A guide to all the comic references from The Walking Dead time jump
By Erin Qualey
The Walking Dead time jump introduces many threads from the comics. What might these stories mean for the rest of Season 9?
Following the devastating disappearance of Rick Grimes last week, The Walking Dead took the opportunity to hop forward in time, envisioning the functioning new world that our beloved Officer Friendly was willing to die for. There’s a similar time jump in the comics, and showrunner Angela Kang has already been vocal about the fact that the show will be pulling from the upcoming Whisperers storyline for the remainder of Season 9.
The odd thing is that all of the principal characters involved in the upcoming comic story are dead or gone on the show. Andrea, Carl, and Rick are central to the comic storyline that Season 9 is about to tackle head on, so the translation will be loose at best, relying on stand ins and twists of plot that will certainly surprise even the most avid of book readers.
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When The Walking Dead picks up post time jump in episode”Who Are You Now?”, there are several references, both pointed and fleeting, made to memorable characters, events, and relationships from the books, making it clear that they will be included in some way in the remainder of the season. Based on what we know from the established story, here’s what we might be able to expect in the world of the Dead in the near future.
Warning: Below are mild spoilers for the Whisperer storyline in The Walking Dead comic series. If you would like to remain naive of all comic plot lines, I’d suggest you turn back now. Don’t Open, Spoilers Inside.
The Fair
At this point in the comics, bartering has become the hot trend in the new world. With no real currency to speak of, freshly baked bread is one of the most valuable things in existence. And why shouldn’t it be? Bread is delicious and amazing. It also takes a TON of effort to make from scratch. Do you know how to grow and mill wheat? Flour? Nope. Me either.
In the post-apocalypse, everyone has become a DIY pro out of necessity and/or boredom. But there’s no Pinterest, so people have to sort of figure out things based on their natural talents and interests. So Hilltop, the Kingdom, and Alexandria have agreed to gather for a communal fair where wares and goods can be exchanged and everyone can come together for a happy, fun time.
Given the timeline in the comics, we can probably hope to see the fair as a centerpiece in the Season 9A mid-season finale.
The Radio
Ah, Gabriel’s clunky radio. The radio is a plot device that spans many issues of the comics and only recently paid off in November of last year. But it’s not really a spoiler to say that Eugene (not Gabriel) becomes obsessed with broadcasting over the airwaves and eventually contacts a community called the Commonwealth.
Since we already know the Commonwealth – remember, Maggie met up with leader Georgie back in Season 8 – it’s very possible that the radio will be used to contact another society somewhere in the distance. Could this be the eventual link between Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead? Will we see Morgan pick up on the other end of the line?
The New People
Oh hai, new friends. You went through quite a lot this week. But, good news! If the comics have anything to say about it, you’re probably here to stay.
While the introduction of the new group of survivors on the show was orchestrated by the sweet, loving Judith, it plays out a bit differently in the comics. Jesus and a team of herd wranglers end up directing a herd right in the direction of the new group, inadvertently killing one of their people. As a result, they take them back to Alexandria where Rick welcomes them with open arms.
In the book, this group gets an eerily familiar introduction to Alexandria. From the initial welcome to Andrea’s eventual interview sessions, the protocol mirrors Douglas Monroe’s (Deanna in the show) approach to screening potential new citizens of the town. Ultimately, the group decides to trust the community for the same reason Rick Grimes did all those years ago: They hear children playing.
Eventually in the comics, Magna becomes a friend and advisor to Andrea, but given that Michonne offers to escort the newbies to Hilltop at the end of the most recent episode, a budding friendship between Magna and the leader of Alexandria seems unlikely.
The Whisperers
In “Who Are You Now?” Rosita and Eugene go out to fiddle with Gabriel’s radio, and end up smack dab in the middle of a herd with unpredictable travel patterns. In the chaos, they end up taking on the role of two characters named Ken and Marco from the comics.
The situation plays out much the same in both the book and the show. The herd approaches, one of the pair injures a leg, and then the two smear themselves in mud on a riverbank, listening to the whispers of the herd as they pass. What the what? Is this a weird sort of evolution?Walkers can talk now?! Jaw, meet floor.
Well, pick up that face, because that’s not exactly what’s happening here. If you’ve been following casting news for The Walking Dead, you’ll know that the Whisperers are a group of twisted survivors who have kind of lost their damn minds. They subscribe to the “if you can’t beat em, join em” mantra, wearing suits made of the dead so they can live among them in relative safety. Creepy, right? Things only get creepier from there.
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The Weird Relationships (!)
Gabriel and Rosita? Jigga whaaaa?!?! Oddly enough, in the books, Rosita is with Eugene at this point in time, but with only so many men left on this planet, girl’s got limited options. Somehow Gabriel seems like a better fit for her, but with Eugene’s near confession of love on the show, there might be a love triangle in our near future.
Also, the roles that the kids on the show seem to be playing in the larger picture are of note. Both Judith and Henry are filling the Carl-shaped hole in the narrative, with Henry expressing a desire to train as a blacksmith at the Hilltop (Carl did this in the books) and Judith building a friendship with Negan (again, Carl’s role in the books). Since the upcoming storyline relied a lot on Carl’s character in the books, it’s anyone’s guess where these relationships will go in the near future. One guess? Negan might just get that fairy tale ending that Carl predicted for him and Judith back in his death dream.
‘The Walking Dead’ airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.