Walking Dead's Negan: Comic Book Origins

Script written by Craig Butler

Comic Book Origins: Negan

Next to this guy the walking dead don’t seem so bad. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will explore the comic book origin of Negan.

For this origin, we have chosen primarily to follow the storyline which unfolded in 2012’s The Walking Dead #100 and 2016 Image-Plus #1-5.

Spoiler alert: Some of the information presented in this video may reveal some points which viewers of the TV series may not know – yet.

The titular zombies of The Walking Dead are the most readily identifiable menace in the comic – but they’re far from the only danger to the humans battling for their lives. For instance, the gang leader known as Negan is much worse than any walker. No, he doesn’t eat human flesh – but this tyrannical shakedown artist can be far more ruthless and calculating in who he chooses to kill than any roamer.

Although he’s definitely a major antagonist, Negan belongs to a long line of villains who are as fascinating and intriguing as the heroes they bedevil. While this bad-ass didn’t appear until issue #100, his reputation preceded him in a big way. Rick and his group, known as The Atlanta Survivors kept hearing rumors about someone named Negan as they negotiated living arrangements with the Hilltop Colony, a large and friendly neighboring group. Although no one seemed to have actually seen Negan, his name struck fear into people’s eyes.

And with good reason. Negan and his followers, the Saviors, were a bunch of protection racketeers. In exchange for keeping the dead away, they would confiscate half of a group’s food and supplies. And anyone that didn’t want to go along with the plan ended up feeling Negan’s wrath.

When Negan finally appeared, it was after Rick had told the Hilltop Colony that his group would take care of Negan, in exchange for becoming part of the Colony. Rick’s followers killed some of Negan’s lackeys – and Negan didn’t take kindly to that. He captured Rick and his friends, and told them that things were different now. From this day forward, they were under his control and would give him half of everything – or they would be killed.

To show he meant business, he lined them all up and told them that because they had killed some of his men, he was going to have to randomly murder one of them. Negan went through the reasons why or why not he should kill each, then randomly picked one – Glenn. Taking Lucille – his baseball bat which was covered in barbed wire and was his favorite weapon – he brutally beat him to death.

Rick, naturally, swore vengeance, but Negan nonchalantly told him there was no chance in hell of accomplishing that. Negan left Rick to contemplate the new order of things, giving him one week to return with the dues he and his friends owed – or else face destruction.

Although Negan continued as a major character in the comic book, only a few facts about his past were parceled out along the way. In 2016, a back-up series was begun which added a few details about how Negan came to be.

So far readers have learned that before the zombie outbreak, Negan was a coach, presumably of high school students. Although he wasn’t a ruthless killer back then, he was still arrogant and egotistical, happy to destroy weak students with well-chosen words. Negan’s wife confronted him about this, but suddenly collapsed in the middle of their argument.

After getting her to the hospital, Negan learned that his wife had cancer – and apparently the prognosis was not good. Sometime later, readers saw Negan in bed with another woman, who turned out to be his mistress. Hearing of the cancer, the mistress ended the affair – which Negan’s wife had been aware of. Negan’s relationship with his wife was apparently complicated, but there was a very deep connection between them – and as her condition worsened, readers saw just how much Negan truly loved her.

To make things worse, as the wife lay dying in the hospital, the zombie virus hit. So Negan watched his wife die, then saw her return as part of the walking dead. Whether he killed her or not is left ambiguous, but it was clear that the experience scarred him.

Oh, and his wife’s name? Lucille – the same name Negan would later give to the barbed wire baseball bat he uses to happily bludgeon people. Perverse symbolism, anyone?

Negan is one of Robert Kirkman’s finest creations in The Walking Dead. Decidedly evil and with a psychotic bent, he also has a code that he lives by and at times can be quite engaging. And while his methods are reprehensible, he has indeed saved many people from the zombies – though at a steep cost.


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