Carl Grimes (Comic Series)

"I think you should jump out the window to save me the trouble of killing you."

- Carl threatening Negan.

Carl Grimes is a character first encountered in Issue 2 of Image Comics' The Walking Dead and can be considered the deuteragonist of the story, he is the son of Rick and Lori Grimes and brother or half-brother of Judith. He joined Shane, along with his mother, to travel to Atlanta, Georgia for the refugee camp, and is one of the last original Atlanta survivors. As time goes on, he slowly becomes hardened, due to the severe loss of life around him.

Characteristics and Role
Carl is a pre-adolescent male Caucasian with black hair and brown eyes. He shares the same hair color with his mother; as the series progresses, he matures physically and grows out his hair. Carl loses his eye, after he was accidentally shot by Douglas Monroe. He used bandages for quite a while and now uses his hair to cover up the missing eye and wound.

At the beginning of the series, Carl was a normal 7-year-old kid, playing with dirt and things alike. He seems to have a better notion of what's going on with the world, as he wanted to learn how to use a gun, much to his mother's displeasure. Carl matured pretty quickly when he saw Shane trying to murder his father, and shot in the neck. He would remember this occasion several times in the future, but, still thinks Shane was a "bad man".

After losing his mother and little sister at The Prison, Carl matures greatly, taking care of an unconscious Rick and fending off zombies all by himself. He turns into a battle-hardened child soldier, fully aware of the dangers of the new world. In Alexandria, he believes all the residents are being stupid, pretending everything's normal and there is nothing to worry about. After being shot and losing much of his recent memory, Carl regains some of his old-self, but, still retains a colder personality, due the apocalypse.

Cynthiana, Kentucky
Not much is known about Carl's life before or as the outbreak began except that he lived with his parents, Rick and Lori Grimes and presumably attended primary school. Shortly before the plague hit, Carl's father, who was a police officer, was shot in the line of duty and went into coma.

Days Gone Bye
Carl's father was still in coma when the plague hit, so Rick's best friend and fellow officer, Shane, took him and his mother to Atlanta seeking for safety, as that was what Rick would've wanted. The city was already overrun by the time they arrived, but, luckily they managed to find a camp of survivors in its outskirts. Several weeks later and the camp's supply runner, Glenn, rescued a man in the city who turned out to be his father, who woke up from the coma and traveled to Atlanta to find them. He is beyond relieved to see his father alive again.

He learns how to use a gun, along with the rest of the group (much to his mother's displeasure), and even kills his first zombie during the night of the camp attack. Later, he witnesses Shane trying to kill his father, and shoots him in the neck, saving Rick.

Miles Behind Us
When the survivors began to relocate to another spot, Carl was accidentally shot by Otis, and brought to the Greene Farm, where he was treated by Hershel Greene. They remained on the farm for some time, until they were forced to leave by Hershel, after an argument with Carl's father. This forced them to hit the road once again, until Dale and Andrea stumbled upon the prison while searching for supplies.

Safety Behind Bars
After the discovery of the prison, Carl is babysitted by Chris and Julie, much to Carl's dismay. Sophia asks Carl to be her boyfriend, but Carl refuses.

The Heart's Desire
Carl is seen enjoying life at the prison. After Rick and Tyreese's fight, it is revealed that Carl was not worried of his father's condition, by saying that "My dad's real tough. I wasn't worried at all.".

The Best Defense
At The Prison, Lori tells Carl that he'll have his own cell when Rick gets back. Carl is happy about it, and asks if Lori is worried about him. Lori says that she isn't, but, Carl states that he notices she's always upset when he leaves, but, says there's nothing to worry about. Lori agrees, but, she is still nervous when she tries to go to sleep. Due to Lori and Carol's strained relationship, Lori restricts Carl from playing with Sophia.

