THE WALKING DEAD #77: Protagonist Rick Grimes has come a long way since we met him in issue one. I remember even considering him a hero back then. Tragedy and hard decisions have turned him into a much darker force over the course of nearly 80 issues. Once again, we find him doing something very questionable in order to protect his friends. This is the first time he has committed such an act in a cold, soulless way. Even though he still does these things through love, he might have finally crossed the line into villainous territory. Even when he hanged the murderer in the prison storyline, he did so with rage burning in his eyes. Bad deeds have become such a commonplace occurrence for him that he doesn’t even feel it anymore.
And that’s what makes him such a fascinating protagonist. This guy, he’s just like us. He’s not Bruce Wayne avenging the deaths of his parents. He’s not Spawn, seeking justice against the forces of Hell. He was just some guy, and then the zombie apocalypse came along. Would we be so different from him in his shoes? Would we have made different choices?
Without society, the center doesn’t hold. Darwinism does, though. Only the savage can survive. As Hunter S. Thompson used to say, “It’s time to get familiar with cannibalism.”
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