‘The Walking Dead’ Season 3 Comic-to-TV Comparison: “Hounded”

AMC: Having facetiously released Michonne for Andrea’s benefit, Merle talks a company of men out into the forest beyond Woodbury, looking for Michonne. Using her skill and Cunning, Michonne manages to eliminate two of the armed men before scampering into the woods, wounded, and later making another attempt.

THE COMICS: While Michonne’s initial escape from Woodbury wasn’t interrupted by the Governor’s men, she and Tyreese would sometime later take it on themselves to surprise a group of them in the woods, hoping to catch the Governor off guard during his assault against the prison. Like AMC, Michonne barely made it out alive, while Tyreese ended up captured.

AMC: On the other end of his mysterious phone call, Rick first hears the voice of a woman claiming to have found a safe haven with various others, but initially refuses to divulge the location. In subsequent calls, we hear the voice of a man, and another woman, who demand to know more about Rick’s group and the losses their group has had before considering allowing Rick and the others to join them, despite his desperate pleas.

THE COMICS: Bingo bango! Shortly after losing Lori and Judith to the fall of the prison, Rick and Carl briefly holed up in an abandoned house, where Rick was drawn to the sound of a ringing phone. Similarly, the woman on the other end claimed to be part of a secure group that could in time come to trust Rick, though she too wasn’t what she claimed. Curiously, the comic version of this event saw Rick and Carl isolated, and in need of a larger group, while in AMC’s portrayal Rick and the others are still somewhat secure within the prison.

AMC: Clearly enamored of Andrea, The Governor takes to heart Andrea’s words that the Biter Fights might be too barbaric for the idyllic community, and could be indicative of a darker world they don’t need to be reminded of.

THE COMICS: Far less human than his on-screen counterpart, the comic book Governor made light of Glenn, Rick and Michonne’s distaste for the biter fights, quickly dismissing the ethical implications as he revealed that they too were to be used as zombie chow.

AMC: The young woman who guards the wall and converses with Andrea is the second bow-hunter we’ve seen of the Woodbury soldiers, as they prefer quieter weapons to guns and hand-to-hand combat. Not to mention, the woman’s screentime hopefully guarantees we’ll see her again, and somehow playing off of Daryl.

THE COMICS: Surprisingly, very few characters from the comics made use of either a bow and arrow, or even a crossbow. Woodbury in particular had very little qualm using automatic weapons to cut down any approaching walkers.

AMC: Having lost his own wife, Hershel finds Rick in the maintenance room and attempts to offer his counsel, or at least company. Rick explains to Hershel that a woman has been calling with talk of her safe haven, though Hershel seems skeptical. He offers to wait with Rick for the next call, but Rick prefers to remain alone and keep the rest of the group in the dark about it.

THE COMICS: Given that Rick’s only companion at the time was Carl, he had no means of keeping anyone away from his secret phone calls. Rick tried not to get Carl’s hopes up about the potential safe haven, but upon realizing the call’s true nature, quickly dismissed the others and told his son they needed to move on.

AMC: Having made her decision to remain in Woodbury, Andrea explains to the Governor her desire to help protect the wall, rather than take any kind of domestic job. Her methods are quickly seen to be too reckless howeve, and the Governor denies needing her there.

THE COMICS: The comic Andrea never had the opportunity to visit Woodbury, but her role there seems to resemble the character’s time in Alexandria, where the survivors needed to re-acclamate themselves to normal life, with normal jobs. Alexandria leader Douglas struggled with how best to utilize Andrea’s talents, while it was Rick who suggested keeping her as a lookout for her skill with a rifle.

AMC: In the course of her second scrap with Merle and some oncoming walkers, Michonne accidentally spills one’s insides all over herself, before running off. Later, she finds that other oncoming walkers have no interest in her given the smell, and is able to walk to the prison without arousing any interest from nearby undead.

THE COMICS: As many will also remember from season 1 episode “Guts,” Rick and Glenn were the first to try out the method of masking their smell with zombie entrails, which worked until unfortunately-timed rain washed it off. Curiously, the strategy wasn’t utilized again until much later in Alexandria.

AMC: Wounded from her fight with Merle, Michonne manages to reach a nearby strip mall, where the arrival of Glenn and Maggie forces her to hide and observe from a distance. Merle reveals himself to Glenn and Maggie shortly thereafter, and Michonne watches powerlessly as he takes them hostage.

