Walking Dead Comic: Pivotal symbols.

        I got a Walking dead comic at Free Comic Book Day yesterday.  This comic is a standalone in the Walking Dead series, it tells the stories and origins of 4 characters: Michonne, Tyreese, and the Governor. These stories explain some of the pivotal aspects of these characters' lives. Michonne finding her samurai sword, Tyreese finding his hammer, and the Governor getting his fish tanks for the zombie heads he collects. 

Michonne's chapter shows her running home from work and getting to her house. At her house, her boyfriend and his friend are standing guard, her boyfriend gets bitten.  She leaves her house to find weapons.  In her neighbor's house, she finds a samurai sword. She comes back home to find her boyfriend and his friend dead. She amputates their arms so that, when they turn into zombies, they can do far less damage, and locks them away so she doesn't have to kill them. She attracts the attention of a bunch of zombies, but then notices that they don't attack each other. She comes up with the plan to chain up her zombies so she can become "invisible" when walking out in the open with them.  This turn of events, and her realization that these chained zombies could protect her was a pivotal moment for Michonne. This was when she truly became brave and ready to face the zombie-infested world.  

Tyreese's story starts when he is scavenging for supplies. He is trying to shoot zombies with a pistol he found.  He is missing terribly. He then stops firing and picks up a hammer.  The hammer feels natural in his hands. He is more agile with it. He uses the hammer to save his life.  He goes back home to his daughter and her boyfriend. His daughter asks him why he doesn't just use the hammer they have in the house. He replies "This one is special, it saved my life." The hammer symbolizes courage and a way for him to survive in the new world.

Finally, the Governor's chapter tells the story of when he acquires his infamous fish tanks that he holds zombie heads in.  He takes the tanks back to his apartment in Woodbury, with the help of an un-named side character.  The guy asks the Governor what the tanks are for. The governor says "I've been looked upon to lead this place…to become the governor… In order to do that I have to become somebody I'm not… I've had to be brutal… I've got to prepare myself for the horrors of the world, that's where the tanks come in… I'm going to fill these tanks with horrors and I'm going to make myself stare at them until it amuses me." These words show that the evil Governor wasn't always evil, he developed his evil attitude to toughen himself up, he became evil by choice as a means of mental survival. Putting the heads in tanks was his way of preparing himself for the brutality of the zombie-infested world he now lived in. It made him the governor.

Each of the objects that the characters choose help them prepare themselves for the world ruled by the undead. These objects made the characters who they are, and represented a dramatic change in their lives. A change that meant their survival.