This Sorrowful Life
After his father returned from trying to locate a downed chopper, and his father’s experiences at Woodbury, Carl was forced to get used to his father without the use of his right hand. When his father Rick chases after Woodbury's Caesar Ramon Martinez, who plans to alert Woodbury where the prison is, Carl asks Tyreese whether his father loves him, because he is always leaving him, and Tyreese assures him that he does love him, and that him going out there all the time means he's trying to protect him, along with everyone else.

The Calm Before
Carl is pleased with the birth of his sister, Judith, and likes her name. Carl calls Judith 'cute' and 'lucky' to be born into this family. Lori tells Rick of how she is pleased with Carl's growing independence in this new world. After Carol's suicide, Carl tries to comfort Sophia to no avail.

Made to Suffer
When Woodbury attacked the prison, Carl was one of the few to be there, until the prison fell to The Governor and his men, and barely escaped with his father. Lori and Judith are killed before they leave the prison. Carl looks back to see what had happened, but Rick made him keep running. Once they had reached relative safety from the violence taking place at the prison, Carl and his father then began to mourn the death of Lori, Judith, and the others lost in the assault.

Here We Remain
While wandering the area, and after an attack by two zombies, Carl and Rick then took refuge in an abandoned house, and after a brief encounter with another three zombies, Carl was led under the impression that he could defend himself from now on, and even blamed his father for his mother and sister's deaths. However afterwards he realized he needed his dad still and was scared without him. When on the move again, heading back to Hershel's farm, Carl was rescued by Michonne who had also survived the prison and informs the duo that she was tracking someone from the prison. After traveling further and then reuniting with Maggie and Glenn, Carl is reunited with Sophia and the surviving members of the prison that had left prior to the Governor's second attack. One morning Carl is woken by a shot and seeing the new arrivals Abraham Ford, Rosita Espinosa, and Eugene Porter who bring hope that society has not crumbled, Carl along with the remaining survivors and the arrivals, proceed to take the long journey to Washington DC.

What We Become
Along the journey, Rick decided to take a detour to his hometown in Kentucky, and brings Carl and Abraham along. It is during this trip that a band of road bandits attack and attempt to rape Carl. However Rick manages to break free by biting one of the bandits, and with the help of Abraham frees Carl. Later on Carl, Rick and Abraham discuss similar situations that they had been involved in, where they committed acts of in-human violence in order to protect, which prompts Carl to talk about shooting Shane in order to save his father's life. After visiting their hometown, and reuniting with Morgan Jones and his zombified son Duane Jones, the four head to the police station in order to retrieve supplies, during this time Morgan constantly stares at Carl, remembering how Duane used to look, the end result of a freaked out Carl. On the return trip to the interstate junction, the four encounter a zombie herd numbered in the thousands. Initially Rick tries to drive the car into the herd in order to escape, however when the car gets jammed over the mass of bodies, the survivors flee on foot in hopes of escaping. With Carl firing behind Abraham quickly grabs him and carries him on his back. After a failed attempt at distracting the herd, they return to the main group and flee by truck out of the area.

Fear The Hunters
While only seven years old when the dead began to rise, Carl quickly became adapted to the new world, proving himself a good shot for his age, similar to his father. He is the playmate, and later "boyfriend" of Sophia and her only companion with Ben and Billy gone. He shows remorse after killing Ben, and cries quite regularly at night about it. His father talked to him about killing the cannibalistic hunters (though he believed he was talking to Abraham) and Carl tearfully admits to killing Ben.

Life Among Them
Since Ben's murder, Carl has been very reluctant to talk about what he's done to his father. Eventually, Rick does confront his son as to why he killed Ben. To which Carl tearfully replies that he did it for the same reason Rick killed several people in the past, because it needed to be done and because none of the others would. Upon hearing his answer, Rick explains to him why he did a lot of bad things in his past, and tries to remind him that even good people do bad things.

