In the post-apocalyptic world of Image Comics' The Walking Dead, the character of Shane was haunted by the survival of series protagonist, Rick Grimes, with Shane’s final words proving that Rick was more a zombie to Shane than the actual walkers lurking around every corner. The universe of The Walking Dead is a hard place to live in, and more often than not, humans are the real source of pain for the survivors of this ruined world.
Touched on back in The Walking Dead #6, by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore, this issue comes after Rick Grimes has tracked down his family after seemingly being left for dead in a hospital overrun by zombies. Already having problems with his wife, Lori, well before the undead started chomping on brains, it’s revealed that Rick’s best friend and coworker, Shane, has been “taking care” of Rick’s family in his absence.
Thinking things to be perfect without Rick in the picture (or as perfect as life during a zombie apocalypse can be), Shane decidedly does not take Rick’s return well. And after a few passive-aggressive altercations plus some more blatant ones, Rick and Shane finally have a much-needed "talk” about their current predicament and conflicting thoughts on how to proceed with their personal lives. And it’s here, after the surprise shooting of Shane by Rick’s young son, Carl, that Rick Grimes is shown to be Shane’s zombie — metaphorically speaking, of course.
Saying, “You weren't meant to come back... you weren't meant to live!” Shane’s final words show that in a comic series all about undead flesh-eating ghouls, Rick is Shane's personal walker in a way that immediately paints Rick in a highly antagonistic light — a huge shift from the way Rick had been portrayed up until this moment. And as Shane slowly bleeds out from the gunshot wound to his neck (Carl was only protecting his father after Shane threatened him with his own gun), Shane believing Rick to be dead only for him to return to destroy and upend Shane’s life ultimately acts as a sad final moment for a character that ended up a villain due to his actions.
Though Shane was clearly having a moment as he perceived the walls to be closing in around him due to Rick’s return, it is still a misplaced distortion of perspective and truth that only half explains the extremity of Shane’s threatening actions. And with Rick beating the odds in an almost miraculous way furthering Shane’s biases against a man whom he once called a friend, Shane’s final words still hammer home his fragile mental state now that his personal zombie has come back from a death sentence. Furthermore, this scene brings to the forefront an idea that acts as the center of many Walking Dead arcs: What is more dangerous to the survivors of this zombie apocalypse? The actual walkers eating brains down the street, or returned threats in the form of human beings that need to be dealt with in one way or another? At least for Shane, the answer was clear.
So while both Shane and Rick ended up going the way-of-the-walker by the series’ end, Shane being tormented by the metaphorical zombie that is Rick is a sad end to a character that deserved better. Rick Grimes may never have been able to resolve his issues with Shane before his untimely death, but if fans know anything about The Walking Dead as a series, that’s just par for the undead course.
