Overview
How does Episode One of Telltale’s The Walking Dead reference or relate to the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman? This guide explains!
Introduction
This is a trivia guide describing ways in which Episode One of Telltale’s The Walking Dead references the plot of the comic series upon which the game is based.
The comic series has been running since 2003, and has seen more than 100 issues published. It is written by Robert Kirkman and is currently illustrated by Charlie Adlard. You can find collected volumes in most major bookstores, and can buy individual issues in most comic book shops. It’s definitely worth reading!
Needless to say, this guide contains SPOILERS for the game. I have attempted to limit the ways in which it spoils major plot twists from the comic. It is intended for players who have played or are currently playing the game, but have not read the comic, or do not remember much from past readings of the comic. It includes basic information about characters and events, and includes the issue numbers of the comics in which those characters or events make an appearance.
Episode One
Episode One contains two major character cameos from the comics: Herschel Greene and Glenn Rhee. You can encounter both of these characters in the first ten issues of the comic.
— Atlanta, Georgia
The comic and game both take place in the near vicinity of Atlanta, Georgia.
Most of the main characters from the comic originally lived in or near the city. When the outbreak occurs, the main character, Rick Grimes, is in a coma at a hospital in northeastern Kentucky. After awakening, he learns that his family may have attempted to travel to Atlanta. He tracks them down and find them camped outside the city with a group of survivors.
When the game begins, Lee is in the same general locaton that Rick Grimes and most of his family and friends will spend the early chapters of the comic.
— Herschel & Son
Herschel Green and his son Shawn are major NPC characters in early parts of TWD Episode One.
In the comic, Herschel is portrayed as a family patriarch, presiding over his farmhouse and all his children. Though only his oldest son Shawn appears in the game, all seven of his children appear in the comic. One, Maggie, is still a major character today.
In the game, Shawn is killed by zombies and reanimated. Despite this, Shawn reappears in the comic book: after his reanimation, his father keeps him locked up in the barn for months, certain that killing Shawn would be murder. He believes that zombies are still humans– just sick– and hopes that a cure will be developed and that Shawn will return to normal life. The comic’s protagonists are shocked and uneasy when they discover this.
— Glenn & Co.
Immediately after leaving Herschel’s farm, Lee encounters a group of survivors hiding in Macon. One of these survivors is Glenn, a major character in the comic books.
At the end of Episode One, Glenn leaves to go back to Atlanta to find his friends. Presumably, this eventually leads to him partnering up with the same group of Atlanta survivors who eventually become the central characters in the comic.