Volume 19: March To War

Volume 19: March To War is the nineteenth volume of Image Comics' The Walking Dead that includes Issues 109-114.

Plot Synopsis
Maggie is seen at Glenn's grave. A woman, Brianna, appears and tells her story of how she lost most of her family 8 months ago. Brianna and Maggie get along, and Brianna welcomes her to have dinner with her and her 12-year-old son.

Dr. Carson is checking Maggie's unborn baby, when Gregory steps in. He introduces himself to Maggie.

Sophia states that she doesn't like being at the Hilltop Colony. Suddenly, Jesus steps in and informs Maggie they need to talk.

Gregory and Jesus talk about Ezekiel. Gregory says he doesn't like him, but Jesus confirms that they need him to defeat Negan. Jesus meets up with Kal and tells his plan of taking down Negan.

Meanwhile, Rick tells Andrea his plan to take Negan down. Carl listens and thinks he isn't allowed to get involved with it. Rick disagrees, and says Carl's all grown up now, and wants him by his side. Carl smiles.

Michonne finds out Rick was lying all the time about Negan. Michonne isn't satisfied because Rick didn't trust her.

Rick and Olivia meet up. They discuss the weapons. Rick says that he will go on a run with a larger group. Spencer walks in and thinks Rick is a weak leader who is afraid of Negan.

Maggie and Jesus meet up with Earl, a blacksmith. Jesus asks Earl to make Maggie a knife, and says he's meeting with Kal. Earl replies that Kal isn't at the Hilltop, and that he was going for a perimeter check, and will be back before dark. To which Jesus replies, "How could I be so stupid..."

After questioning Earl about how long ago Kal departed, Jesus prompts to pursue him with a horse, eventually catching up with Kal and changing his mind. However, a group of Saviors reach the location, due to Kal launching a flare. Jesus makes up telling them that Hilltop will give them less supplies, which the group leader, Connor, angrily punches and taunts him.

Elsewhere, Rick & Co arrived at The Kingdom, where Ezekiel meets them. Michonne is aggressive towards "The King", and almost starts a fight. Later, Ezekiel and Rick talk about the plan, and then a feast is held celebrating The Kingdom's new allies.

Leaving the feast earlier, Michonne is alone on the balcony, where Ezekiel greets her. She is initially aggressive, but as Ezekiel starts telling about himself, and Shiva, she seems to believe him. In the end they lightly flirt with each other.

Rick and Andrea are both settling in at The Kingdom, Rick tells Andrea that not everyone wants to kill them and that she needs to learn to trust people. Carl is later caught by Rick who tells him that he knows Carl wants to visit Ezekiel's tiger, Shiva. He tells Carl to go to bed, as he can visit Shiva in the morning.

At the Hilltop Jesus informs Gregory that he is taking 20 of the Hilltop's most able fighters, for the upcoming battle with The Saviors. Gregory disagrees with this idea and argues with Jesus. Jesus accuses Gregory of being a coward for not wanting to fight Negan, Gregory disagrees and says his actions were made to keep the people of the Hilltop safe from Negan.

At The Kingdom Andrea is seen training people from The Kingdom how to shoot while discussing with Rick how many people they have for the war. Jesus later arrives at The Kingdom with the Hilltop fighters and discusses battle plans with Rick, Ezekiel, Andrea and Michonne. Rick says he needs to return to the Alexandria Safe-Zone as The Saviors next supply pick-up is happening in a few days.

Back at Alexandria, Negan and a couple of Saviors arrive early. They are informed by Olivia that there is practically no supplies left for them to take. Negan then states that he and his men will be staying in Alexandria for the night and asks Olivia to show him to the communities finest house. Negan is later approached by Spencer, who tells Negan he has a proposition for him. Spencer asks Negan to kill Rick and appoint him leader of the Safe-Zone. Negan then taunts Spencer, by saying that he has no guts and then cuts Spencer's stomach open allowing his guts to spill out onto the floor. Negan says he was wrong and that Spencer does have guts. He then asks one of his men Seth, to clean the mess up before a kid sees it.