Rick urges Carl to never lose sight of that and if killing becomes too easy, that's when good people become bad ones. Carl then cries and cries, saying that killing Ben still haunts him. He cries night after night and how he missed Ben. He feels tremendous guilt, but strongly believed he had to do it because Ben was dangerous. Carl also admits he planned on keeping it a secret from his father, but after hearing him talk at the bonfire, he just couldn't. He then assures his father that he does love him, even after all the bad things he's done to keep the group alive. He loves his father because he's done so much for them. Both cry in each other's arms, with Rick apologizing to his son.

Too Far Gone
Carl, along with his father and the rest of their group, successfully traveled and made it to the Alexandria Safe-Zone. While Carl was at first shown to be very happy to find others and have real food, he's shown to be having problems adjusting to the community. As in the beginning he and a boy named Mikey have a fight over his gun. When he refuses to let Mikey see his gun, Mikey pushes him down to which Carl returns the gesture. Rick makes him understand its not good to fight with the other kids, to which Carl tries to apologize. But Mikey refuses and pushes his hand away, leaving Carl hurt. Later on at night Carl believes he won't make many friends with the kids that live in the Safe-Zone.

During a small daytime-Halloween meant for the kids, Carl quickly wanted to stop trick-or-treating. He tells Rick, he hates being in the Safe-Zone because it all felt pretend. And while Rick tries to let his son know he can enjoy himself and be a kid, Carl shows worry about leaving. He goes on saying he didn't want to let down his guard and that he was afraid of being weak and dying.

No Way Out
After Zombies invade the community, Douglas Monroe begins haphazardly shooting zombies. As he is overtaken by a group, he fires his gun and accidentally shoots Carl in the head, destroying his right eye and taking out a chunk of his face. Rick takes him to Dr. Denise Cloyd and asks her to save his life.

We Find Ourselves
Later, Denise is able to patch Carl up, but he hasn't woken up yet. Rick comes to talk to him about the manageable threat of zombies, and asks him to wake up. Days later, Carl is still in a coma. Suddenly, he starts to cough, but it is unknown if he is waking up or reanimating.

Denise informs Rick that the cough didn't necessarily mean anything, and that Carl isn't out of the woods yet. She says when he wakes up, it is ultimately unknown what condition he will be in. In the following issue, he finally wakes up and immediately asks "Where's Mom?". Rick then begins to stress over explaining to Carl again what ordeals have taken place. After explaining the death of his mother and sister, Carl shows little sadness and this continues to worry Rick. Denise explains that it is okay to take Carl home after a couple of days of recovery, and the two begin to settle in once more. It is unknown exactly how badly his memory has been affected.

A Larger World
Carl, along with, Rick, Michonne, Glenn, and Andrea, are brought to the Hilltop Colony by Paul. There, they are 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 while Paul tells the group about the Saviors, it is Carl who initially suggests that Alexandria can fight off and/or kill the Saviors in exchange for supplies. This line of action is eventually approved by both Paul and Gregory.

Something To Fear
As Carl returned to the Safe-Zone from the Hilltop with his father, Andrea, Glenn and Michonne, they were ambushed by a small group of Saviors. Carl watches as Andrea and Michonne slaughtered the Saviors leaving only one lone survivor. After Rick sends the Savior to deliver a message to Negan, Carl tells his father that he agrees with the fact that the Saviors deserved what they got and that he is remembering more of the past everyday. The next morning, Carl walks in on his father and Andrea in bed together. Rick tries to explain to Carl the awkwardness of the situation to which Carl claims he already knows about sex. The conversation is cut short by the sound of gun shots. Rick tells Carl to stay inside the house as he goes to battle the Saviors. Carl later attended Abraham's funeral after his untimely death at the hands of the Saviors. Rick later decides to get help from the Hilltop and assembles a group consisting of Glenn, Maggie, Sophia, Michonne, Heath and Carl himself to travel to the Hilltop.

