‘The Walking Dead’ Season 3 Comic-to-TV Comparison: Mid-Season Finale “Made to Suffer”

AMC: “Made to Suffer” opens on a new group, as we see a burly black man taking out walkers with his trusty hammer, before leading his group toward the outside of the prison. The man seems like a leader, one level-headed enough not to question Carl when he locks up the new group for his own’s safety.

THE COMICS: In the books, Tyreese first encountered Rick’s group while travelling out on the open road, prior to ever reaching Hershel’s farm. Much like his AMC counterpart, Tyreese was in tremendous shape, and quickly became Rick’s level-headed, powerful right-hand man.

AMC: Though not outright stated to be his sibling, we know Sasha to be Tyreese’s sister, and a little more hot-tempered than her brother. Not only does she question the wisdom of taking the infected Donna along with them, but lashes out at Carl for locking them up.

THE COMICS: Tyreese never had a sister that we saw in the books, but instead travelled with his daughter Julie, and her boyfriend Chris. Julie suffered a rather tragic fate shortly after arriving at the prison, so is there a dark turn in store for Sasha as well?

AMC: Rounding out Tyreese’s group is Allen, Donna, and their teenage son Ben. There isn’t much time spent on any of the three, though Donna suffers pretty early on, taking a bite in the opening minutes and dying shortly after Carl rescues the group from the walkers in the prison’s generator room.

THE COMICS: Interestingly, Allen, Donna, and their twin sons Ben and Billy were part of the Atlanta group from the very beginning. Allen and Donna were somewhat older and more heavyset, while Billy and Ben were obviously much younger. Of the family, Donna was the first to go, being bitten back at Wiltshire estates, while Allen would die at the prison, the first to have his leg hacked off to contain the outbreak of a walker bite. Ben and Billy lasted much longer, though their youth prevented them from understanding the depth of what was happening to the world around them, and Ben killed his twin brother without much thought for the implications, before being shot himself.

AMC: Having extracted the necessary information from Maggie, the Governor tasks Merle to find the prison, and use his brother Daryl as an inside man to take it down, allowing the walkers to reclaim it. The Woodbury leader acknowledges its potential security, but wouldn’t move the town’s people there, rather preserve the idyllic town setting to which people have grown accustomed.

THE COMICS: Though the Governor of the books didn’t actually need anyone to confess to the existence of the prison, he plotted to take it and move the town there rather than let the resource go to waste. Even during his assault on the prison, he took care not to down the fences for fear of preventing Woodbury from moving there.

AMC: Left alone with the ladies, Axel first turns his attention toward a 17-year old Beth, but when Carol puts a stop to it, Axel bemoans that everyone else is spoken for. Carol retorts that she isn’t a lesbian as he’d thought, but still has no interest in the former prisoner.

THE COMICS: Just as horny as his AMC counterpart, Axel “accidentally” once walked in on Carol and Lori in the prison showers, retreating to his bunk before he lost the mental image. Later, Axel and a still-living Patricia had sex during a break from the Woodbury assault.

AMC: When stealth fails, Rick, Michonne, Daryl and Oscar take the fight to the Woodbury streets in their rescue of Glenn and Maggie, using smoke grenades and assault weapons to cover their escape. Woodbury returns fire, though only Oscar is lost in the fight.

THE COMICS: Despite the initial captures of Rick, Glenn and Michonne, no fighting ever actually reached the streets of Woodbury. All subsequent conflicts with Rick’s group took place at the prison, nearby, or the various supply areas between both locations. The fate of Woodbury itself was never resolved, following the Governor’s failed assault on the prison.

AMC: Having broken away from Rick’s group, Michonne waits silently in the Governor’s apartment, before sounds from inside his private room draw her attention. Finding the captive Penny, Michonne holds the girl hostage as the Governor arrives, before finally shoving a sword through her head. The Governor flies into a rage, and the two fight across the entire room, ending when Michonne shoves a glass shard into his eye, and fails to issue the killing blow before Andrea arrives.

THE COMICS: Michonne’s one-on-one with the Governor occurred during her escape with Rick and Glenn, in which she tortured the Governor much more brutally given how he’d raped her repeatedly earlier. In addition to taking his eye, Michonne also severed his arm and…another…important…member…before being forced to flee. Additionally, Michonne merely locked Penny away, uncertain why the Governor kept her in his apartment.

AMC: Still clearly in a tense mental state after the death of his wife, Rick hallucinates that Shane is one of the Woodbury attackers, taken aback long enough for the man to get a clean shot at Oscar. Rick takes him down, and has to inspect his body to be certain his old friend hasn’t truly risen from the dead.

THE COMICS: Rick never directly hallucinated Shane, though the man would make one or two more appearances after his death. Having learned that the dead reanimate regardless of bites, Rick left the prison to return to the Atlanta campsite, indeed finding a resurrected Shane. Out of respect, Rick puts his former friend down for good, but opts not to bother re-burying him.

AMC: Having been bitten during the opening minutes of the episode, Donna finally dies in all the chaos at the prison, and Tyreese opts to be the one to put her down for good rather than traumatize Allen or Ben. The matter is briefly tabled once Sasha sees that Carl has locked them in the room, and will presumably be addressed in February.

THE COMICS: The older, heavier and more outspoken Donna was indeed the first of the family to fall, being felled by a stray walker in the Wiltshire Estates development. Like in AMC’s version, Allen attempted to be left behind with his dead wife, though there wasn’t enough time to officially prevent Donna’s turn before escaping. It remains unknown if there was enough left of her to reanimate.

AMC: After losing an eye to his battle with Michonne, The Governor realizes that Merle lied to him about her death, and publicly calls him out as a traitor in the Woodbury arena, exaggerating his villainous deeds to stir the town against him.

THE COMICS: Merle’s lie most closely resembles a similar lie from the Governor’s right-hand man Gabe, who professed to have killed Michonne during a skirmish outside the prison. Michonne was later found to be alive, though the Governor didn’t suffer any further damage, and had no time to get revenge for Gabe’s lie.

AMC: With his eye barely healed, the Governor gathers the Woodbury town people in the arena and rallies their support by decrying Rick’s group as savages from whom they must protect their way of life. After calling out Merle’s betrayal, he also produces a captive Daryl, leaving the audience to scream for the men to be killed.

THE COMICS: Similarly, the Governor addressed the people after recovering from his battle with Michonne, exaggerating the savagery of Rick’s group in order to rally the people’s support. Here, he produced the severed head of his own man Martinez, recovered from when Rick killed him outside the prison.

AMC: Remaining behind to allow the others to escape, Daryl finds himself captured by Woodbury soldiers and reunited with his brother Merle in the arena, now both considered enemies of Woodbury. Remember, if Daryl dies, we riot. THE COMICS: That riot might come sooner rather than later, given the comic Governor’s history with prisoners. Prior to the actual character’s AMC arrival, we’ve noted how Daryl has largely filled the role of Tyreese, right down to the romantic tension with Carol. Tyreese eventually found himself a captive of the Governor, and was made an example of in a brutal, tragic fashion. Could Daryl be headed for a similar fate?