Since Walking Dead 100, Negan has been viewed as one of the top comic book villains in the modern era. Yet, it has never been revealed as to what has made Negan into the leader he has become. That is until Here’s Negan was published, which tells the story of Negan and how he transformed from a teacher/coach into a ruthless leader once the apocalypse broke out.
The Summary:
Prior to the apocalypse Negan was an aggressive, but well-meaning gym teacher and coach who would tease and taunt his students to attempt to toughen them up. This would put him at odds with his wife, Lucille, who would have to constantly smooth things out with the children’s parents on Negan’s behalf. One day, Lucille learns that she has cancer and Negan chooses to stay by her side as he encourages her to fight it. After several months of battling the cancer Lucille is admitted into the hospital right as the zombie apocalypse breaks out. Negan chooses to stay with her, only for her to become reanimated as one of the undead. With this he leaves the room and begins to kill several of the undead until he runs into another human, who he asks to kill Lucille. With the 2 men having finished their business in the hospital they agree to travel together to find shelter. As they are leaving the kid that Negan is traveling with is attacked and bitten by the undead. With this Negan begins traveling alone, where he comes across a small group led by a man name Paul. After several days of traveling together Paul, Negan, and the group are surrounded by the undead. Negan is the only one who survives the encounter as he picks up Paul’s bat and uses it as a weapon against the undead. After being alone again he meets a husband and wife, who begin traveling with him, but fall victim to the undead. As he is progressing his way towards the Washington D.C. area each person that Negan meets proves to be weak as they cannot survive against the undead. This begins to take a toll on Negan as a person. Then one day while in the woods cooking his dinner Dwight surprises him by asking for half his food. Dwight then invites Negan to join his group as they attempt to find shelter and safety against the undead. With Negan joining the group he begins to take over as their leader as he is issuing orders that result in the group not only surviving but prospering. This is concerning for Dwight, who was the defacto leader before Negan, as he is troubled about the direction the group is going in. Negan continuously gains control as another group confronts his group, rather than fighting them he states that there are enough resources for everyone to go around. While they are allocating the resources the leader of the other group offers Negan one of his woman, which raises the question of who is in charge of all these people. With this on the line Negan, after being pushed, grabs his baseball bat, now named Lucille, and kills the other group’s leader. He begins to tell the story of how Lucille has protected him as he has traveled and will now protect all of the people under his leadership, as he is wrapping her in barbed wire. He reveals that this group will now be known as the Saviors under his complete leadership.
Significance:
The graphic novel provides an understanding how Negan has evolved from a normal well-meaning man into the ruthless leader he is and the reasons behind it. Before the apocalypse broke out Negan was a well-meaning gym teacher trying to connect to his students. While he is failing at that his wife is fighting and losing a battle with cancer, yet he remains positive throughout the entire situation. Once the zombie apocalypse breaks out Negan has a hard time of accepting the new world they live in as he is killing what were once people. Yet, as he is slowly progressing towards D.C. he comes across people that join him but are all killed or bitten by the undead. As a result, he begins to despise the weak people who get bitten or killed, which begins to change his perspective on how one should lead. After being found by Dwight and introduced into his group, Negan begins to implement these changes into the group, which prove to be successful in ensuring the safety of the group and validating Negan’s thought process. This is further validated when Negan is pushed by another group’s leader and in return kills him with a baseball bat to prove his strength and leadership. Rather than wasting the man’s death, Negan takes the opportunity to create a symbol with his baseball bat as it has protected him and it will protect all of his followers. It reveals that despite Negan being ruthless he is leading his followers in this way due to the events that have occurred to him and he doesn’t want to see one of them die due to the undead. Here’s Negan shows how Negan has transformed from a well-meaning guy to a ruthless leader who still has compassion for his followers, but feels the only way to show it is through a force of ruthless strength against anything that opposes him. With this revealed, it expands and explains many of the actions Negan has taken all throughout The Walking Dead.