THE COMICS: In her first appearance, Michonne casually traversed the landscape with her chained walkers in tow, eying Otis frantically driving his horse-drawn carriage in the distance. She managed to catch up to him outside the prison, and save his life at the last moment, introducing herself to the other survivors shortly thereafter.

AMC: After three episodes of flirting, Andrea and the Governor finally give in to their mutual attraction, first in the garden and later at his apartment. They both kind of get around, no?

THE COMICS: Yeesh. The only member of the core survivors that the Governor ever had a sexual relationship was that of Michonne, and it was not by her choosing. Andrea and particular remained Dale’s girl until well after his death.

AMC: Having learned of his brother’s survival, Merle demands Glenn take him to see Daryl, but when the boy refuses Merle gets the jump on both Glenn and Maggie, forcing them at gunpoint to return to Woodbury with him.

THE COMICS: The books first introduced Woodbury when the Governor took Rick, Michonne and Glenn hostage, Glenn ending up the least scathed of the three. Though the Governor claimed to have released him, Glenn would make his escape with Rick and Michonne, and two defecting Woodbury residents in tow. Maggie on the other hand, remained at the prison.

AMC: While the second voice on the phone suspiciously put together that Rick’s wife had died, the third used Rick’s name in conversation, cluing him in that something was amiss. A fourth voice on the phone was revealed to be Lori, the other three having been fellow deceased group members Amy, Jim, and Jacqui. Rick breaks down and apologizes to his wife, who in turn asks that he take care of the children.

THE COMICS: Rather than figure it out for himself, the voice on the phone revealed itself to be Lori once Rick asked her name, though it isn’t known why he failed to recognize it. In spite of the call being revealed as a delusion, Rick later took the phone with him in case he felt like talking to his late wife again.

AMC: Believing Michonne to be as good as dead, Merle opts to return to Woodbury rather than risk any further losses in pursuing her. He even kills his remaining companion for insisting they continue on after her, later reporting to the Governor that all but he were killed in the fray. The Governor asks for the sword, though Merle claims both the weapon and Michonne’s head were lost in the frenzied attack, and offers up Glenn and Maggie as a consolation.

THE COMICS: One of the Governor’s right-hand men Gabe made a similar claim of Michonne’s death after an attack out in the woods, offering up her sword and a captive Tyreese as proof. Suffice to say, a very-much-alive Michonne violently dispelled that rumor shortly thereafter.

AMC: Having put together that Glenn and Maggie must have a comfortable setup in light of their healthy disposition, Merle promises the Governor he’ll find whatever they’re hiding. And we all know what the Governor likes to do with people who have nicer things than he.

THE COMICS: The captive Rick, Michonne and Glenn attempted to prevent the Governor from learning of their prison stronghold by claiming to have found their riot gear out on the road. The Governor later tricked Rick into admitting the existence of the prison by claiming they’d beaten a location out of Glenn, when in reality they’d found Rick’s prison uniform underneath the riot gear during his time in the Woodbury infirmary. Woodbury’s soldiers wouldn’t find the actual facility for some time, fortunately.

AMC: We knew it! Having found Carol’s knife lodged in a nearby walker, Daryl braces himself to find the woman’s body dead or undead behind a shifting cell door, instead finding Carol alive and weakly waiting for rescue. Between the image of Norman Reedus cradling the baby last week, and now Carol, women of the world are going to need to sit down for a bit.

THE COMICS: While Daryl’s role in the series structurally resembles that of Tyreese in both his relationship with Carol and deference to Rick, here it’s Carol who actually borrows a page from Tyreese’s book. Tyreese too was thought to be dead, having been trapped in a seemingly inescapable situation, only to be found alive and waiting for rescue later.

AMC: Seemingly over his madness, Rick ventures outside before spying something strange in the distance. Upon closer investigation, he finds Michonne approaching the fence, ignored by the other walkers, and with a basket full of baby formula!

THE COMICS: Rick’s first meeting with Michonne similarly took place at the prison gates, following her rescue of Otis and the inmate insurrection. Rick agreed to grant her asylum on the prison, on the condition she surrender her weapons and abandon her chained walkers, something she casually obliged.