The group follows the same route that Paul had showed them to the Hilltop, however they are unable to make it there in one night and they decide to stop for the night. During the night, Negan and the Saviors show up and ambush the group. Negan demands half of everything the Safe-Zone owns, and has to punish them for killing so many Saviors. Carl watches with the rest of the group as Negan smashes Glenn's head to bits using his baseball bat whom he calls 'Lucille'. Negan tells them the Saviors will be back for their first offering in one week and leaves the survivors with Glenn's body. Maggie then punches Rick repeatedly calling him a coward, and Carl pulls out his gun on Maggie and claims he will put it away if Maggie stops hitting his father. However Sophia attacks Carl for pulling out a gun on Maggie. The group then wraps Glenn's corpse in a blanket and they continue on to the Hilltop.

What Comes After
After saying an almost tearful goodbye to Sophia, Carl returns with Rick and the others to Alexandria. After hearing what happened when the Saviors attacked, Carl agrees with Andrea that they should fight back to show Negan and the Saviors that they "aren't to be fucked with." He is visibly angry with Rick's decision to let Dwight go back to Negan and the other Saviors. When Negan and the Saviors come to collect supplies from the safe zone, Carl threatens Negan, saying he'll soon realize how dangerous they all are. As Negan and his Saviors leave, Carl hides under some mattresses in one of their trucks, ambushing the Saviors as they open the door and killing several, before being brutally beaten by Dwight, and then taken hostage by Negan.

However, while Negan is usually cold and dispassionate, the harsh demeanor of Carl leaves an impression on him, as Negan, while claiming he's still going to punish Carl, starts to mentor him into the ways of The Saviors, acting curious and concerned about his past and bluntly claiming that, in his eyes, Carl is going to become a serial killer.

Negan states that he has done something to Carl at the end of Issue 106. Later it is revealed that Negan actually did nothing to Carl to show Rick that he can be reasonable. He later returns to Alexandria.

Carl is then seen outside the Alexandria Safe-Zone fighting zombies with Michonne. After successfully killing a few zombies he is attacked by one that was in his "blind spot". He shoots it but not in the right spot and Michonne kills it with her katana. Michonne then helps Carl inside the gates, but he complains that he dropped his hat. He then says he is useless with his eye, but Michonne says he is not useless and cheers him up.

Later he overhears Rick telling Andrea about The Kingdom and his plan to attack Negan and the Saviors. He tells his father that he can't be kept away from such a plan, which his father replies that he was about to go tell Carl about it. He then lowers his head and smiles, happy to know that he will help talking down the Saviors.

Rick takes Carl, along with a small group, to The Kingdom. While at The Kingdom he is very impressed stating that it is cool. Later when discussing whether or not they should trust Ezekiel he states that if Jesus trusts him, he trusts him.

March To War
He is then seen behind the walls of the Safe Zone. After Negan punches Rick in the face, Carl responds by shooting at him. However he misses Negan and instead hits Lucille, which angers Negan greatly. Negan then demands that they throw Carl over the wall or he will kill Rick, Holly, Nicholas, and Heath.

All Out War - Part One
Carl is seen talking to Rick. Rick states that Carl did good, but Carl feels he failed because he shot, missed, and then hid behind the wall. Rick then says that he did the right thing. They then argue on whether or not he should be included in the assault at The Sanctuary. Carl then agrees that he should stay but tells his father to make sure to kill Negan. After Rick's speech to the community, Carl questions why Andrea is staying behind. She then says that Carl is in charge of the community while Rick is gone and he gets a little embarrassed.

When a small group returns to Alexandria he immediately asks about his father's whereabouts, Michonne calms him down saying everything is going with the plan. After his father arrives, Carl (most likely in jest) says he's late, to which he replies that this is war and not always he'll be able to follow schedules. He is part of the meeting with Rick and a few more survivors regarding the success of the initial attack, Rick then says the safe-zone needs to be prepared, as that will most definitely be the first place to be attacked. Just as he finishes, a bomb explodes outside, breaking the windows.

