‘The Walking Dead’ Comic-to-TV Comparison: Midseason Finale “Too Far Gone”

AMC: In his bid to convince the group of their need to take over the prison, the Governor revealed that he already captured Michonne (rather easily) and Hershel outside the prison fences, intending to use them as leverage to take over the prison without firing a single shot.

THE COMICS: Michonne and Tyreese led a two-man mission to assassinate the Governor during one of the brief hiatuses of the assault, which nearly succeeded before Tyreese wound up captured. Michonne briefly returned to attempt finishing the job, but was driven away by the Governor’s men, leaving Tyreese and her sword behind.

AMC: The Governor made it clear to Michonne that he had no ill will for her putting Penny down, nor did he intend to hurt either she or Hershel, instead intending to use them for a peaceful takeover of the prison. Hershel suggested that they could find a way to cohabitate, but the Governor insisted it wouldn’t be possible, and galvanized his own men into action by declaring the prison population full of thieves and murderers. Later, Rick proposed that they could forgive past differences and work together, though the Governor refused to consider it.

THE COMICS: The Governor similarly rallied the Woodbury townsfolk against Rick’s group by declaring the latter to be savages, including the women and children. While he likely never intended to follow through on it, the villain at least offered the prison population a chance to lay down arms and coexist with his Woodbury forces, having already opened fire on Rick’s group to start the conflict in the first place.

AMC: Before Daryl and Rick could tell Tyreese about Carol’s misdeeds, Tyreese drew their attention to a disturbingly dissected rabbit within the prison catacombs, likely arranged by the same “psychopath” that fed rats to walkers through the fences. Before Daryl or Rick could respond, the Governor began his assault on the prison, negating the matter for the moment.

THE COMICS: A similarly gruesome discovery was made by Alan’s children following the exile from the prison, wherein Billy came across his twin brother, Ben, picking apart a dead cat. Ben told his brother to keep silent on the matter, later killing his twin and downplaying the significance, believing he’d “come back.” The AMC adaptation of Ben has long since come and gone, though sisters Lizzie and Mieke have exhibited similarly disturbing behavior, and likely mirror the relationship between Ben and Billy, hence the rabbit.

AMC: The Governor announced his presence to the prison by firing a warning shot from the tank, producing Hershel and Michonne thereafter, and demanding to negotiate with Rick, regardless of any “council” they’d established. The Governor offered them until sundown to vacate the prison entirely, believing the tank and his superior forces guaranteed him the advantage, and ignoring any of Rick’s pleas for peace.

THE COMICS: The Governor’s convoy arrived in a visually similar manner to AMC’s version, though in the comics none of the Woodbury soldiers had any idea how to load or fire the tank. The Governor and his men opened fire right off the bat, pausing to offer Rick’s group a chance for surrender, before continuing the assault, and ultimately being forced to retreat, given their lacking advantage.

AMC: Believing Rick’s promise of returning from their savage conflict to be a lie, the Governor destroyed any hope for peace by swinging Michonne’s sword into a captive Hershel’s neck, severely wounding him. Amid the ensuing gunfire, the Governor found his target crawling away, hacking repeatedly at the man’s neck to finish the job.

THE COMICS: Decapitation by Michonne’s sword was the fate given to Tyreese in the books, following his capture from the failed assassination. There, the Governor had specifically returned to the prison to show Rick’s group the bloody spectacle, similarly needing multiple swings to fully sever the head. In that case, however, the Governor’s difficulty with the execution stemmed from the use of his left arm to swing the sword, as Michonne had severed the other in their previous conflict.

AMC: As mentioned above, pour one out for Hershel Greene, who died of decapitation by Michonne’s blade and repeated strikes from the Governor. Then again, we didn’t quite see anyone destroy the brain, did we? We smell a spinoff!

THE COMICS: Where Tyreese’s comic fate was given to AMC’s Hershel, the Governor of the books was still ultimately the one to kill the elderly farmer. The Governor and his men found a surrendered Hershel begging to be killed after their seizure of the prison, for which the Governor quickly obliges. In that version, Hershel’s only remaining son, Billy, had been killed in the crossfire moments earlier, capping off a tragic history that saw Hershel’s eldest sons and daughters killed at his barn, while twin daughters Rachel and Susie had been decapitated by murderous inmate Thomas shortly after arriving at the prison.

