Ezekiel will take the remaining militia and divide into two groups to take over the outposts.

Rick and his squadron focus their attack on one of the more fortified outposts. The fighting goes back and forth which results in numerous casualties on both sides, including Eric. They are eventually able to kill all of the Saviors except for one; they use him to gain access inside. Despite the Saviors inside putting up a struggle, Rick, Paul and the remaining survivors are successful in killing the remaining Saviors and take over the outpost.

After returning back to Alexandria, Rick is informed by Michonne that Ezekiel's group was annihilated when they attempted to take another outpost. Alarmed by this, Rick orders a meeting inside the church to discuss this new development. He surmises that Negan must have eliminated all the roamers as well as discovering that Rick's Army overtook a Savior outpost, thus sending more troops to the remaining ones as reinforcements. Just then, an explosion occurs nearby. Rick goes outside and sees a house demolished and asks if there was anyone living inside; fortunately, he's told that it was one of the vacant houses. However, he discovers the source of the explosion; Negan is outside the walls with a large number of Saviors easily as big as the group that arrived the night Glenn was killed.

Although Negan threatens Rick with more grenades, he insists that he's here to strike a deal; unsurprisingly, Rick doesn't believe him until Negan brings Holly out of a truck. Rick only agrees to talk when Holly is safely inside the walls, to which Negan agrees and lets her go. Rick leads Holly (who is blindfolded and unable to see) back to the Safe-Zone and once she gets inside, he orders the gate closed. Unfortunately, Holly was killed and reanimated earlier and Rick unknowingly lured her now-zombified state into Alexandria and she bites Denise's arm several times. Rick shoots Holly while more grenades are thrown over the wall and begin to explode. As he orders for a knife to amputate Denise's arm, Heath is caught in one of the explosions and ends up getting a leg blown off. Denise pulls away from Rick, saying that it's too late to save her, but not Heath and carries him to the infirmary. Amid the explosions, Rick runs to find Andrea and Carl. Finding them, he says the perimeter houses are vulnerable and that they must leave. Another explosion goes off right behind Carl, blasting the three of them forward. He frantically shouts for Carl and carries him to Denise. Rick lays Carl down on one of the gurneys and asks Denise to check him for burns or shrapnel, despite Carl saying he's fine. He makes his way to the front gate and Andrea asks him about the gunfire that came from outside the walls. Puzzled, they both look around to see who drove the Saviors off. He is amazed to find that it's Maggie as well as a squadron from the Hilltop. She tells Rick that she's brought help from the Hilltop and asks how bad the damage is. Rick asks if she's in charge of the Hilltop now but before she answers, he blacks out from shock due to the attack.

All Out War - Part Two
About an hour later, Rick wakes up in Denise's house. Carson, the doctor from the Hilltop, says that he suffered a concussion from the blasts and is doing fine. When Rick asks for Denise, he is taken to a separate room where she is along with Heath. Heath says that she's in the final stages of infection due to being bitten by Holly and will die soon. Rick leaves them alone and meets up with Andrea, Carl and Michonne. He is told by Michonne that Ezekiel and his remaining troops have suffered enough losses and plan to leave. Rick asks if the walls are still intact; Andrea replies yes, but there's not much else. Rick goes outside and sees the total devastation from Negan's bombardment that Andrea was referring to; numerous houses have been damaged/destroyed as wells as casualties including Charles, Betsy and the entire Orson Family. Rick begins to place blame on himself, but Andrea justifies it. Nicholas comes up and announces that he's leaving Alexandria with his family, saying it's no longer safe. Maggie is planning on returning to the Hilltop and he wishes to take his family with them. Rick has no objections and says that he doesn't expect anyone to. Realizing the damage done was too great, Rick announces that they are all leaving Alexandria.

After talking to Ezekiel, Rick is approached by Paul and tells him that Eugene and his crew are gone. He says that although the building was swarming with roamers, there were no signs of a struggle and they are probably alive; however, due to the building being in the direction the Saviors were going, he believes that Negan captured them. Rick acknowledges this and says that they're too valuable for Negan to kill, but there's nothing they can do right now. Paul attempts to volunteer and rescue them, but Rick glares at him and firmly says "No." After the funeral for the deceased, Andrea and Rick are packing their belongings to leave. Andrea asks if Maggie is fine with them moving to the Hilltop, Rick says she is. Rick notices the telephone he found after the prison and hesitates, wondering whether he should take it. Andrea asks if there is anything else Rick wants to bring, saying there's still room in the bag. Rick says no, leaving the phone behind. He takes one final look at the ruins of Alexandria before getting on the bus and traveling to the Hilltop.

That night, Rick goes up to the wall to see Andrea. When asked if Carl's asleep, Rick replies that with everything going on right now, no one is probably getting any sleep tonight and also Carl's too busy reading to go looking for him. He says that he's got a busy day tomorrow and has to get some sleep. Rick says that the only way he's guarenteed to get any sleep is to curl up next to Andrea "where I know I'll be safe." Andrea smiles and wishes him goodnight, promising to wake him up if anything happens. Rick wakes up the next morning in Andrea's lap, commenting that it was the best night of sleep he's had in awhile. He tells her to get some shut-eye because he needs her ready to go in case of an attack. Rick later goes and meets up with Earl Sutton, reintroducing himself. He asks Earl that after the war is over, if there's a possibility for him to make Rick a prosthetic for his missing hand. Earl says that with everything he's heard about what Rick's done, he'd be happy to do so. Just then, the rest of Ezekiel's forces arrive at the Hilltop from the Kingdom.

