The Best Walking Dead Comic Arcs: A Collector's Guide

The Walking Dead is a thoroughly modern creation: Robert Kirkman (writer) and Tony Moore (artist, issues #1–6) launched the series in October 2003 at Image Comics. Charlie Adlard took over the art from issue #7 and drew every subsequent issue through to the final chapter, #193, published in July 2019. Over sixteen years and 193 issues, the series redefined genre comics in black and white and spawned a global franchise, including the AMC television series (The Walking Dead, October 31, 2010 – November 20, 2022, 11 seasons) and multiple spin-offs.

This guide covers the five most significant arcs for collectors, from Rick Grimes's origin to the all-out war against Negan's Saviors. eBay data from our estimator (June 2026) is cited only where volumes are reliable: fewer than 15 active listings is not enough to produce a meaningful median. The Walking Dead #1 is handled separately, because our estimator returns a median of €12 across 101 listings — a figure entirely skewed by later printings and facsimile editions that in no way reflects the value of the genuine 2003 first print.

Overview of the essential arcs

Days Gone Bye (#1–6, 2003): where it all began

The opening arc establishes the series in six issues: Rick Grimes wakes from a coma into a world overrun by the dead, reunites with his family, and begins gathering a group of survivors. Tony Moore's black-and-white artwork across these six chapters is expressive and assured, immediately setting a tone distinct from anything else in genre comics at the time. Kirkman's scripts are less interested in zombies as threats than in the tensions they create between the living — a narrative bet that would define the series for the next sixteen years.

For collectors, issue #1 is the central prize. The first print (October 2003) is distinguishable from later printings by the absence of any printing notation on the cover, a dark red logo, and a slightly cream, matte-finish cover. The initial run is estimated at around 7,200 copies — a level comparable to early issues of Bone or TMNT. In CGC 9.8, a first-print copy sold for $32,000 at Heritage Auctions in 2024 ($24,200 in March 2022). Our eBay estimator returns a median of €12 across 101 listings, but that figure is dominated by second, third, and fourth printings and modern facsimile editions: it must never be read as the value of the original. Second prints in CGC 9.8 trade in the €800–1,500 range; third prints at €300–500 — both far below the first.

The Prison — Safety Behind Bars to Made to Suffer (#13–48, 2004–2006): the heart of the series

The Prison arc spans six collected volumes and is the most densely plotted chapter of the entire run. Rick's group establishes itself in a Georgia state penitentiary from issue #13 onward, encounters Michonne for the first time in issue #19 (2005), and clashes with the Governor, introduced in issue #27 (2006). The tension builds to a brutal climax in Made to Suffer (#43–48, 2006), where the Governor's Woodbury army destroys the prison and Lori and infant Judith are killed in a sequence among the most uncompromising the series ever published.

Our estimator returns only 3 listings for issue #19 and 4 for issue #27: volumes too thin to cite a reliable eBay median. These issues circulate primarily through specialist auctions and private sales. Collectors looking to complete this arc will find the mid-run issues (#30–48) easier to source than the early key appearances.

No Way Out (#79–84, 2010–2011): Alexandria under siege

Two years after the fall of the prison, Rick's group has settled into the fortified Alexandria Safe-Zone. No Way Out restores maximum tension: a massive herd of walkers breaches the community, Carl is shot and loses an eye, and several residents die. The arc is decisive in establishing Alexandria as a narrative anchor — a role it will hold through All Out War. Charlie Adlard's artwork here reaches a high point, particularly in the densely populated night-time crowd sequences that define the siege.

This arc does not produce a key issue in the strict collector sense — no major first appearance, no character death that rises to the level of a grail. Its value is narrative and contextual: it is the pivot point between the post-prison rebuilding phase and the Negan era. Issues from this arc are accessible on eBay at modest prices.

Something to Fear (#97–102, 2012): Negan arrives

Something to Fear is the arc that pushed The Walking Dead definitively into popular culture. Negan and his Saviors make their first appearance in issue #100 (July 2012), where Negan selects a victim from Rick's group with his barbed-wire baseball bat, Lucille — Glenn is killed in a sequence Kirkman himself had signalled as the most shocking of the series. The anticipation surrounding the issue drove its first-print sales above 380,000 copies, and it was published with a record number of variant covers.

Our estimator returns only 5 listings for issue #100: too few for a reliable median. Rare variants — including the Ottley sketch ComiXology exclusive and Hero Initiative blank covers — have sold for several hundred to several thousand dollars in CGC 9.8. The standard cover remains accessible, but verifying the specific printing and variant is essential given the sheer number of editions released at launch.

All Out War (#115–126, 2013–2014): the conflict reaches its peak

All Out War closes the cycle opened by Something to Fear across twelve issues — two six-issue volumes originally published in alternating months. Rick assembles a coalition of communities (Alexandria, Hilltop, the Kingdom) against Negan's Saviors in a full-scale military confrontation. The arc stands out for its structural ambition and for its resolution: rather than killing Negan, Kirkman chooses to spare him and explore post-conflict reconstruction, a decision that steers the remainder of the series away from pure revenge narrative and toward something considerably more complex.

No single issue from this arc ranks as a key in the traditional sense, but issue #115 — the opening chapter — remains sought-after for its cover and narrative weight. The arc benefits from the enormous cultural footprint of the AMC series, whose seventh season adapted Negan's introduction with Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the role.