Dale (Comic Series)

"It's not the dead I'm afraid of anymore."

- Dale to Rick after the bloodbath at The Prison.

Dale is a character first encountered in Issue 3 of Image Comics' The Walking Dead and is an elderly salesman and a survivor of the original Atlanta group. Dale is the owner of the Camp RV, and later formed a relationship with Andrea, who both adopted Ben and Billy after their father's death.

Location Unknown
Before the outbreak, Dale was a car salesman for over forty years, sitting behind a desk answering a phone. When he retired, he bought a camper and decided to travel America with his wife, Erma. He spent two years traveling in America when the outbreak happened.

Rural Georgia
Dale lost his wife, Erma, early in the zombie uprising. After he picked up two sisters, Andrea and Amy, in Atlanta, he forms a romantic relationship with Andrea.

Atlanta Survivor Camp
When Rick arrives at the camp, Dale reveals his suspicions that Shane and Lori are having an affair, which Rick in turn ignores. Later, Dale discovers that beheading a zombie does not fully kill them when he saves Donna from being bitten by a "roamer".

Later one night during dinner, Rick asks the group about their lives before, Dale revealing that he was a retired car salesman on a road trip with his wife across America two years prior to the Zombie outbreak. During the zombie outbreak, after his wife is killed, he picked up the sisters Andrea and Amy during his trip to Atlanta.

After Shane's death, Dale tells Rick how he knew all along something was up, and that he was one of the few survivors that, prior to Rick coming to the camp, wanted to relocate the group, only to have Shane refuse the idea.

After burying Shane, the survivors set off in Dale’s RV away from Atlanta in an attempt to find somewhere safe. Lori reveals to the group that she is pregnant, which alarms Dale, who suspects the child is Shane's, only to be silenced by Rick who suspects the same.

Wiltshire Estates
The survivors end up at an estate that appears to be secure and safe. That same night Donna stumbles upon Dale and Andrea having sexual intercourse, and although she originally disapproved of the thought of them together, she takes comfort in knowing that they both have lost someone and that together, they are happy.

That morning, Donna is killed when the estate is overrun by Zombies, defrosted by the change in seasons. Dale immediately heads off to his RV and begins rescuing the survivors, including Tyreese, his daughter, Julie, and her boyfriend, Chris, who are trapped on one of the rooftops.

Hershel's Farm
Dale and the other survivors remain on the move, until Rick's son, Carl, is accidentally shot by Otis, who then takes Rick and the group to Hershel's farm. During their stay, Dale is not often pictured until one scene where he tries to defend Andrea from Allen's aggressive behavior towards her, and another where he is complaining to Andrea about the stench the other survivors leave in his RV, and accidentally mentions his dead wife, which upsets Andrea slightly. Dale manages to reassure her that all the love he has for his dead wife are in the form of memories and that he truly loves Andrea.

The Prison
Having been kicked out by Hershel, the survivors hit the road again once more, however, when the RV unexpectedly runs out of fuel, the survivors must split up to search for more. Dale and Andrea discover a prison. After rallying the rest of the group, they decide that the prison is the perfect location to call home.

Once the survivors reach the prison, Dale, Lori, and Carol are assigned the task of patrolling the mid-area between the fences to make sure no zombies are located there. During this period, Rick and the rest destroy the majority of the prison zombie population. Dale later accompanies Rick and Dexter as they inspect the prison and begin working on repairing the fences in order to secure the prison from more zombies.

Dale begins to think that Andrea will not love him due to his age; however, Andrea reassures him that she will always want to be with him. When Rick returns to the prison, Dale informs him of the events that took place in his absence and even accompanies Rick to the gymnasium to discover what happened to Tyreese, only to find him lying next to a wall with dead zombies lying on the ground all around him. The next day, Dale explains that he discovered a new method of weakening the zombie offense on the perimeter fences, using knives. After Thomas Richards attacks Rick, Dale brings out a first-aid kit and patches up both Andrea and Rick. Later Dale begins to fear that someone else might discover the prison and attempt to take it from them and begins to contemplate whether to stay, or to leave, with Andrea stating that she would go wherever he goes.