Later that day, Rick has a meeting with Paul, Ezekiel, and Maggie regarding their next move. Ezekiel says that it was smart to move all their forces in one spot in order to be easier to defend; Rick agrees but also says it's a downside as well since they've "put all our eggs in one basket." He decides to spend the whole day reassessing their resources, manpower and weapons in order to prepare for the next Savior attack. Paul reveals that there's a small town about a half mile away from the Hilltop that can be used as a staging ground for their forces. Rick agrees and says that it could also serve as a rendezvous point in case the Hilltop becomes compromised: seeing the looks on everyone else's faces, he says that he's only preparing for the worst. Rick estimates that it'd take about one full day to set this whole plan in motion, hoping that Negan will take longer than that to strike again. He contemplates the safe zone through the window, unaware that The Saviors are in the nearby woods watching the Hilltop.

Rick is seen eating with Andrea and many other members from Alexandria, Hilltop and the Kingdom. He notes how much food they have here. When Andrea asks if they'll be staying for good, Rick says they'll go back to Alexandria when Negan is defeated. Looking at the other survivors around him, Rick says that he looks at the world and "I just don't see how Negan ever defeats this." Soon after, Kal notifies them all that the Saviors have arrived. After refusing to talk with Negan, the Saviors break down the front gates and swarm the Hilltop. Rick orders the survivors to open fire, destroying the truck that smashed through and killing several Saviors in the process. During the firefight, Rick takes Nicholas and Aaron to box in the attackers. While they take cover, Rick unknowingly leaves himself vulnerable from behind. Negan, who got separated from the other Saviors and has Dwight with him, notices this and the former demands that Dwight shoot him. Dwight shows some hesitation, but is ultimately forced to shoot Rick. An arrow pierces Rick's side, taking him down and possibly infecting him with the zombie virus.

Several hours later, Rick wakes up and sees the arrow lodged in his abdomen. Cursing Dwight's name, he tries to stand, but, is unable to by himself. Nicholas helps carry him back to the house for Dr. Carson to examine him, however, they are attacked by two Saviors. Paul defeats them and they make it to the house. Two more Saviors attack from behind, slashing Nicholas in the back. Before one is able to kill Rick, Carl shoots the Savior in the head, and kills the second one attacking Nicholas. Gregory comes out of the house and brings Rick inside. After being tended to by Carson, Rick overhears that several people who were injured in the attack are showing symptoms of being bitten, yet none of them were. Rick is horrified when it's discovered by Paul and Michonne that the Saviors caked their weapons with the zombie virus before the attack and any injury caused by them will be fatal.

After being examined, Rick sits outside Nicholas' room. He notices that he hasn't felt any changes whatsoever despite being injured from the attack. As Paula comes out and hugs Mikey, he leaves with Carl and Andrea to give them some time to mourn. Eugene comes by and tells Rick how he was able to escape Sanctuary with as much ammo as possible thanks to the actions of Carson and Dwight. This, coupled with what Paul told him regarding Dwight's actions during the bombing of Alexandria and the fact that Dwight's bolt did not seem to be infected when he shot Rick, finally convinces Rick that Dwight is truely on their side. He muses that Negan believes him to be dead due to the fact there are reports of him and the Saviors camped out nearby. Seeing an opportunity to end this, he organizes a strike team to meet up with Dwight and surround the Saviors. Both Carl and Aaron volunteer to go; Rick allows Aaron, but tells Carl to stay behind. After Negan makes his presence known, Rick decides to go out and confront him alone. Startling Negan, Rick refuses his terms for surrender. He tells Negan that this war is pointless and that the only ones who are really winning are the undead. Rick says that their reason for fighting is to have a peaceful way of life, to try and rebuild civilization, while Negan is simply making it harder and harder to survive. Instead, they should be combining their people and resources to make a better world. He says that Negan can have their stuff but in order for this to truly work, they need to give something back in return so both sides can come out stronger than before. After Negan mulls it over, he finally seems to grasp what Rick has been fighting for all along and agrees. Rick the suddenly slashes Negan's throat. with a knife. Rick then says "Good".

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Rick has killed:
 * Bicycle Girl (Zombified)
 * Shane (Zombified)
 * Dexter
 * Allen (Before Reanimation)
 * Otis (Zombified)
 * Caesar Ramon Martinez
 * Chris
 * Theresa
 * Albert
 * David
 * Greg
 * Charlie
 * Peter Anderson
 * Jessie Anderson (Caused)
 * Ron Anderson (Caused)
 * Ethan
 * Holly (Zombified)
 * Mike
 * Multiple unnamed Saviors (Direct or Caused)
 * Numerous counts of zombies and unnamed survivors.

