Rick Grimes (Comic Series) (2024)

NOTE: This article is only for the original version of Rick Grimes. To see the article of the TV version of him, go to Rick Grimes (TV Series).

Rick Grimes is the main protagonist of Images Comics' The Walking Dead. Once a police officer from Cynthia, Kentucky, he was shot in the line of duty and left in a coma for a month. However, when Rick awakens he finds himself in the dawn of a zombie apocalypse and becomes determined to protect his wife and son as well as his friends from the deadly new world.

Although he is initially content with only protecting his loved ones, over time he makes many useful allies and becomes a strong determined leader who strived unite the world again and build a new civilization. Over the years, Rick fought off tyrannical communities and groups like the denizens of Woodbury, the Saviors, the Whisperers and the corrupt leaders of the Commonwealth. Although in the end Rick lost his life fighting for his cause, his legacy would continue and inspire survivors to change for the better eventually leading to the restoration of society twenty-five years later.

Appearance[]

Rick is a tall and somewhat muscular man in his mid to late thirties with straight light brown hair and blue eyes, later on he grows a long beard and decides to shave his head. Later in Issue #28 the Governor chops off Rick's right hand leaving him with a stub where his hand used to be.

For his attire at the beginning of the series he wore a regular blue police uniform and later a brown sheriffs outfit with a leather jacket and hat the latter of which he would gift to his son Carl. Later Rick wears a black prosthetic arm to replace his right hand and uses a cane to help him walk after Negan breaks his leg, although he later abandoned the cane and was able to walk almost normally again.

Personality[]

Rick was a noble, wise, calm and rather upbeat man, he loved his family and friends deeply and was willing to do whatever it took to protect them and ensure their safety in such a harsh world. He was also quite friendly, compassionate and trusting of others something which ended casing trouble for his group as he underestimated how cruel and ruthless other people became for the sake of survival. Rick was a confident and strategic leader always thinking several steps ahead and always makes the most efficient plans to survive for the long run.

Eventually Rick began to see just how rough their world had become since the walkers emerged and began showing less mercy and compassion to people and showed skepticism about who he let into his circle of trust. This was displayed by him mercilessly killing Caesar Matinez and Dexter. His fears would finally come to a head after he lost his wife and infant daughter, Judith he would become quite depressed and lost his grip on life. His sanity also became questionable as he began to carry a phone and pretend to talk to Lori to cope with his grief. However he vowed to go on knowing he still needed to protect his son Carl. Rick and his group would then become untrusting and hostile towards other survivors even refusing to trust both Aaron and Jesus at first. Rick's morality became so low he was not only willing to kill his adversaries in cold blood but also torture them out of rage like he did with the Hunters after they mutilated Dale. Later he does even more morally dubious acts to survive, like threatening to take over Alexandria if they try to kick him and his group out and even plans to rob and destroy the Hilltop if he deems it a bad place.

However Rick's faith in humanity begins to restore once he realizes that there are still good people willing to work with each other for a common goal. Rick then decides to make it his mission to unite his fellow survivors and not only restore society but make it better by eliminating inequality, corruption and all the bad aspects of what came before. Rick is also very humble denying any compliments and praise from people as he simply believes he is doing what's right. He also began to show actual mercy to his enemies rather than killing them because he knows if he did, he would be no better than the people he opposed. He even acknowledges that his previous wrathful actions were wrong and shows remorse for them. A good example of Rick’s mercy is when he decided to spare Negan and imprison him despite his horrendous actions and later freeing him once he helps him defeat the Whisperers and sees that he has genuinely changed for the better. He also gave amnesty and forgiveness to Vincent for trying to kill him as he knew he only did it because he rightly blamed Rick’s mistakes for the death of his son. He even freed Pamela Milton from prison after she was overthrown, understanding that she was a good person despite her flaws and she had remorse for her actions. Overall Rick claims that despite the countless people he lost and all the pain he suffered he still views the world he lives in a gift. This shows that despite everything he refused to give in to his despair and will strive for a better world no matter what.

In the end when Rick was killed by Sebastian Milton, 25 years later he is celebrated for his efforts that led to the restoration of civilization. However many still questioned his methods and held grudges for the mistakes he made, said mistakes were ultimately worth it for the incredible future he built. In the end, Rick will always be rememebered as a virtuous and revolutionary figure that continues to inspire future generations.

Trivia[]

• Rick was around thirty-four at the beginning of the series and thirty-nine at the time of his death. Had Rick survived the events of the series and lived to see the restoration of society thirty years after the apocalypse began he would be around 64.
• Robert Kirkman, the series creator, claims that initially Rick was supposed to die at the hands of Shane early on in the series and the comics would have the focused on Carl but this was scrapped.
• Despite being the main character, Robert Kirkman claims Rick was always going to die it was just a matter of when.
• Rick's appearance from Issue 127 onwards greatly resembles that of Douglas Monroe, the former leader of Alexandria. His similar appearance to Douglas has been noted in Letter Hacks, with Robert Kirkman stating that it is a pure coincidence.
• Rick was briefly voiced by Phil LaMarr in the motion comic for Issue 1 which was made to advertise the upcoming TV series adaptation.
• It's unknown if Rick ever found out about his brother Jeffrey's death when he was overseas in Spain but chances are Rick died before he could learn his brother's fate.
• Although Rick lost his right hand at the cruelty of the Governor, there are several illustration error where his is drawn with his hand intact.
• Robert Kirkman claims that Rick’s physical limitations due to the loss of his right arm actually make him a better character as he would have to learn to adapt without it. However he does voice some annoyance at this claiming that Rick’s lack of an arm makes writing action scenarios for him harder.

External Links[]

• Rick Grimes on the Walking Dead Wiki
• Rick Grimes on the Near Pure Good Wiki

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