After the Dexter mutiny takes place, Dale begins to swap his old camper outfit for prison overalls like the other survivors and assists Rick in searching A-Block, discovering the prison's generator. Dale later begins to watch over everybody, including Allen’s children, Ben and Billy while their father is in a coma. After a fight takes place between Rick and Tyreese, over Tyreese’s affair with Michonne, Dale informs Rick that he is no longer the group's leader, and that he will share authority with himself, Tyreese, and Hershel.

Dale and Andrea become adoptive parents of Donna and Allen’s orphaned children after Allen's death. While Rick, Glenn, Michonne, and others go off to rescue a downed helicopter crew, Andrea and Dale assist in looking out for the group for when they return while targeting zombies to improve their shooting skills. It is during this time that the topic of other people attacking the prison comes back up again but this discussion ends with the return of Tyreese who has failed to locate the searching party. When Rick eventually does return, he discovers the Prison has been overrun by zombies, with Dale and Andrea hiding out in his RV. Once the prison is again secured from zombies, Rick addresses the group and informs them of Woodbury and the threat of being attacked by them, therefore Andrea and Dale’s fears have come true.

Lori goes into labor and to keep the generator going, Dale and Billy Greene search cars in the parking lot to refuel the generator. Dale is bitten by a zombie that was hiding under one of the cars, and is only narrowly rescued by the arrival of the raid party who quickly take Dale back into the prison in order to have his leg amputated. The right leg is amputated successfully and Dale is saved.

Dale begins to suspect that Andrea is falling for Tyreese. One morning, Dale awakens to discover a wooden peg attached to his leg, thanks to Andrea and Tyreese. After asking Tyreese to leave them be, he informs Andrea she doesn't need to be with him anymore and that she may be with Tyreese, to which she replies that she will always love him. Later that day The Governor and the townsmen of Woodbury attack.

During the attack, Dale nurses a wounded Andrea and makes the decision to temporarily move out of the prison in order to protect Billy and Ben, while being accompanied by Glenn and Maggie, although Andrea returns in Dale’s RV to help give the prison a fighting chance.

The Road to Washington, D.C.
Dale hides out along with Maggie, Glenn, Andrea, Sophia, and the twins at Hershel’s farm, which Dale feels would be more preferable to stay at. However, the arrival of three strangers, Abraham Ford, Rosita Espinosa, and Dr. Eugene Porter, prompt him to follow them in hopes of reaching Washington, D.C.

Tragedy strikes them once again later on. Ben kills his brother Billy and Carl retaliates, killing Ben. Dale was in anguish, letting his guard down during a zombie attack being bitten once again. He hid his wound to avoid giving Andrea further pain. When night fell, he departed the van and disappeared into the forest, being abducted by the mysterious Hunters. When Dale woke up, Chris introduced himself and told him that they were eating him piece by piece. However, Dale would have the last laugh. He was already infected and was hoping to spread the disease to the Hunters. Furious, they beat him up. They leave his unconscious body in front of Gabriel's church to use him as bait.

Killed By
After a scuffle with a small group of zombies, Dale is bitten on his shoulder. At first, he concealed his wound and attempted to leave, sparing Andrea the pain of seeing him like this. Before he could die, he was captured by the Hunters and wakes up to find half of his other leg had been eaten by them. Rick, Michonne, Abraham, and Andrea rescue him, murdering the entire group of Hunters. After Dale makes his dying statement to Rick, he spends his last minutes with Andrea.
 * Zombie

Knowing that Dale was going to die and would return as a walker, a saddened Andrea shot Dale before he could reanimate.
 * Andrea (Before Reanimation)

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Dale has killed:
 * Numerous counts of zombies.

Andrea
"I'm sorry, Andrea. I am. I never expected to have to see you again, not like this. I saw my wife bitten, I didn't exactly know what was happening... but I watched her get sick. I saw her waste away to nothing and die. This is an ugly process... I didn't want you to have to see that. I wanted to spare you from that misery."