Relationships
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Lori Grimes
Lori was Rick's wife. Lori resisted some of Rick's decisions, like giving Carl a gun and allowing him to join the group during target practice. Lori was also mad about Rick's disregard when people in the group died. However, Lori and Rick are shown to love each other fiercely and only want the best for their family and the group. After Lori is killed, Rick began to lose his mind from guilt and although later telling Andrea that he doesn't like to reflect on what happened to her, Shane or anyone else they've lost, he still mourns her and honors her by keeping Carl safe above all else.

Carl Grimes
"I think about the road ahead of us, and for the first time it seems... bright. After everything we've been through, after all the people we lost. I suddenly find myself overcome with something I thought we'd lost... Hope. I want to show you this new world. I want to make it a reality for you. Please Carl -- Live so that I can show you... Please..."

- Rick to a comatose Carl.

Rick's 9-year-old son and the source of his motivation to survive, Carl and Rick have been close since the very beginning of the series. Since the outbreak, Rick has been very straightforward about the danger that constantly surrounds them, and has done his best to ensure that Carl is prepared. He even trusted Carl with his gun, despite his age and Loris protests, and Carl has proven to be very responsible and capable with it's use, notably when he saved Rick's life from Shane. After Lori and Judith died, Carl was forced to defend an ailing Rick when they were surrounded by roamers, all the while fearing that Rick would become one himself. In a moment of hysteria, Carl berated an unconscious Rick for failing to protect Lori, Judith and the others they'd lost, but was nonetheless relieved when Rick came to. Since they'd left the prison, Carl became colder and very matter-of-fact about death and their lot in life, something Rick feared was his influence because of the morally questionable decisions he had to make. Carl would later assure him that he loved him for the things he did to keep himself and the group safe, reminding him that he'd also taken a life to defend someone he loved. A major turning point for Carl came when Ben killed his twin brother Billy. When the adults were unable to execute him, Carl took action and killed him discretely, choosing only to confide in Rick. During their stay in the Alexandria Safe Zone, Carl was the first to point out that the sense of security the zone provided the people was a crutch, and that the peace they'd enjoyed wouldn't last, and Rick soon realized that he was right. After Carl was shot, Rick swore that if he survived, he would fight to create a world that Carl and other children would be able to live in peacefully, and has since taken over as leader of the Safe Zone to accomplish just that. Following the deaths of Glenn and Abraham, Carl was shown to be disgusted by Rick's apparent compliance with Negan, unaware of the steps Rick was taking against him. He attempted to kill Negan on his own, but failed. Upon being reunited, Carl was shown to be apologetic, and though angry, Rick was more than relieved to know he was alright. Rick respects Carl's skills and has started to treat him as an adult to some degree.

Judith Grimes
"I love you so much, little Judy."

- Rick to Judith.

As a possibility that Judith was actually Shane's daughter, Rick was still ready to raise her as his own. Shortly after Judith was born, The Governor and men from Woodbury attacked the prison where Rick's group were staying. As Rick, Carl, and Lori (who was carrying Judith) tried to escape during the final attack, Lori was shot through the chest by Lilly. Lori fell and Judith was killed after being crushed by Lori's dead body. This devastated Rick for a long time, but he was eventually able to move on.

Andrea
"Have you forgotten? Death doesn't affect people quite like it used to. Don't you think it's about time you came back to life?"

- Andrea to Rick.

Rick and Andrea have been good friends since Atlanta, and have saved each others lives on more than one occasion. After losing Dale and breaking off ties with Spencer, Andrea turned to Rick for comfort. She's spent much of her time with Rick, such as when he's checking in on Carl while he was recovering from his gunshot wound. At the end of issue 90, Andrea kissed Rick, confirming her romantic interest, but Rick pushed her away in the following issue, citing their respective losses. However, in issue 96, Rick hugged and kissed Andrea on the cheek, showing that he does in fact have feelings for her. Later, in issue 98, their relationship is taken to the next level after returning from the Hilltop and Andrea laying into Rick about his feelings. They go through a rough patch when Rick releases Dwight back to the Saviors causing Andrea to nearly move out, but are eventually able to reconcile. In Issue 113, Rick breaks down to tears when he believes Andrea has been thrown from the bell tower.

Shane
Shane was Rick's best friend. He was the one who took Rick to the hospital after getting shot in the line of duty. It was later revealed that he had sex with Lori while Rick was in the hospital and possibly being the father of Judith. Dale warns Rick of Shane's true intentions, but Rick ignores this. At first he is happy to see Rick once the latter arrives at the Atlanta camp, but as time goes on he is seen to be jealous of Rick due to the other survivors looking to him as their leader and when Lori tells Shane that the two of them having sex 'was a mistake.' He eventually snaps and runs into the woods with Rick following him. He then tries to kill Rick after an argument only to be shot by Carl. Rick returns to put Shane down when he learns that everyone is infected, showing he still had a small amount of respect for Shane even after the snap.

