Sacrifice Jessie and her son (tho he was pretty much doomed by then xD) to save carl. was kinda dark imo tho i kinda understand the whole "i have to protect carl" thing, but doesnt make it any less darker.

And I totally want to see this story (the jessie and rick relationship and the sacrifice) in the tv show eventually

 

I want to comment, but I have nothing to contribute that hasn't already been said, lolz. That was definitely a "Holy shit!" moment when I got to that page, and I was just in awe. The mans done some messed up stuff... thaaaangs in order to protect Carl to that point, but that was just dark. Rick MF'ing Grimes, ladies and gentlemen.

And just think, he did that just to have

Poor guy can't catch a break.

 

For me it's a toss up between 3 different events. I was going to throw-in Rick's quick-thinking, in-plain-sight execution of Dexter; but it didn't make the cut. Here's the three I'm torn between; I'll just give you the panels rather than explain. LOL

Thoughts?

1. Rick Sacrifices Jessie Anderson

2. Rick sentences Thomas Richards to be Hanged





3. Rick rides five hours one-way; on a motorcycle; through miles and miles of walker infested wasteland. To dig-up his best friend's grave; and kill him....again. Talk about vengeance? Yikes.

 

Yeah; I totally agree with you about the closure and redemption of putting Shane down. But the reason I included it was because of that last bit of dialogue; "I ain't gonna bury you again you son of a bitch.". It's that parting line or final goodbye that makes me think it wasn't entirely a kindness in Rick's mind. I think that part of the reason the idea of Shane being down there had been consuming him was because he didn't want to live in a world where Shane was possibly still shambling around. Also. I think there's more darkness in the closure aspect as well; I think he had wanted to kill Shane, but Carl took that away from him. So this was his opportunity to finish things with his own two hands.

Concerning the hanging; yeah I can understand why that one didn't stand out for you. But regardless of Maggie gunning him down before Rick strung him up; I still think it's one of his darker decisions. And that's it was, a decision. Even though Rick never got to see it through; he had still made up his mind completely. He had no doubts or reservations about hanging Thomas; what needed to be done was crystal clear in his mind. If Patricia had never tried to help Thomas escape; he would have hanged.

I debated it for a while in my head; but ultimately included it because, although it was never seen to completion; it was still one of the darker decisions Rick has made​.

 

This thread is exactly why I'm going to reread the entire series after the final issue for All Out War is released. I had completely forgotten about the Jessie incident; which I would agree with being Rick's darkest decision of the series. Just the whole visual of it with him chopping off the hand of someone he cared about and letting her be surrounded and devoured by zombies and the whole time she was just watching him as it happened. It was definitely dark and eerie.

 

The Jessie thing for sure - while the lead up to that moment is different in the show when he actually chops her hand off was stellar