Denise comes along and sees Spencer's dead body on the ground with his guts hanging out while Rick and co arrive back at the Alexandria Safe-Zone to find the gates locked and no one on watch. Denise rushes to the group and hugs Heath, blurting out what Negan did to Spencer.

Rick confronts Negan, screaming, "I THOUGHT WE HAD AN AGREEMENT?!" The two have a very heated conversation and neither back down. He mentions to Rick that he has been more than reasonable, referring to Carl's surprise attack specifically. He reveals that he would never have had Carl raped as he hates sexual violence.

Negan eventually asks about the supplies, but informs Rick that he can keep all of them. Rick denies, saying that "A deal is a deal", and gives Negan half. As Negan and his eight men begin loading supplies, Rick rushes into his house and tells Andrea to get to the bell tower. He tells her that this may be their best chance to kill Negan. He also tells her to get anyone who can shoot to the walls.

Negans notices Rick has come outside the gate of Alexandria in the trucks rear-view mirror and wonders what he's doing. Suddenly the truck driver is shot in the head by Andrea. Negan is in disbelief and jumps out the truck, grabbing Lucille. Seth comes out of the truck and is shot by Andrea.

Rick, along with Holly and Nicholas, order the remaining Saviors not to move and to drop their weapons. As Rick raises his gun to shoot Negan, gun fire rings out and the Safe Zone survivors's guns are shot out of their hands. It is revealed that there were more Saviors hidden outside the wall with guns all along.

Negan walks up to Rick face to face with Lucille and tells him that they are now all "fucked fuckers."

Jesus and Aaron sneak towards a Savior outpost, but find it empty. Jesus explains that Dwight informed Ezekiel that the outpost was still being used, but then notices something, exclaiming "Oh, damn."

After Rick's failed attempt to attack the Saviors on their way out of the Safe-Zone, Negan tells his men to line Rick's people up. Rick still tries to attack Negan. Carl suddenly shoots a chunk out of Lucille, infuriating Negan. Negan calls Carl a "skull-faced little fuck" and says that Lucille is the "only bitch [he] ever loved". Negan warns Rick that he'll execute Heath, Holly, and Nicolas if he doesn't hand Carl over to him.

Andrea tells herself that Rick and the others won't die. Connor suddenly appears behind her in the bell tower and asks "is that so?" Connor beats Andrea and even sympathizes her while doing so as she attempts to grab her knife. Andrea manages to slash Connor's arm before he pushes her towards the tower window. As Connor prepares to force her out, Andrea flips him over the ledge, and he falls to his death.

Just as Negan does his old "Eeny Meeny Miny Moe" to decide who his first victim will be, Jesus shows up out of nowhere and holds him at gun point. Negan instructs his men not to shoot, but not before Ezekiel and Shiva show up. Shiva demolishes one of Negan's men, causing their retreat. At this point, Rick runs over to who he thinks is Andrea's body, but he realizes it is one of Negan's men, and that Andrea may still be alive. He soon finds her in the tower and takes her to Dr. Cloyd. Jesus, Rick, and Ezekiel talk about the fact that they need a plan. In the meantime, Negan tells his men that they will be going to war.

Credits

 * Rick Grimes
 * Carl Grimes
 * Andrea
 * Michonne
 * Maggie Greene
 * Sophia
 * Eugene Porter
 * Rosita Espinosa
 * Aaron
 * Eric
 * Heath
 * Denise Cloyd
 * Holly
 * Nicholas
 * Spencer Monroe
 * Olivia
 * Paul Monroe
 * Gregory
 * Kal
 * Eduardo
 * Dr. Harlan Carson
 * Brianna
 * Earl Sutton
 * Ezekiel
 * Negan
 * Connor
 * Seth
 * Shiva
 * The Saviors
 * Hilltop Colony residents.
 * The Kingdom survivors.

Deaths

 * Spencer Monroe
 * Seth
 * Connor
 * Many unnamed Saviors.

Trivia

 * This is the volume with the most issues without walkers, including Issue 109, Issue 110, and Issue 113.