Morgan Jones
One of the single most important survivors of the zombie apocalypse in Rick's life. He owed Morgan his life after leaving the hospital in Cynthiana after the surviving Jones family received him. After filling him in on the current situation of the world, Morgan and his son Duane would part ways with Rick and remain dormant. After much time passed, Rick would eventually go out of his way to find the Jones family in his hometown while raiding for more weapons and ammunition. Sadly, he would find that things had changed for them and only Morgan was left alive. Morgan's son, Duane, had in fact become a zombie though Morgan decided to come with Rick to safety with Abraham and Carl. He even develops a relationship with Carl because of his son's death. While others would mock his insanity, Rick would always be there to stand by his side as he was so much like him. After his death, Rick thinks he should have talked to him more, and at least said goodbye.

Duane Jones
Not much is revealed of their two relationship. Rick is still seen sad and shocked after his death. Rick didn't remember his name, and thought his name was "David". He had, however, remembered it by the time he, Abraham and Carl got to Rick's neighborhood; when Morgan hit Rick in the head with a shovel, Rick spontaneously exclaimed "Duane?", only to find out it was the boy's father who attacked him this time.

Glenn
Glenn was one of the first people Rick met since the outbreak, as well as the one who brought Rick to the Atlanta group, and has since become one of his best friends. As one of the original survivors from the Atlanta group, Rick  trusted Glenn with important tasks, such as scavenging for supplies and reconnaissance. When Rick's group was first brought to the Alexandria Safe-Zone, Glenn was the one Rick trusted to help smuggle weapons out of storage in case of an emergency, in direct defiance of the safe-zone's rules. He also appeared to have cared very much for Glenn as he cried when Glenn was being killed and also threatened to kill Negan.

Jim
Rick and Jim did not interact very much, although, Rick did seem to be very saddened when he learnt that Jim's family had all been eaten by zombies, allowing Jim to escape and did feel sorry for him. Also Jim helped Glenn and Rick find the gun store in Atlanta on the map, which both Rick and Glenn were grateful for. Rick was also shocked when he discovered that Jim was bitten and got into a fight with Shane as he blamed Jim and Amy's deaths on him. Rick like everyone else in the Atlanta group were devastated as they left Jim against the tree.

Michonne
"Okay--so we're both crazy."

- Michonne to Rick.

Both Michonne and Rick have lost a lot during the zombie apocalypse. They began to truly understand and have a mutual respect for one another when Rick, upon finding out about Michonne's previous talking to her deceased boyfriend, confided in her about his talking to the deceased Lori over a telephone. Since meeting, Rick has been able to look to Michonne as somewhat of a confidant, and they are seen talking in private on various occasions. After their experiences together in Woodbury and escaping the prison, he trusts Michonne to watch over Carl several times.

Amy
Rick and Amy were not seen interacting much, but Rick and Lori trusted Andrea and Amy to babysit Carl and the other children, showing they trusted her. Rick was also seen shocked and upset once Amy was bitten and quickly was trying to persuade Andrea to get Amy into the RV before she died and Andrea put her down, before reanimation. Rick was seen sad at her funeral with his family and the rest of the group, he then got into a fight with Shane blaming him for Amy and Jim's deaths.

Dale
As with the rest of the group, Dale acted as a sort of surrogate father/grandfather figure to Rick. Rick's first encounter with Dale was when he voiced his concerns about Shane, and although Rick initially wrote him off as a 'crazy old man', Dale was ultimately right. He was a loyal supporter of Rick, trusting him as a leader and agreeing with many of his decisions. When Dale was bitten, Rick was the one who saved his life by cutting his off leg. More than anyone, Dale seemed to understand what Rick was going through after he lost Lori, having lost his own wife. Shortly after this however, Dale grew resentful of him for bringing an unstable Morgan to the group, luring a horde that forced them to relocate, and was outraged at Rick for implying that his surrogate son Ben had to die for killing his twin Billy. Before his death however, Dale thanked Rick for keeping the group alive for as long as he had.

Carol
"I heard what you did for me--with Tyreese. You sticking up for me like that--me finding out about it... It meant a lot to me."

- Carol to Rick.

She was relatively close to Rick, looking up to him as the de-facto leader of the group like everyone else. She also never hesitated to give her opinion when she believed it was needed, similar to Dale (although not as regularly). Before her death, she realized that his perspective of her had changed after she proposed that he, Lori, and herself get married and raise their children together.

Sophia
Rick and Sophia were shown to have a good relationship. Rick was happy to see Carl playing and having fun with her, after Carol committed suicide Sophia fell into depression and convinced herself that Glenn and Maggie were her real parents. At first Carl thought it was strange and that she was going insane but Rick supported Sophia understanding that it is hard for her, possibly due to him going through his mental issues after the death of Lori and Judith.

Tyreese
Rick and Tyreese met shortly after Shane's death while the Atlanta group was relocating, and though Rick was hesitant to trust him, Tyreese proved to be an invaluable asset to the group, as well as a good friend. Tyreese soon became an unofficial second-in-command of the group, as his brute strength and willingness to put himself in danger helped the group many times. The first and only major conflict between the two was after Carol caught Tyreese having an affair with Michonne, and subsequently attempted to kill herself. Rick confronted Tyreese, resulting in the two nearly killing each other in a fist fight. Though they maintained a civil relationship afterwards, they were never quite as close as before. Despite this, Tyreese still risked his life to look for Rick when he didn't return from Woodbury, and Rick was still distraught over his loss.