They all go outside, with Rick climbing the wall to see what happened, finding Negan with a large group of soldiers outside, holding Holly hostage. Much to everyone's surprise, Negan releases Holly as a peace offer, she enters the safe-zone with a bag over her head, guided by Rick's voice.

Denise takes her in, pulling the bag from her head, revealing that Holly is now a roamer. The zombified Holly lunges at Denise, biting her arm, just as everyone is distracted Negan yells "ATTACK!"

The Saviors then proceed to throw grenades over the safe-zone walls, blowing up and burning several houses. Rick, Andrea and Carl run together trying to escape the chaos, but a grenade explodes just a few feet away from them, knocking them down. Carl passes out for an instant, and is taken to the infirmary by Rick. Later it is show that Carl was just knocked out, but states alright. He leaves the safe-zone with his father shortly after, just like everyone else.

All Out War - Part Two
During the assault on the Hilltop Colony, Carl assists Andrea and the others inside the house to shoot Saviors. Later he rescues Rick and Nicholas outside, and is present when Dr. Carson warns the group everyone injured by the Savior's weapons will most likely die no matter how minor their injury is.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Carl has killed:
 * Shane
 * Ben
 * Multiple unnamed Saviors.
 * Numerous counts of zombies.

Relationships
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Rick 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 and Carl have both seen their bad and good moments. Carl has noted he needs his father, when Rick isn't available. After the assault on the Prison, Carl told him (while he was in coma) how bad he is at protecting their friends, saying that he's the biggest reason why most of their original group members are dead. This aside, Rick continues to do everything he can to keep Carl safe. However, all the experiences that Carl has been through have hardened him to the point where he doubts his father's leadership to the point where Carl decides to take matters into his own hands and sneaks into the Saviors' hideout with Abraham Ford's rifle to kill as many Saviors as possible. When Carl is brought in on Rick's plan, he shows his support and wants to be by his father's side whenever possible.

Lori Grimes
"I miss mom, but even though I don't remember... It doesn't feel like she's alive. She feels... gone."

- Carl to his father, about Lori.

Carl mostly stayed by his mother's side. The two shared a close bond, as he often looked to her for reassurance about the world they were living in (but more specifically, about Rick) and also gave her reassurance as well. Though, he gets quite frustrated whenever she set limitations for what he could and could not do. He is still shown to love her nonetheless and is distraught when he finds out about her death at the Prison. Carl asks about Lori when he wakes up from having been shot in the head, and isn't as traumatized as he was when Rick reminded him of her death.

Judith Grimes
"I don't remember Judy. It's sad that she's dead... but most everyone I know is dead."

- Carl to his father, about his baby-sister.

Carl liked his new sister, and was a bit jealous of her, because she would never know anything about life before zombie-apocalypse. Carl has said many times he misses his mother and sister.

Shane
"Bad man like Shane?"

- Carl to his mom.

Carl had always been wary of Shane. Despite the man being generally nice to him, he was very uncomfortable watching his interactions with Lori. In Issue 6, Carl killed Shane by shooting him in the neck in protection of his father. Later on, in Issue 17, Lori explained to Carl that Thomas was a "bad man", Carl responded "Bad man like Shane?" signifying that Carl saw Shane as a horrible person for trying to murder Rick.

Sophia
Despite being initially revolted with Sophia (after she planted a kiss right on his cheek), he eventually agreed to be Sophia's boyfriend. Being his childhood 'girlfriend', these two seem to like each other. Carl was shown to be a little uneasy when Sophia claimed Maggie was her real mother, but she later tells Carl that it makes her feel better. Nevertheless, their bond has grown stronger over the issues as seen when Carl comforts Sophia after Glenn's death and was almost on the verge of tears when hugging her goodbye as Sophia and Maggie decided to stay in Hilltop. When they are reunited at the Hilltop, Sophia shuns Carl for being mean to her thus ending their "relationship".

