The Walking Dead: Revisiting Jesus’ “comic” introduction to the show
By Susie Graham
Jesus is a favorite character from the comic books so it’s fitting that he got a very comical introduction to the television series. Let’s take a look back at meeting Jesus.
From a purely show standpoint the introduction of Jesus came at an interesting time and in a very different way than any character introduction ever on The Walking Dead.
Even as non-comic readers, many of us are somewhat aware of the words Hilltop and Jesus. Most of us are pretty keenly aware of Negan. We had to get through the Hilltop and Jesus to get to Negan. And Jesus and Hilltop are not to be brushed over.
With non comic readers, the first thing we want to ascertain with a new character is if we can trust him or not. Is this going to be a good guy or a bad guy? We know there are levels and it can change, but we want to know if we can relax or if we have to be on guard.
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Some people didn’t like the overly comical edge to Jesus’ introduction, but I loved it. With some characters that Rick and Daryl didn’t get along with at first, we knew them in other ways so there was context. For example, we knew Michonne with Andrea before Michonne took the formula to the prison. We knew Abraham with Glenn before he met the group at Terminus.
Jesus was a cold introduction though. So having him be a likable character that was fighting with Rick and Daryl, and winning, showing us his skills was a tricky thing to pull off. The humor was great to help us like him even though he was beating our heroes.
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As far as the truck with food being lost in the lake, that was just for comic effect. It could have been anything. It wasn’t meant to show that Rick and Daryl had become unrealistic or careless or making decisions that were out of character.
Plot wise, they couldn’t bring all that food home because of the need for trading with Hilltop and the future storyline with the Saviors and Negan.
The introduction of Jesus ranks right up there with Michonne, Abraham’s Army, and Hershel.
I love a good Jesus caper!