Julie
Rick and Julie had a stable relationship. After zombies attacked Wiltshire Estates, Rick ran back to the house to save Chris, Julie and Tyreese which shows he cared about all three of them greatly. He also helped teach Julie in target practice on the Greene Family Farm. At the Prison, Julie and her boyfriend (Chris) tried to kill each other in a suicide pact but Chris pulled the trigger too fast and killed her. Rick was deeply upset about this and seeing Julie reanimate without being bitten shocked him and later led Rick to the realization that after dying, reanimation will occur whether someone was bitten or not.

Hershel Greene
Another of Rick's close friends. Hershel was the one who saved Carl's life after having been shot by Otis, as well as having provided shelter for the group on his farm, for which Rick was extremely grateful. The two initially got along well, and even when Hershel revealed that he was keeping zombies in the barn, Rick was willing to compromise, until they broke out and killed Hershel's son and daughter. The two only came to blows when Rick asked if the group could use their rooms the following day. After almost hitting Lori and then nearly shooting Rick, he demanded that the group leave his property. When the group found the prison, out of sympathy and a need for his expertise in farming and first aid, Rick went back to the farm to invite Hershel and his family despite objections from the group. Hershel agreed and would go on to treat many of the groups injuries, as well as participate in the fight against The Governor, where he died alongside his son Billy.

Maggie Greene
Usually seen talking about Glenn. Rick seems to show some level of caring for her, by saving her from being shot  during the Woodbury army shootings as well as when Abraham believed she had hung herself and wanted to shoot her to prevent reanimation. Their relationship goes through a rough patch when Maggie assaults Rick for not trying to save Glenn from being killed by Negan, but they are able to reconcile. Maggie later states that she believes in Rick's plan to oust the Saviors.

Susie and Rachel Greene
Greene's twin sisters and Rick did not talk very much if at all on Hershel's farm or the Prison but when he found their bodies he was both devastated and furious. When he found out Thomas killed Susie and Rachel he beat him almost to death.

Dexter
At first Dexter seemed to tolerate Rick, and even welcomed him and Tyreese warmly. But only after he was falsely accused, Dexter started to see Rick as a threat even more than he did to the other Atlanta survivors, due to the fact that he was the leader of their group. Dexter hated all of the Atlanta survivors, but none more than Rick. Later, when Rick spoke to Abraham about the prison and Dexter's death, he admitted that he regretted killing him, as he later felt he could have convinced Dexter not to kick them out.

Axel
Though Rick was initially wary of Axel (as he was with all of the other prisoners), he eventually came to trust him. This was evident when Axel took sides with Rick's group when Dexter tried to force them out. Axel showed himself to be a hard worker by helping Tyreese dispose of the dead zombie corpses, which led to him being placed upon Rick's list of necessary people. Rick was saddened for a bit after Axel's death during the final assault of the Woodbury colony. His death had an impact on Rick's mind, as he felt guilty for it, (along with Lori, Judith, Hershel, Billy, Patricia, and Alice's deaths). It is also evident that the two were at least somewhat good friends when in the back-up story for Issue 75, in which Rick is more than happy to see Axel again.

Thomas Richards
At first Rick and Thomas didn't seem to mind one another, Thomas was also was one of the more trusted prisoner as he lied about what he was really imprisoned for and helped the woman moving in on the first day. But after Susie and Rachel's bodies were found decrepitude Rick felt severely guilty as he had suggested to Hershel that he and his family should join them in the prison. Once Rick discovered that it was infact Thomas that had murdered both Susie and Rachel and was trying to kill Andrea, Rick savagely beat his face to a pulp, this destroyed any relationship between the two and made them despises one another. Rick suggested that they should hang Thomas and even after he was instead shot by Maggie, Rick decided to feed his corpse to the zombies instead of burying him. Rick had wanted Thomas's death to be  as painful as possible this was shown several times like how he told Tyreese to get Thomas out of the freezer as he would suffocate and that would be too easy and not painful enough.

Patricia
Rick and Patricia seemed to have a stable friendship, even though Patricia let out Thomas from his cell and realized Dexter and helped him and Andrew get the guns, he seemed to forgive her. She and Rick became quite close in target practice when he was praising her for her good shooting. Patricia was also the person that saved Ricks life after he got shot. Rick felt guilty and missed Patricia and everyone else that died in the prison attack and blamed himself for their deaths.

Otis
Rick and Otis seemed to have a stable friendship, at first Rick despised Otis for shooting Carl but after Carl recovered and Otis was shown to be feeling bad about it, Rick forgave him. Otis also defended Rick and the group after Hershel pointed a gun at Rick and kicked the group of the farm. Otis was later seen torn in half and his upper half was reanimated, Rick shouted in shock as he saw Otis and was shown to be saddened when putting him down, showing the two repaired the relationship and Rick did like him.