- Dale to Andrea about why he left.

Andrea was Dale's girlfriend and one of the people who kept him going. He and Andrea adopted Ben and Billy, after the boys' parents died. Despite their relationship, Dale never really believed that a young and beautiful woman like Andrea could truly love an elderly man like him. He even went so far as to give his blessing for her to enter relationships with other men, thinking that she was staying with him out of guilt and pity. Despite Andrea's insistence to the contrary, Dale had problems believing her. On Dale's deathbed, Andrea poured her heart out to him and promised him that she truly did love him.

Rick Grimes
"The decisions you had to make, the consequences of those decisions--none of us were prepared to carry that burden. Nobody wanted the responsibility. You didn't want it--but you took it just the same. I have to admit, I thought you were dangerous... I blamed you for a lot of what happened. But sitting here, at the end, thinking back... It's easy to blame you for what happened at times--and that's your burden for taking control--for taking care of strangers--trying to protect us. It's not as easy to give you credit for things that didn't happen. A lot of people are dead... but look at how long this group has lasted. I think that's your fault, too. You helped me last this long, gave me time with my boys, with Andrea... and I appreciate that very much... so thank you."

- Dale's final words to Rick.

Dale acted as a "father figure" for some of the group. While on the road with Tyreese, Dale comforted Rick after learning of Lori's pregnancy. Despite his usual good attitude towards Rick, Dale becomes increasingly concerned for Rick's mental stability at the prison, Dale also was a therapist to Rick and often yearned to take Andrea and leave the group, which he eventually did. He was always grateful to Rick and thanked him for being their leader while he lay dying.

Ben and Billy
Dale and Andrea adopted the twins after Allen and Donna died. Dale loved them like they were his own children. After Billy was killed by Ben, Dale seemed to ignore the signs of Ben being sociopath and was determined to keep him safe. Dale was overcome with grief when Ben was killed, angrily demanding to know who the killer was.

Tyreese
"You can sleep with Tyreese if you want."

- Dale to Andrea about Tyreese.

Dale had shown several signs of jealousy when Andrea became very close friends with Tyreese. He came to the realization that Tyreese would be better for Andrea, since he is a lot younger than him. Andrea, however, tells Dale how silly it is of him to think that, adding that she loves him, not Tyreese.

Glenn
Not much of information has been given about their relationship, but Glenn sometimes assisted Dale in keeping his balance and escaped with him from the Prison. Dale was like a "father" to him, similar to Rick.

Billy Greene
Dale and Billy had a close moment, when they went to pick up some gas for the generator. Dale noticed Billy was nervous and was unable to kill the zombie who grabbed him first. Later, he was successfully able to kill it, and apologized to Dale. Billy wasn't able to cover him and Dale was bitten. Although Billy felt regret, Dale didn't seem to harbor any negative feelings towards him.

Rosita Espinosa
Although Rosita and Dale were never seen interacting, Rosita helped the group search the forest for Dale and Rosita was later seen crying at his funeral.

Appearances
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Volume 16: A Larger World

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Trivia

 * Dale is one of two victims of cannibalism within The Walking Dead universe, the other being Mark in the Video Game.
 * Ironically, they both got wounded on the right shoulder before being eaten, Mark by an arrow, Dale by a bite.
 * Dale is currently the only person in the comics who has survived a zombie bite, due to amputation. A similar attempt was made with Allen, but he died from the blood loss.
 * He is also one of the only three known survivors in the entire TWD universe to survive a zombie infection via amputation, the TV series counterpart of Hershel, and a cousin mentioned by Pete.
 * It is mentioned in the script book that Dale is 68 years old.
 * Dale is one of the few survivors who lasted after being bitten, others being Morgan Jones, Allen, Denise Cloyd, and Jim, as well as Lee Everett and Kenny Jr..
 * It is also note worthy that Dale was bitten twice and lasted the longest of all six characters.