Issue 6 is the sixth issue of Image Comics' The Walking Dead and the sixth and final part of Volume 1: Days Gone Bye. It was originally published on March 17, 2004. The deluxe colored version was released on January 6, 2021.
Plot Synopsis[]
The survivors hold a funeral for Amy. Shane says he loved Amy because she always had something to say. Donna also says how Amy and her may have not gotten along, but she loved her. She states how she loves everyone and that everyone loved Amy, especially. Jim has perhaps his biggest speech and says nobody deserves to die like this and that she should have lived her life and went to college. Rick and Dale also bring forth their sadness. While everybody leaves, Andrea is still crying over Amy's grave.
Jim's health starts to deteriorate after being bitten by a zombie during the camp attack. Jim tells Donna about his garage boss, who he says was the first person he saw who turned. Jim thinks he's lucky because his boss turned in a couple of hours. Donna suggests that maybe it won't happen to Jim and then exits the tent where Jim is incapacitated. Allen asks how he is, and Donna says that he's worse. She says Dale's wife turned in half a day. Lastly, they both think it might not happen to him.
Meanwhile Rick, Carl, and Shane go hunting and Carl tells Rick that they don't need as much food, because Amy is dead and Jim is too sick to eat. Shane yells at Rick saying it wasn't his fault. Rick tells him they should have left the camp when they had a chance. Shane still thinks the army is going to save them. Carl is seen crying and runs off. Rick goes after him. Meanwhile, Dale is trying to cheer Andrea up, and Donna tells everyone Jim's request. They bring him to Atlanta and leave him under a tree where he tells them to leave him, and that maybe he will meet his family once again. They say their goodbyes and then depart.
The following day they wake up and Shane tells Rick to get ready to go hunting. Rick tells him to give him a couple of minutes to wake up and I'll be ready to go. Carl asks if he can go with them, to which Rick apologizes to Carl, saying that not this time. Shane tells Rick why don't Carl come with them. Rick tells Shane that they need to talk. Shane asks what they need to talk about and Rick raises his voice at him saying "What the hell do you think?". Shane is furious and punches Rick in the face, yelling at him that it wasn't his fault. Lori seeing this calls him a son of a bitch and slaps Shane in the face. Lori goes to Rick and tells Shane to stay away you fucking lunatic and what's wrong with you. Shane tries to say something, but seeing everyone looking at him in horror, he starts to cry. Shane runs into the woods and Rick sighs and tells Shane to wait and runs after him and Carl follows his father in turn. Lori falls to her knees and cries, Dale asks if she's okay. Lori says it's never going to be the same again we're never going to be normal and just look at us.
Rick catches up with Shane in the woods and yells at him to stop. Shane turns to face Rick with his gun raised at Rick, screaming at him what he wants from him, to rip the heart out of my chest. Rick is shocked and does not understand what Shane is talking about and asks him to be careful with the gun. Shane says go ahead and rip it out, he doesn't need it anymore and take it. Rick asks him to put the gun down but Shane says that Rick did this to him and that he has nothing now. No friends, no family, no respect, no life in this damn world, he has nothing here. Shane thought that he could hold out and wait until they were all rescued and everything would be okay. Rick tries to calm him down by saying that we still are, Shane everything's going to be fine. But Shane says he can't live like this anymore, he thought he could, but he can't. He mutters that he thought, he could and he did, everything was going so good and that she would have come around eventually, that he knows it, she would have. Rick is confused, and Shane says that everything was perfect until Rick came back. Shane loses his mind and points a gun at Rick. Rick tells him to stop this, but Shane says no and this is the only way, this is what has to happen, you weren't meant to come back, you weren't meant to live. Rick begs him not to do this, Shane is about to shoot him when Carl shoots Shane in the neck. Shane dies, choking on his own blood.
After Shane's death, Carl runs to Rick and hugs him, telling him with tears in his eyes It's not the same as killing the dead ones, Daddy and Rick says It never should be, son. It should never be.
Credits[]
- Rick Grimes
- Shane Walsh
- Lori Grimes
- Carl Grimes
- Glenn Rhee
- Andrea
- Allen
- Jim
- Ben
- Billy
- Sophia
- Dale
- Carol
- Donna
Deaths[]
- Jim (Alive, Off-Panel)
- Shane Walsh (Alive)
- 1 rabbit
Trivia[]
- Last appearance of Shane Walsh. (Alive)
- Last appearance of Jim.
- This was the last issue that was drawn by Tony Moore.
- This is the first issue of many throughout the Comic Series without zombies, including the cover.
- 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.
- In the Deluxe version of this issue, Kirkman elaborates that Carl was supposed to witness Shane murdering Rick, without Shane knowing about it. Carl would be too scared to tell Lori, out of fear that Shane would murder her, too. The focus of the book would shift to Carl, while Shane was to act as the first major antagonist of the comic, being someone who is a part of the group but still an enemy.
- In the Deluxe version of this issue, Shane's quote when he is threatening Rick changed from "I'm nothing now, Rick!" to "I'm nothing now, buddy!".
Cutting Room Floor[]
- On Page 5, Donna originally talked to Lori instead of Allen.
- Page 7 featured Shane wondering if the camp attack was his fault instead of having an argument with Rick over it.
- Page 11 was supposed to feature a lengthy goodbye between Jim and the other characters.
- In the final cut, two extra pages were added for the scene where Shane punches Rick.
- Rick and Shane were originally going to have a much less heated argument while hunting, with Shane pointing a gun at Rick without the latter realizing it, while Rick was aiming at another animal.
- Shane's death scene was going to be longer.
References[]
- ↑ April 2004 Comic Book Sales Figures - Ranked #179 Overall