Brian Blake
While initially appearing nice and kind towards Rick when they first met, such as giving him a tour of Woodbury and showing him the caged fight arenas, which is what they do when they're entertained this immediately changed when he is left alone with Rick, his men, Glenn and Michonne and even went as far as cutting Rick's right hand off and feeding it to Penny. They both hated each other bitterly after Rick escaped Woodbury and murdered some of The Governor's men, which caused an assault on the prison in Issue 48, but this ultimately led to the destruction of The Prison and The Governor along with his men and presumably Woodbury.

Alice Warren
After The Governor cut off Rick's hand, Stevens and Alice cleaned the wound and made sure he recovered. After Rick fully recovered Alice and Stevens were going to help him escape and go to the prison with him. While escaping, Stevens was bit but the rest of the group made it to the Prison safe. Alice and Rick's friendship continued to grow. She delivered Lori's baby (Judith) with the help of Hershel and she helped Patricia save Rick's life after he got shot. Alice also provided cover for Rick, Lori, Judith and Carl, but was killed doing so.

Eugene Porter
During the introduction of Abraham's group to Rick and his, Eugene had been under his guise as an important scientist on his way to Washington, something Rick took seriously. However, when Rick took Eugene's radio from Carl to take a look at it himself, Eugene became defensive and during a brief struggle it was revealed that the radio had no power running to it. Rick, along with the others, would treat Eugene as a worthless tag along for some time. This revelation would go on to mark the slow, but persistent transformation in Eugene's character from a worthless liar to a now intricate member of the group. Most notably, Eugene told Rick that he can produce ammunition for firearms if given the right tools, something that Rick entrusts him to keep secret from the others as he plans to continue with the venture.

Abraham Ford
Rick and Abraham met shortly after the groups escape from the prison. Being that they had been the leaders of their respective groups, they initially clashed over who would take charge when they joined together. The two very nearly came to blows after Maggie's suicide attempt. When Abraham was prepared to shoot her before they knew for certain if she was dead, Rick pulled a gun on him, and even though Maggie survived, Abraham admitted that he came close to killing Rick. The two eventually came to an understanding during the incident with the Marauders, in which they shared their experiences. From then on, Abraham took over Tyreese's role as second in command of the group, such as when he participated in the execution of the The Hunters, and fought alongside him against the horde in the Safe Zone. Though he sometimes questioned Rick's decisions, he trusted his judgement. Abraham's death left Rick badly shaken and was the first death in a long time that caused him to show fear and uncertainty.

Gabriel Stokes
"They simply don't belong here"

- Gabriel to Douglas about Rick and the others.

Rick and Gabriel have a strained relationship, at first Rick didn't trust Gabriel and was on guard while travelling to Gabriel's church. Rick became very suspicious after Dale was kidnapped and like Andrea believed it was related to Gabriel. Rick pinned Gabriel against the wall at his church and Gabriel burst into tears revealing how he had survived by locking his church doors and ignoring the people begging for help. Rick believed his story and after Dale was returned by the hunters and he revealed that their camp was in a house Father Gabriel helped the group find the hunters base. But Gabriel watched in horror as Rick and the others slaughtered the hunters for eating Dale's leg, shooting Glenn and eating many Unnamed people including their own children. Once arriving at Alexandria Safe-Zone Gabriel feels like Rick and the others do not fit in and are dangerous and tries to persuade Douglas to throw them out, Douglas angrily refuses to do so but it is assumed Rick is unaware that Gabriel had asked.

Aaron
Aaron was the one who initially invited Rick and the group to the Alexandria Safe Zone. Initially wary of strangers after his experience with The Governor and the Hunters, Rick assumed he was leading them into a trap. Going out on a limb, Rick chose to trust him and the two have become friends ever since. It was largely due to Aaron's endorsement that Douglas allowed Rick to live with them.

Heath
At first, Heath shows a slight dislike towards him claiming he could turn out to be like Alexander Davidson. However, after Rick takes lead of the Alexandria Safe-Zone from Douglas, he defends Rick and his group against Nicholas when Nicholas shows signs of an uprising. Heath has seemed to integrate into Rick's inner circle. Participating in most meeting's and being picked to go to The Kingdom. Overall Heath has proven to be a loyal member of Rick's group. He shows great concern for Heath when he was hit in a grenade explosion.

Nicholas
"You're taking back this community? Really? From Andrea? From Abraham? From Michonne? From Glenn? From me? Do you have any fucking idea who you're talking to?"

- Rick to Nicholas.

Rick met Nicholas shortly after moving into the Safe Zone. They initially met when Nicholas approached him about a fight between his son Mikey and Carl, but they soon resolved the issue and were later seen talking at the party. However, in Issue 88, during the cleanup of the Herd's attack on the Safe Zone, Nicholas came to hold Rick responsible for the Safe Zone's recent misfortunes: the deaths of Pete, Regina, the attack by the Scavengers and the aforementioned herd that swept through and caused several more deaths. Fearing that Rick was going to get them all killed, he attempted to lead a revolt against him. Rick was later able to talk him down before anyone was hurt, and both have since reconciled. Nicholas later participated in several of Rick's meetings and helped Rick in the initial search for Carl once he disappeared from the Safe-Zone.

