Issue 127

Issue 127 is the one-hundred and twenty-seventh issue of Image Comics' The Walking Dead and the first part of Volume 22: A New Beginning. It was published on May 14, 2014.

Plot
Two years after the events of All Out War.

A group of survivors led by Magna walk through the woods, trying to be as discreet as possible to avoid zombies. This fails when a group of horse-riding survivors, led by a much different Paul Monroe, advances on them leading a gigantic herd of over a thousand roamers to an uninhabitable area. Magna and her group hides over their horse-transported container, to no avail as the horde manages to topple it. They are saved just in time by strangers, including Heath, now wearing a prosthetic leg and others.

Away from the herd, Eugene Porter comments how they've successfully managed to change the herd's trajectory away from The Kingdom, 10 miles down the road. They introduced themselves to the new survivors, inviting them to Alexandria to talk to their leader, Rick.

In Alexandria, Rick wakes up, goes to the bathroom and puts on his prosthetic hand, then goes back to bed and is greeted by Andrea, they both have a brief talk about their routine. When making breakfast, he is hounded by Carl, who wants to have a "talk" with him about something important. Rick dodges it, saying they'll talk later at night. He goes outside and sees a much different Alexandria, now completely rebuilt, with several new houses, buildings, crops, and farms.

Outside, Andrea greets Siddiq, who's working on some sort of pathway leading to the safe-zone for the upcoming fair, a community event between the communities set to happen in a two months time. She comments how she expected more progress, with him saying that Rosita took half of their manpower to herd duty, also mentioning that they should be back in a day. Just as he says this, Rosita shows up, also remarking how little progress has been made.

On their way back, Andrea asks Rosita about Eugene, asking whether or not she talked to him yet, to which she replies "no". Andrea then says there isn't much time left.

At the grand hall, Rick greets the new survivors brought by Jesus, after a brief introduction, the new survivors led by Magna agree to stay. He then meets with Eugene, who reports on the munitions factory report and the herd duty. He then says Eugene has become too valuable and won't go out on herd duty anymore.

After a long day, Rick returns home and is met by Carl, who takes the opportunity to finally have the talk. Rick is already prepared and says that he's still too young. It is then revealed Carl wants to be a blacksmith under Earl Sutton at the Hilltop Colony. After some convincing, Rick agrees to think about it. Later, Rick and Andrea have a talk about how he's growing up. Andrea says to Rick, "your boy is growing up". To which he replies, "our boy is growing up".

Later that night, Carl goes to the basement of an unknown house and talks to a figure in the shadows. Saying how he, Mikey and some other boys went to a girl's house after class, and that she showed them her breasts. He says it was cool and all but he kind of had a crush on her, but after this he's not sure. Remarking how he doesn't have someone who does that sort of thing. The figure says that it's nothing wrong and the girl probably just wants some attention. He then says to Carl that he enjoys the talks, that it's good for him to keep track of time and days. Carl says he's leaving, before he leaves, the figure asks him if, after all this time, all the things they've shared and the talks they've had, Carl still wants to kill him. He turns around and faces the person behind bars, simply saying:

"Yes, Negan. You know I do."

Credits

 * Rick Grimes
 * Carl Grimes
 * Andrea
 * Eugene Porter
 * Rosita Espinosa
 * Aaron
 * Heath
 * Olivia
 * Paula
 * Paul Monroe
 * Negan
 * Magna
 * Luke
 * Yumiko
 * Kelly
 * Connie
 * Bernie
 * Annie
 * Siddiq

Deaths

 * Bernie

Trivia

 * First appearance of Magna.
 * First appearance of Luke.
 * First appearance of Kelly.
 * First appearance of Connie.
 * First appearance of Yumiko.
 * First appearance of Annie.
 * First appearance of Siddiq.
 * First (and last) appearance of Bernie.
 * First mention of Alex Cooper.
 * First mention of Anna.
 * Sean Mackiewicz confirmed in the Letter Hacks that it has been two years since "All Out War" ended, making it the longest time skip in the Comic Series, in the following it was mentioned by Robert Kirkman that the timeskip length was supposed to a secret.
 * In response to a question on Letter Hacks in Issue 119, Kirkman revealed that, "Rest assured ALL OUT WAR is taking us to some very new, very different and exciting places. This will be a drastically different book starting with Issue 127, but that's all I'm going to say."
 * This issue is so far one of the two largest issues of The Walking Dead, along with Issue 100.
 * This issue is the first to have 44 pages (twice the size of a regular issue) - the largest issue published so far.
 * This is the first issue to feature a new The Walking Dead logo that stretches across the top of the cover.
 * Stefano Gaudiano and Dave Stewart became permanent members in the artwork after originally only signing up for Volume 20 and 21.