This February, we’ll get our first look at life AFTER the Whisperer War! While we can’t tell you what happens (we don’t even know yet!), we can reveal to you the cover for issue #163. Even better news, this issue will retail for ONLY 25 CENTS! We’re also offering INVINCIBLE #133 and OUTCAST by KIRKMAN & AZACETA #25 for the same low price in celebration of Image Comics’ 25th anniversary! All three books are available in February.
Here’s the info from the official press release:
THE WALKING DEAD #163 begins an all-new story arc and readers are met with the aftermath of the Whisperer War. THE WALKING DEAD #163 (Diamond Code DEC160627) will be available on Wednesday, February 1st. The final order cutoff deadline for retailers is Monday, January 9th.
Um…. so I’m a little scared for Rick now. Just a little. Awesome cover… hate what it might mean.
What the hell… Okay, so maybe Rick survives, but this cannot be good.
Why does Issue 162 seem like it will be like Issue 48, that cover doesn’t help. If Negan or Rick die, I’m going to be so sad.
What does that “Conquered” tag mean? Oh boy
Means somebody got beat. My bets are on Rick.
In a way, I sort of want Rick’s group to be pushed out of the communities. I would love to see more of the world in ruins.
Kerk-jerk of a cover right?
I already LOVE this cover. Amazing. Ominous… yet not completely dreadful.
This cover really scares me. I feel like Rick will survive though, because they like to trick us with the covers.
Also, this is early speculation but I think this is classic misdirection. Here’s my take. The title is “Conquered.” Someone has been beat…
But zombies don’t typically reach out to the sky, an act symbolic with freedom and hope. Whisperers make convincing enough zombies when decked out. I’m thinking a large amount of the Whisperers don’t WANT to live the way they do but think it’s the only way to live. They see civilization actually thriving in Alexandria, Sanctuary, Hilltop, and the Kingdom, though. The Whisperers join the survivors. “Free” from the backwards way they were living before. Free to live instead of merely survive like animals. They can be people again. They’ve been conquered and Rick is now their leader.
Damn, you may be right. At least one of those hands looks like a Whisperer’s hand to me. But I still remember that Rick said the Whisperers have to be wiped out completely. Living like an animal may turn people into them. Beta might have been a good guy before, but now he is a complete monster. So far we have seen only one Whisperer (executed by Dwight), showing repentance. The rest was just following Alpha/Beta blindly to destroy everyone who might be trying to rebuild the world.
This whole war is actually pretty sad, it happened only because of Alpha’s and Beta’s sick lifestyle and beliefs. Anyway, I hope that Whisperers are not celebrating the destruction of Alexandria with Rick’s mechanic hand as a trophy.
Years of brutal anxiety watching this group struggle to survive, followed by a surge of relief as they become Alexandria, with a mild bit of stress over the threats of a larger world. Is this not what we have been waiting for? The re-establishment of some sort of society in which living is NOT the utmost concern and happiness is a realistic possibility.
Now it seems like it will all disappear and start this cycle over again. If these communities really are “conquered,” then death is all they ever truly deserved. I have no sympathy for these “survivors” anymore. Just fucking survive already!
Got some epic predictions…. rick and co put full Whisperer suits on to “conquer” the whisperers. This is them celebrating their victory.
$ .25… but I prepaid, fuckers!
Wonder what 50cent thinks about this. . .
He wants chicks to have a baby by him so that they can be a millionaire so he probably doesn’t mind.
Who the hell is Sally Jacka? Where’s B?!
Some zombie picked up Rick’s prosthetic-thingy. They’re reaching up to Negan who’s just taking off in his helicopter. That’s all this is.
I think they are taking a vote on who gets to eat the best bits of negan
WHO WANTS ICE CREAM?
Who voted for Trump. . . To soon?
WHO WANTS AN ELECTION DAY REDO?
Yo.
Dam posted my comment above before saw this. . .
50 Cent forgives you.
Where do you buy the new the .walking dead comics
Your local comic shop would be the best place to get new issues.
The good news is that the issue is 25 cents. The bad news is that it will only be 3 pages.
Does that include an ad or two?
Has anyone considered that the mechanical hand itself may be symbolism? It represents the civilization, advancement, and even comfort that Rick and the survivors have found in Alexandria and the Communities. It laying among the dead and “Conquered” could represent much of what Rick has built all going up in smoke (literally in the case of the hilltop).
Guys it isn’t Rick, notice how the wire is very loose and the two metal clips are not pinched. It is designed for when Rick extends his arm it pulls on the wire to pinch the clips. Which It can either mean it’s a mistake, or someone (Whispers) took it and is holding it up as a trophy possibly
Mindblowing cover.
I think we could well be looking at the death of the whisperers but the routing of both Alexandria and the Hilltop. By hiding in whisperer skins, the survivors may be able to escape but the Kingdom and the Sanctuary are both now hostile — and the latter might in fact be more sympathetic to the return of Negan. Going to be very cool.
You know, this may be a crazy theory, but I actually think that Rick will actually die and the Whisperers are actually holding his mechanical hand as a trophy.
Looks more like Negan’s arm in the air, sans hand of course. And yes walkers would reach up in the air… if fresh meat was dangling from above.
The likely chance of fresh meat just “dangling” in the air is enough for me to assume these aren’t zombies reaching in the air. And if they are, the action is symbolic for the cover, not literal to anything the zombies would really do.
Just saying, you don’t really know shit until you read the book. Speculate all you want, you are probably wrong.
Yes. That is true. We are probably wrong. Did you intend for that to sound as cunty as you put it, though?
That said, the chance of someone dangling meat from the air is almost 0%.
Wow yeah guess that was sillly of me. Must be because I’m a cunt. Hmm maybe they have their hands in the air because they have to be excused to go to the bathroom, or they are at a concert, or playing Simon says.
“Dangling meat” was meant to represent human activity from above, like perhaps on a cliff like Maggie and Herschel or whoever standing on a cliff perhaps.
Don’t be so damn literal. And lighten up too.
It occurs to me that there is one, much more positive, interpretation of the cover: Rick has defeated Beta and conquered the horde. With an army of the dead at his command, he could continue his darker trajectory since #150 and fuel the rift with the Sanctuary, as well as probably the Kingdom and even (from his recent comments) Dwight.
Uhh. Why would have Rick wanted to become Negan and terrorize the Kingdom and the Sanctuary? Plus, nobody of them has any experience with handling the herd movement as Whisperers.
when is walking dead compendium 4 coming out??