Andrea
Andrea would often babysit Carl and they are shown to be friendly. Carl seems happy about Rick and Andrea's relationship, even asking Andrea to move in with them. Even though he is initially confused when he sees her in bed with Rick (as he thought Andrea was in a relationship with Spencer), he is later shown to be happy with Andrea living with them.

Glenn
Carl and Glenn did not have much interaction, but Carl was angered by Glenn's murder. During a conversation with his father, Carl asked Rick to kill Negan, because he was "pissed off about Glenn". When Carl sneaked into Negan's base to try to kill him, he referred to Glenn as his "friend".

Chris
"Shut up, Brat!"

- Chris telling off Carl.

Chris and Carl had a poor relationship. Chris frequently complained about having to babysit Carl, Sophia, Ben, and Billy. At one point, Carl told Chris, "You shouldn't cuss so much. I know you're not an all the way adult. Saying those swears isn't going to fool me." Chris responded by saying "Shut up, brat!" which angered Carl greatly.

Michonne
Michonne and Carl have established a caring relationship. After the bloodbath of the Prison assault, Carl often seeks protection from Michonne. He also seems to care greatly for her, as evidenced by his overjoyed hug when he first saw her in Issue 51 and his refusal to leave her to deal with roamers alone in Issue 108. When Carl call's himself useless because of his eye Michonne quickly reassure's him that he is not.

Alice Warren
Although Carl and Alice weren't seen interacting much, it is assumed they had a good relationship, as Alice saved Rick's life and delivered Judith. Also after escaping the prison, an angry Carl shouts at Rick telling him he can't protect anyone and mentioned Alice.

Morgan Jones
Morgan was happy when he finally met Rick's son. At first, Carl was very concerned about him, but started to warm up to him later. Morgan was the only one who saw Carl killing Ben. Before Morgan's death, Morgan finally revealed this to him and told him more about what he thought of him, noting how brave he is.

Negan
"Make sure you kill him."

- Carl to his father.

Carl bitterly hates Negan, and this is provoked by him killing Glenn, and reaches a point where Carl risks his life to get revenge, when he sneaks into Negan's truck in order to kill him. It appears though, that Negan likes and admires Carl because of how hardened he is. It is shown that he may even have some higher opinion of the child, such as respect, as he is shown to be sincerely concerned and apologetic after making fun of his exposed gunshot injury. Carl returns Negan's admiration for him by accompanying him throughout the Savior's base without even trying to run or take action, also questioning the leader out of his wives, which one was actually his. Negan may very well be catering Carl to become a protege of some sort, as he is shown to be more impressed by the boy rather than angered by his violence against his men. However, since Carl shot Lucille, Negan now wants to kill him, even menacing The Alexandria's citizens to kill Rick, Nicholas, Holly, and Heath in front of them if Carl weren't sent to him.

Paul Monroe
"Jesus seems like a good guy, dad. I don't think we need to have him all tied up."

- Carl to Rick, about Paul's capture.

Despite not being seen interacting much, they are in good terms, as showed by the fact that Carl was the first to fully trust Jesus when being held as prisoner at the Safe-Zone, and that Jesus fully trusted Rick's group because of Carl. Carl also has a high trust in Jesus's judgement as he state's he trust's Ezekiel as long as Jesus trust's him.}}

Appearances
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Volume 21: All Out War - Part Two

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Trivia

 * Creator Robert Kirkman's father is named Carl.
 * Carl was the first person to kill a living person (Shane) in the Comic Series.
 * Carl is one of only four surviving members of the original Atlanta group, the others being Sophia, Andrea, and Rick.
 * Carl is the only child who has driven a car in the Comic Series, in Issue 52.
 * Carl and Andrea are the only people to survive a gunshot to the head, along with Daryl Dixon in the TV Series and Chase from the webisode Cold Storage.
 * Carl's birth month is April.
 * Carl has the second highest number of appearances in the Comic Series; the first being his father.
 * A fan asked via Reddit which characters are the hardest and easiest to write, Kirkman answered that Carl is "fun to write."