Reminder: Glenn's Death in the Walking Dead Comic Books Is More Disgusting Than You Could Possibly Imagine
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The Walking Dead's writers chose to end their season six finale with a massive, frustrating cliffhanger that deprived fans of the knowledge of who the show's newest villain, Negan, brutally murders in the final seconds of the episode. We now know (for better or for worse) who is on the receiving end of the bat: Abe, then Glenn. Abe famously dies in the comics with an arrow through the eye, but since Denise takes that death instead on the show, his storyline has been a bit of a loose thread. The premiere sees Abe beat senseless first, before Glenn is tragically beat to a pulp. It's horrific, but let's be honest: the makeup job is insanely good. Glenn is the one who takes the beating in the comic books, and his death is still one of the most affecting moments for fans of the series. Months after the scene aired, we're still thinking about it. Take a look at the pages here to see how truly similar the death is in the books.
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The scene in the comics plays out almost frame for frame, word for word the way it does in the show's finale. Negan surprises Rick and the group, surrounds them with his merry band of murdering Saviors, and tells them that he's going to kill one of them as retribution for their deadly attack on a Savior compound. Negan chooses his victim by playing a cruel game of "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" among the group, who are lined up and kneeling in front of him.
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Initially Negan says he won't pick Glenn because he doesn't want to be labeled as a racist, but after the "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" game lands on him, the bat-wielding villain decides to murder him anyway.
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Negan warns everyone that if they move or try to stop the beating in any way, he'll feed Carl's other eye to Sophia (who's alive in the comics and being raised by Glenn and Maggie, FYI).
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Negan proceeds to beat the living hell out of Glenn. It's as heartbreaking as it is gruesome, with Glenn surviving the first hit and calling out to Maggie before he eventually goes down.
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Even after Glenn dies, Negan continues to go to town with Lucille until the corpse is unrecognizable.
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Obviously this fills Rick, who is totally helpless in this rare moment, with a special kind of rage that fuels his interactions with Negan down the line.