AMC: After finishing off Hershel and coldly putting down Megan’s body when Lilly arrived to the battlefield, the Governor gave the order for his army to advance on the prison, sending the tank over the fences with the remaining forces to follow, to the tune of “kill them all!”

THE COMICS: The Governor of the books delivered his famous line upon first rolling up to the prison, though rolling the tank over the fences (thereby destroying the prison’s security) was only used as a last resort when the army had already taken a heavy beating. There, the Governor’s men questioned the order, unlike on AMC, for reasons unknown.

AMC: Rick and the Governor engaged in a heavy brawl while the armed forces advanced into the prison, during which the Governor nearly strangled Rick to death before Michonne shoved her sword through the villain’s back. The Governor staggered off of Rick, though Michonne ultimately left him to the walkers rather than finish the job.

THE COMICS: Surprisingly, neither Rick nor Michonne managed to wound the Governor in his final assault, the sides largely separated during the conflict. As pictured above, Michonne briefly got the drop on the Governor during her failed assassination attempt with Tyreese, though neither she nor Rick would directly interact with the Governor again before his demise.

AMC: Prior to the first shot being fired, Daryl urged the group to ready their escape bus in case of emergency. The remaining prison survivors managed to board the bus, which Maggie left Glenn aboard to search for Beth in all the chaos. However, the bus mysteriously took off before Maggie, Bob, Sasha, Beth or any others reached it, the driver’s identity unknown. Our guess is that Tara (Alanna Masterson) boarded the bus in the chaos, driving off before anyone could object.

THE COMICS: The books’ group similarly prepared several escape vehicles for the Governor’s attack, though it was during a break in the conflict that a still-living Dale and Andrea led a group out of harm’s way in the RV. Among the passengers were twin boys Billy and Ben, along with Glenn and Maggie, who reluctantly left the group behind in hopes of having a baby someday. Andrea would eventually return in the RV to provide support, though the vehicle was destroyed in the process.

AMC: The remaining prison youths were seen carrying Judith toward the escape bus, before Lizzie convinced them to take up arms and fight off the Governor’s army, presumably leaving Judith behind in the process. The four were later seen attacking soldiers, ultimately making off with Tyreese, though no mention of Judith was made. Later, Rick and Carl found Judith’s abandoned car seat covered in blood, leading them to assume the worst, though it remains to be seen if Judith was actually killed in the attack.

THE COMICS: Judith’s fate was made far more explicit in the books, being crushed to death under the weight of Lori, who had fallen atop her daughter after taking a shotgun blast to the back in their escape. Rick witnessed the horrific event, but pressed forward with Carl in the chaos of their escape.

AMC: Despite the Governor’s likely mortal stab wound, Lilly found “Brian” lying on the ground inside the prison, delivering the final shot to the villain’s head. Like any other survivors of the Governor’s forces, Lilly’s ultimate fate remains unknown after the failed assault.

THE COMICS: Lilly and the Governor had a different relationship within the books, though she too was the one to get last licks on the villain. Lilly had been the one to take the shot at Lori, unaware of her carrying Judith at the time, ultimately turning her gun on the Governor for what he made her do. Lilly kicked the Governor’s body into a cluster of walkers, though her ultimate fate thereafter wasn’t explicitly seen. Last we saw, she led surviving Woodbury forces into the prison before running out of ammunition.

AMC: Following Judith’s apparent demise, Rick and Carl fled the burning prison, refusing to look back on their once happy home as the walkers reclaimed it. Only Hershel and several unnamed Woodbury residents were seen to fall in the attack, which split the survivors into those aboard the bus; Daryl and Beth; Tyreese and the kids; Michonne; Maggie, Bob and Sasha; and finally, Rick and Carl.

THE COMICS: Rick and Carl similarly fled the prison after Lori and Judith’s demise, refusing to look back on the facility, as well. That said, the comic assault took a far greater toll on the core survivors group, including Tyreese, Axel, Patricia, Hershel, Billy, Alice, and the aforementioned Lori and Judith