Earlier today, Brian K. Vaughn and Marcos Martin unveiled their The Walking Dead one-shot comic, The Alien. In it, they not only explored a part of the world we have never seen before in any form of The Walking Dead‘s storytelling, but also a very important new character.
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Be warned, spoilers for the one-shot follow. If you want, you can read it at a true “pay what you wish” price over at Panel Syndicate.
Spoiler warning, complete. Continue if you wish.
In The Walking Dead: The Alien, readers are introduced to Jeff and Claudia, two characters from in Barcelona. At first, it seems to have as many ties to The Walking Dead comics as Fear the Walking Dead does to The Walking Dead TV series. However, about half way through, we learn that Jeff is likely the brother of Rick Grimes.
Jeff all but confirms he is the brother of The Walking Dead’s main character, Rick Grimes, when he initially reveals that he is searching for his brother, “Richie.”
“My brother was in the hospital,” Jeff reveals early on. A bit later, Jeff reveals more evidence of being a member of the Grimes family, when he references Carl while reflecting on a young boy he saw killed by zombies, saying “He couldn’t be much older than my nephew.”
Later, having been bitten, Jeff asks Claudia to get a message to her brother should she ever reach the United States and find him. “He’s a police officer,” Jeff says about his brother, who everyone calls Rick. “Rick was shot in the line of duty… Slipped into a coma… He’s gonna pull through… He always does.”
That sounds a lot like Jeff is the brother of Rick Grimes.
All the confirmation we need, though, comes from issue #3 of The Walking Dead, in which Rick Grimes mentioned his brother Jeff.
The book is left open ended, not clarifying whether or not Jeff died on the boat he sailed off on or if he, like his brother, is going to pull through. Seeing as The Alien is set in the early days of the apocalypse, he might not know that his life can be saved if he acts quickly and cuts his leg off. Should the characters appear again, though, Rick won’t be the only member of the Grimes family missing a limb.
The Walking Dead comics release monthly. Jeff and Claudia have never been featured in the main storyline.
