WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Negan Lives!, from Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn and Rus Wooton, on sale now.

It's a tough time for fans of The Walking Dead. The television show's season finale was delayed, and the comic book came to an abrupt end last year. However, comic readers got another chance to spend more time in the zombie apocalypse this week, because series creator Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard returned to The Walking Dead's world to revisit one of the franchise's most popular characters in the one-shot Negan Lives!

The story, set sometime after "The Whisperer War," finds Negan in mourning. After burying his iconic barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat Lucille, the once-boisterous man leaves flowers at its grave, as a tribute to his late wife, the real Lucille.

For him, his baseball bat was just a simulacrum and the namesake of his dead wife, who he believes is probably out in the world somewhere, shambling around as a mostly skeletal zombie, more skeleton than human. However, Negan Lives! gives Negan a new friend, and she just happens to be named Lucy, too.

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Walking Dead Negan Lives Lucy

At the start of this special, Negan's existence is a far-cry from the life he led as leader of the Saviors. He scrapes by on paltry vegetables. His depression is profound, and though he wants to die, he can't bring himself to end it. That's a big part of why he's so startled to find a Lucy standing in his kitchen. She's friendly, and Negan isn't sure that she's real at first, and his doubt only grows when she reveals that her name is Lucy. With his wife a zombie and his bat buried, Negan can't believe that fate conspired to put him alongside another person named Lucille, or Lucy in this girl's case.

Negan and Lucy share a meal of grilled rabbit and discuss the realities of the zombie apocalypse, how normal the abnormal can become when faced with so few options. Negan reveals that he was surrounded by zombies and acted like it was no big deal just five days into civilization's collapse. The pair bond, and Negan even apologizes for all the cursing.

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In the mood lighting of the grill fire, Lucy begins flirting with Negan, and he recognizes the artificiality of the situation and that she's part of a larger effort to trap him. When he calls her out, Lucy's partners spring from the dark and attack. Against Lucy's protests, her partners struggle to kill Negan, despite his lack of resistance. He barely puts up a fight, but they still can't finish the job.

When they force him to dig a grave beside Lucille, Negan explains that his grave is too close to Lucille's; he's afraid of accidentally digging her up. The men are unsympathetic, even though at first they believe a human is buried there. When the men learn a baseball bat has been laid to rest, and the symbolic power the grave holds for Negan, they make fun of him.

At that moment the zombies dash from the shadows. Luckily for Negan and Lucy, the creatures attack the other men first, but when a zombie gets hold of their leader, Negan kills the zombie and then gruesomely kills the man himself. In the aftermath,  Negan makes a decision to live his life once again, instead of just waiting around for death. He's going to go find his wife and finally put her to rest, and he invites Lucy to come along.

Walking Dead Negan Lucille Grave

The book ends with a potential tease about Negan's future adventures, which Kirkman says may or may not ever be seen in the letters column. However, we already have some idea of what happens to Negan, thanks to The Walking Dead #193. After the time-jump in that issue, Negan moved to Springhaven, where the real Lucille did ultimately get a tombstone.

While there's certainly a chance that Lucy could have made it to Springhaven too, there's no telling what actually happened to her. If Negan's adventures ever do continue in some format, the question of her survival would likely be of paramount concern.

For now, this comic ends with Negan teasing, almost taunting readers about the promise of his upcoming adventures. With no other public plans for further Walking Dead comics, that tease may very well be the last word on The Walking Dead comic book universe.

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