The Walking Dead has aired some of the most brutal and destructive scenes in horror television. When zombies eating people are some of the least horrific moments on a television show, that says a lot. Through 10 seasons, there have been so many shocking and horrific moments that it would likely end up as an R-rated movie if released in theaters.
What might surprise fans of the television show is that the series is almost tame compared to the comic book series on which it is based. Drawn in crisp black and white s, Robert Kirkman's comic book series has delivered some of the most grotesque moments in comic book history.
Carl Kills Shane
Shane lasted on The Walking Dead to the second season. This was different from the comics, where Shane died early on, murdered by the end of the first collection of comics. His death was also different.
On the TV show, Rick took Shane out alone and then put a bullet in his best friend after realizing that Shane was too dangerous to live. This is not how Shane died in the comics. In the comics, Shane was about to kill Rick when Carl shot and killed Shane. Carl was only seven years old, which was way too intense for The Walking Dead television series.
The Governor Brutalizes Michonne
The Governor did many bad things on The Walking Dead television show, but in the comics, he was even more brutal and intense than the TV show ever dared of showing. The moment with The Governor and Michonne in the comics was possibly the most horrific in the series.
When Rick and his friends went to Woodbury, Governor captured Michonne and locked her in a cell, where he tied her up and abused her continuously before her eventual rescue.
Michonne Brutalizes The Governor
Because The Walking Dead televisions series didn't show the constant brutal abuse that Michonne suffered at The Governor's hands, her revenge didn't need to play out on the small screen either.
That also meant that The Governor could lead a full-bodied attack on the prison when he showed up to attack Rick and kill Lori. This is good, because what Michonne did was way too intense for television. She chopped off body parts, cut out his eye, used a drill, and more as she got her revenge.
Tyreese's Daughter's Death
Tyreese was very different in the comic books. On The Walking Dead TV show, he was a pacifist who traveled with his sister and her boyfriend. He eventually died without really doing much of anything on the show. He was much more important in the comics, as he was Rick's right-hand man, a role pretty much replaced by Daryl.
While his sister Sasha lived long in the TV show, it was his teenage daughter Julie with who he traveled in the comics. She ended up in a suicide pact with her boyfriend, but while she killed herself, the boyfriend didn't. Tyreese strangled the boyfriend and then mutilated his corpse.
Carol's Death By Suicide
When it comes to major original characters, Carol and Andrea switched places. In the TV show, Carol was an abused wife who grew strong as time went on and became one of the strongest survivors. Andrea was a woman who watched her sister die and became suicidal.
In the comics, Andrea was the strong one and ended up marrying Rick later in the series. Carol, on the other hand, never got strong. After escaping her life as an abused wife, she tried to convince Lori to let her become a second wife to her and Rick and, when rejected, backed into a zombie and let it eat her in front of everyone.
Lori And Baby Judith's Death
In The Walking Dead TV show, the death of Lori was rough. She died delivering birth to Baby Judith, and then Carol had to put a bullet in his own mother's head, which was all done offscreen. Since then, Judith has grown into a strong survivor on her own. However, this was not what happened in the comics.
One of the most intense and horrifying scenes in the entire series saw The Governor attack the prison and put bullets through both a running Lori and the baby she carried in her arms, killing both of them.
Rick Massacres The Hunters
On the TV show, Rick and the survivors ran across a group called Terminus. These people would lead people to where they were and then capture them and eat them. As cannibals, they were despicable and ended up as no match for Rick, Carol, and the rest. Their end came when they tried to hunt down Rick and ended up killed in retaliation.
What happened in the comics was much more intense, and it brought Rick closer to becoming someone like The Governor or Negan, a cold-blooded murderer with sociopathic tendencies. They captured the Hunters and then murdered them in brutal and bloody executions with bladed weapons.
Hershel's Daughters Deaths
Hershel went through a lot in The Walking Dead TV show. His wife died at his farm and was left in the barn as a zombie, and he ended up with only two children left as the rest of the farm's survivors well. Hershel ended up beheaded in The Walking Dead TV show, and that was the end of him.
In the comics, two of his young children made it to the prison with them. However, one of the prisoners then brutalized and murdered both children, and Hershel walked in to find their mutilated bodies.
Carl Kills Ben
As a seven-year-old, Carl killing Shane was an intense moment that The Walking Dead TV show never dreamed of showing. There was another even worse moment. In the TV show, there were two little girls in Mika and Lizzie. Their tragedy was when Lizzie killed Mika to prove that zombies could return and be good.
Carol ended up killing Lizzie when she realized how dangerous she was. In the comics, it was brothers, as Ben killed Billy to prove he could return and be good. No one would do anything about it, so Carl snuck in one night and murdered him, something that traumatized the young boy.
Maggie Attempts Suicide
The Walking Dead comic book series has never shied away from suicide as a way out. However, in the comics, the moments where a person takes their own life is usually after they are bitten and know they are turning.
Even Andrea, who wanted to die, didn't end her life until after she was infected. None of the major characters even considered killing themselves to the point where an attempt was made. In the comics, Maggie Greene, one of the strongest women of them all, hung herself. Glenn found her and cut her down, saving her life, but it was an intense and shockingly heartbreaking moment.