Jessie Anderson
Rick's second love in-apocalypse. They fell in love when Rick killed Pete to protect the rest of the Anderson family and moved in with Rick shortly before the zombie herd broke through the Safe-Zone's walls. Unfortunately, their romantic relationship ended as fast as it started; during their attempted escape of the Safe-Zone, Jessie got swarmed by zombies and was dragging Carl towards zombies. Rick wasn't able to risk Carl's life and was forced to cut Jessie's hand off to protect his son.

Ron Anderson
Rick saw Ron playing football and noticed his black eye from his abusive father. When Rick finds out Pete did it he fights and then kills Pete, to protect Ron and Jessie which shows he cares about them but Ron saw it as Rick killing his father and Rick was a horrible man. When Ron was eaten by zombies Rick was upset. Rick visited Jessie and Ron's graves daily after their death.

Douglas Monroe
Rick and Douglas had a civil, yet sometimes rocky relationship. Upon the groups arrival at the Safe-Zone, Douglas befriended Rick and sensed that his keen instincts and survival skills would be tremendous assets, despite objections from his wife. Conflict first arose between the two over a disagreement on how to handle Pete's abusive behavior towards his family. Despite Rick's violation of the Safe-Zone's rule against weapons, Douglas chose to let him off under the condition that he never publicly opposed him again. Following Regina's death and the DC Scavengers attack, Douglas fell into a depression, leaving Rick no choice but to take over as leader.

Spencer Monroe
"Do you have any damn clue as to what you're actually doing?"

- Spencer, questioning Rick's leadership.

Initially, Spencer and Rick had a stable relationship, with the former seeing Rick as a suitable replacement for his father as the leader of Alexandria. Recently, they have begun to act more hostile towards each other after Andrea began a relationship with Rick, rather than with Spencer. Spencer is shown to be extremely jealous about the situation. Furthermore, he has questioned Rick's plan authority numerous times, specifically regarding his repeated absences from the Safe-Zone. Lately, he questioned Rick's plan for dealing with The Saviors and even went so far as to recommend that Negan kill him and install Spencer himself as leader of the Safe-Zone. This is ultimately what got him killed.

Denise Cloyd
Rick's and Denise's relationship improved when Carl got shot in the face and she successfully patched him up. Rick breaks slightly with Denise when he tells her about Jessie and Ron's deaths, that he had cut Jessie's hand off because she was getting eaten and slowing them down. Denise then agrees not to tell anyone. Rick and Denise relationship then becomes slightly strained after Denise points a gun at a Savior after they took more medicine than they agreed to, Rick calmed Denise down and after the Saviors left Denise and Rick got into a argument, which Heath tried to defuse causing Rick to start shouting at her, telling her if she would rather try her chances out there then fine, no one will stop her.

Holly
At first Holly viewed Rick as a good leader to replace Douglas Monroe but eventually thought that while he was capable, he didn't seem to be the right choice. She later confided in Abraham and said that he would be much better suited to lead the community. Her feelings about Rick quickly turned to hatred and outright disgust after he made the decision to release Dwight, the man who had killed Abraham, and let him go back to the Saviors. She later ignored his plan to attack the Sanctuary's gate and took it upon herself to drive the truck through the gate, which ultimately got her killed.

Olivia
Not much has been entirely shown with them. When they arrived, Olivia appeared friendly and kind to Rick. But for whatever the reason, Olivia was uncomfortable with him being the leader of the Safe-Zone and became a co-conspirator to assassinate Rick. However, shortly after this incident, Rick held a group meeting with a select few that he could trust to inform about the newcomer Paul, and Olivia was one of the few he chose to share this important information with, showing that he somewhat trusted Olivia.

Paul Monroe
Due to his prior encounter with The Governor, Rick did not believe Paul's intentions to establish a trade relationship with his people. This led to him being tied up in the infirmary for several days. Eventually Rick agreed to let Paul take him to the Hilltop though he still remained suspicious of his intent, warning Paul that he would kill him on the spot if things didn't add up. Paul's offer turned out to be genuine and Rick finally began to fully trust him, even offering to help them deal with the Saviors. During their conflict with the Saviors, Paul and Rick often confer with and fight alongside each other, eventually becoming Rick's right-hand man in the subsequent war.

Gregory
Rick is shown to be amazed at what Gregory has done to help the Hilltop colony prosper, implying that he has some level of respect for him. This takes a bit of a blow when Rick accuses Gregory of having a hand in the deaths of Abraham and Glenn by withholding valuable information about the Saviors. Their relationship is presumably severed when Rick glares at Gregory after the latter reveals that he sided with Negan.

Samuel
Samuel loathes Rick for killing Ethan, as witnessed by him punching Rick in the face at Ethan's funeral.

