Negan

For fans of AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ the name Negan has only been uttered a few ominous times, but after the opening moments of the midseason premiere, that little threat seemed to have been eliminated.  This seemed especially true after this past week’s oddly idyllic episode ‘The Next World’ which saw Rick and the citizens of Alexandria recovering quite nicely after their town was besieged by The Wolves and then overrun by zombies at the midseason mark.

Photo credit: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

But I think we all know more is coming.  Negan is possibly the biggest threat that Rick and company have ever had to deal with in the comic book source material and definitely the longest running.  But hey, the guy cusses a lot, is strangely chivalrous and charming, so minus his penchant for bashing skulls (including those belonging to long-running fan-beloved characters) with his barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat Lucille, he’s kind of endearing.

But even as long as he’s been in the comics, he’s never been given a detailed origin.  In fact, comic readers really only know the backstories of the original survivors and have had some additional origins revealed through dialogue.  But it’s very rare that the comic actually delves so deep as to depict the pre-apocalypse lives of the myriad of characters.

But with Negan about to make his big TV entrance, portrayed by the commanding Jeffrey Dean Morgan, this could be the perfect time to fill in this Big Bad’s background.

AMC is teaming with Image Comics, who publish Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard’s hit comic book upon which the show is based, to publish an origin story for the villain.  The story will be told in 48-pages/12 issues.  These tales, also written by Kirkman and drawn by Aldard, will be presented in the new ‘Image+’ magazine, a freebie add-on to the monthly Diamond Distributors’ ‘Previews’ catalogue, which is sold for $4.99 at comic shops and offers buyers a chance to preorder comics, books, apparel, toys, games and other related merchandise.  The ‘Image+’ add-on is also available by itself for $1.99 and the first 12 issues will include four pages each which collectively will tell the story of Negan’s rise to power in ‘The Walking Dead’ universe.

‘Image+’ will also feature other comic book previews, interviews, news announcements and original stories.  The first issue will become available in May, meaning it should arrive just in time to tide you over the summer when ‘The Walking Dead’ goes on hiatus again.

Source: Cinema Blend, IGN