The Walking Dead #108
The Walking Dead #108 stands as one of the most consequential single issues of the entire Kirkman run because it introduces King Ezekiel, his pet tiger Shiva, and their community The Kingdom — three additions that fundamentally rebalanced the series' moral and tonal palette during the Negan saga. By bringing in a flamboyant, theatrically self-aware leader who commands genuine loyalty rather than fear, Kirkman gave the oppressed communities an aspirational counterweight to Negan's brutalism, making the eventual All-Out War feel like a genuine clash of worldviews rather than simple revenge. The issue also plants the seed of Dwight's secret defection, a development that would quietly reshape the power dynamics of the entire Saviors arc. All three debuts — Ezekiel, Shiva, and The Kingdom — transferred directly to AMC's television adaptation, where they anchored the show's Season 7 and Season 8 storylines and demonstrated that the black-and-white comic was still generating franchise-defining material years into the TV run.
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Robert Kirkman wrote the issue with art by Charlie Adlard and gray tones by Cliff Rathburn, continuing the creative team that had carried the series since its earliest issues. Published March 13, 2013 by Image Comics/Skybound, it served as the concluding chapter of the trade paperback collection Volume 18: What Comes After. Kirkman later disclosed in a Letter Hacks column — first surfacing in issue #167 — that he had originally planned to kill Negan in this very issue, which would have ended the villain's run at only nine issues total; his growing affection for the character prompted the change that shaped years of subsequent storytelling. The same issue's Letter Hacks section also revealed a separate piece of series archaeology: that Kirkman's original plan had Rick's group discover the prison as early as issue #7.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Ezekiel (King Ezekiel), leader of the survivor community known as The Kingdom.
- First appearance of Shiva, Ezekiel's loyal pet tiger and a former zoo animal he rescued at the outbreak's start.
- First appearance of The Kingdom itself, a community built around a former school that would become central to the All-Out War against the Saviors.
- Written by Robert Kirkman with art by Charlie Adlard; published March 13, 2013 by Image Comics/Skybound as the sixth and final chapter of Volume 18: What Comes After.
- Kirkman revealed in a later Letter Hacks column (issue #167) that Negan was originally slated to be killed in this issue — after only nine issues in the series — but Kirkman chose to keep the character alive due to his affection for him.
- The issue also marks the moment Dwight secretly resolves to betray Negan, revealing his knowledge of Negan's weaknesses to Rick, Jesus, and Ezekiel — a plot thread that drives the entire All-Out War arc.
- According to the Walking Dead Wiki, this issue marks Gabriel Stokes' 25th appearance in the comic series.
- Ezekiel and Shiva were adapted for AMC's The Walking Dead television series, with Khary Payton portraying Ezekiel beginning in Season 7 (2016); the character and his tiger were also included in a 15th Anniversary Walking Dead Day Blind Bag reprint variant of this issue, and a full-color Deluxe edition was published March 5, 2025.
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Reprints
Reprinted in The Walking Dead #18 (2013), The Walking Dead #9 (2013), The Walking Dead #108 15th Anniversary #[nn] (2018), The Walking Dead Deluxe #108 (2025), The Walking Dead Deluxe #108 (2025)
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