Negan
Rick has shown nothing but anger and rage at Negan. Although he acts like a laid-back bully, rather than a psychotic murderer around Rick, Glenn's gruesome death was proof to Rick of the violence and brutality that Negan and his Saviors are capable of. This leads Rick to realize that striking back immediately will most likely result in the destruction of the Safe-Zone, leading him to choose a passive course of action until he can stand a chance to avenge Glenn's death. His first step was to allow their prisoner, Dwight, to be set free so that Paul could follow him to their base. After returning Carl unhurt (after implying to Rick that he had done something to the boy), Negan tried to assure Rick that it was a gesture of good faith and shows that he could be reasonable as long as Rick was compliant. Although Rick was grateful, he made it clear that things hadn't changed between the two of them, to which Negan didn't seemed surprised. In Issue 111, it is shown that Negan harbors some respect for Rick and his willingness to carry out The Saviors' will and keep the Alexandria Safe -Zone safe despite clearly hating Negan. This respect is shattered after Rick's failed attempt to kill Negan at Alexandria.

Ezekiel
Ezekiel is seen as an ally in Rick's plan of revenge against the Saviors. Both communities have suffered by the hands of the Saviors and Ezekiel refers to Negan as a tyrant. He wants to "right the wrongs that have befallen to the people" under Negan's rule. Also, he shares Rick's view of Negan; both men deeply hate him and want Negan dead. Despite not getting a clear read on Ezekiel's motives, Rick trusts him enough to be one of the commanders of his army to fight the Saviors.

Dwight
"I don't believe this motherfucker for a second...If he's saying he's with us--He's lying."

- Rick about Dwight switching allegiances.

Rick has shown distrust and hostility towards Dwight. When Dwight claimed that he wasn't a full supporter of the Saviors, Rick brought up the fact that he killed Abraham, kidnapped Eugene and participated in several assaults on the Safe-Zone. Although he remains suspicious of Dwight's motives, Rick was still seen listening to Dwight's reasons for helping the members of the Kingdom and the Safe-Zone. Rick appears to at least somewhat trust Dwight, agreeing to form an alliance with him and using the information provided by Dwight to attack the Savior outposts.

Erin
"Spencer--I think I've maybe said two words to the guy, but he seems like he's got our best interests in mind. I think the good Lord himself brought Rick here to protect us."

- Erin to Spencer about Rick.

Although Rick and Erin don't interact much it is shown that Erin has a lot of respect for him as she defends his choice to search for Carl and tells Spencer that Rick has the community's best interests in mind. She even goes as far as to say that Rick must have been brought to the Safe-Zone by God. }}

Appearances
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Volume 21: All Out War - Part Two

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Trivia

 * Harrison Memorial Hospital was the name of the hospital that Rick Grimes stayed at during his coma,  and this is an actual hospital located in Cynthiana, Kentucky.
 * Rick has appeared in every issue, except Issue 30, Issue 43 (which wasn't a regular issue, but a flashback issue), and Issue 105.
 * Rick's story (waking from a coma to the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse) is very similar to that of Jim from Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. However, The Walking Dead was created before 28 Days Later. In fact, both stories that featured characters waking up in a hospital after an apocalyptic event borrow this concept from The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham, which featured a protagonist who is temporarily blind after an accident to awake the next morning into a world full of chaos.
 * Rick, along with Andrea, Michonne, Abraham Ford, Brian Blake, and Negan have killed the most named characters either as a zombie or as a living person.
 * Robert Kirkman has said that early on, he was willing to kill Rick in Issue 6, instead of Shane and show how it would affect Carl, having a dead father with Shane being with Lori, etc.
 * Robert Kirkman has expressed annoyance that Rick lost his hand so early on and has said it has caused great difficulty in writing for the character in the issues that followed.
 * Rick is one of the four known surviving members of the original Atlanta group, the others being Andrea, Carl, and Sophia.
 * It is revealed in the script book that Rick is 29 years old at the onset of the apocalypse, by Volume 18, it's been nearly 2 years since the outbreak started, making Rick's current age 31.
 * Rick is one of the playable characters in The Walking Dead Board Game.
 * Rick shares many similarities to Lee Everett. For example:
 * Both (Determinant) lose one of their hands to an amputation.
 * Both come to be seen as the leader of their relevant groups.
 * Rick was willing to go to great extents to protect his son, Carl. Similarly, Lee, who thought of Clementine as his own daughter, was willing to go to great extents in order to protect her.
 * Both admit to having committed regrettable acts.
 * Both have been forced to kill numerous people in order to survive.
 * Both consider family to be important.
 * Both (Determinant) of their latest romantic interests are sharp shooters.
 * Both have had wives that cheated on them.
 * Both were unconscious at some point during the early stages of the apocalypse.

Continuity Errors

 * Even though Rick lost his right hand in Issue 28, there have been several times that he's been seen with both of his hands;
 * Issue 48, while hugging his family.
 * Issue 49, while looking for some supplies with Carl in an abandoned house.
 * Issue 54, while walking with Carl, it shows Ricks left hand is missing instead.
 * Issue 59, while escaping from the Herd.
 * Issue 69, while he's talking with Abraham about the Alexandria Safe-Zone.
 * Issue 97, while talking with Andrea.
 * Issue 123, while shooting his handgun.