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This article is about the Comic Series character. You may be looking for his Road to Survival counterpart. For other pages with the same name, see: Thomas

Come back here you slut! It's time to get your medicine, you fucking whore!
―Thomas Richards while attempting to kill Andrea.[src]

Thomas Richards is an antagonist and a survivor of the outbreak in Image Comics' The Walking Dead. He is a psychotic convict, who survived the outbreak trapped in the prison cafeteria, along with Axel, Dexter, and Andrew. He served as the primary antagonist of Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars.

Overview[]

Thomas initially came off as quiet and "nerdy", but also polite and helpful. For this reason, as well as his supposedly non-violent crime, he was deemed the least threatening of the prisoners. In complete contrast to this persona, he was soon exposed as a bloodthirsty psychopath with a horrific obsession with decapitating women, evident by his murders of the Greene twins and attempted murder of Andrea and Patricia. Thomas' logic also seemed to be hypocritical, as he berated Andrea's use of strong language but then proceeded to shout graphic profanities at her, both whilst trying to kill her.

Even though he died quite soon after his introduction, Thomas' role was partly significant. As a minor antagonist to the survivors, he exposed the biggest threat to stability in a zombie apocalypse: fellow survivors. The survivors had not encountered many violent or extremely dangerous humans before their arrival at the Prison, and as such, were unprepared for the deceitfully insane but crafty Thomas.

Pre-Apocalypse[]

Season One[]

"A New Day"[]

Before the outbreak, Thomas was caught red-handed for the murder of his wife, as he was found and apprehended by the police in the process of cutting her body to pieces to cover up the murder. After being sentenced, he was driven out of Atlanta and to Meriwether County Correctional Facility by a police officer. On the drive down, Thomas kicked and twisted in his seat "like a fussy baby on an airplane", as the officer puts it, and repeatedly insisted upon his innocence, crying and yelling, "Mama, it's all a big mistake! It wasn't me!" This is narrated by the police officer to Lee Everett, as he recalled that Thomas was "one of the worst" he had ever transported. The officer speculated that Thomas had fooled himself into believing that he didn't actually kill anyone.

Post-Apocalypse[]

Meriwether County Correctional Facility[]

As the outbreak began, the prisoners within the correctional facility learned of the outbreak through news reports began relayed on the TV. As news of the outbreak spread, the guards of the prison began deserting en masse to be with their families, leaving the prison massively understaffed and vulnerable. Eventually some walkers managed to enter the prison, leading to it being overrun fairly quickly, and the remaining prisoners, including Richards, facing the fate of starving to death in their cells. However, the remaining guards let them out of their cells with the proposal of cooperating to fight their way out of the prison, which the prisoners agree to. Dexter and the coalition of guards and inmates fight their way out of the prison until the guards lock the surviving inmates, Dexter, Axel, Andrew and Thomas, in the prison cafeteria, leaving them isolated from the outside world until the main of group of survivors arrive and free them from the cafeteria.

Safety Behind Bars[]

He, along with Axel, Dexter, and Andrew were found by Rick Grimes and Tyreese in the cafeteria of The Prison, which was barricaded by a police baton and a few of the prison guards. The four convicts explained their isolated survival attributed to the wealth of food and supplies that was meant to feed the entire prison population for weeks. When each of the four introduced themselves, Thomas claimed he was put into jail for tax evasion. Along with his three fellow inmates, Thomas was less vocal and didn't share much else in his initial introduction. Compared to the revelation of Dexter's murderous past or Axel's armed robbery charges, Thomas seemed less of a threat than the other convicts.

Not much was seen of Thomas in the short time the convicts had total freedom alongside the survivors. However, he was actively featured interacting with the other survivors more than the distrustful Dexter and awkward Andrew. He helped Lori Grimes and the women move their belongings into the cells and other general tasks. He also spoke to Patricia with an abnormal level of etiquette. These positive exchanges gave Thomas a favorable impression initially. However, it soon became apparent he was actually a homicidal lunatic.

The grotesque decapitation of Susie Greene and Rachel Greene caught the survivors off-guard. Lori and the others quickly accused Dexter of being the killer because of his murder conviction. While the survivors focused on the wrong person, Thomas continued his spree with his sights set on Andrea, who was alone in the laundry room. He attempted to cut her head off but instead only managed to slice Andrea's face and earlobe. Andrea managed to escape to the grounds of the penitentiary, and Thomas followed her outside with his knife proclaiming his desire to kill her.

Rick witnessed Andrea flee. In a fit of absolute fury, Rick disarmed Thomas and proceeded to brutally beat him with his fists. Although Lori tried to stop him, it was only after Tyreese physically intervened that Rick stopped. Thomas was beaten nearly to the point of death, with his body and face being severely broken and mangled.

While Rick confronted the shocked community on hanging Thomas and why it needed to be done, Thomas was isolated in a cell. Patricia, who had only a positive perception of the man as merely troubled, attempted to break him out. Unfortunately, she misjudged his insanity, and even in his severely weakened state, Thomas tried to kill her immediately. Hearing the commotion, the vengeful Maggie Greene saved Patricia's life when she unloaded her entire side-arm's magazine into Thomas.

Later, at the request of Hershel, Thomas' corpse is thrown to the zombie hordes outside of the prison, where it's ripped apart by the masses.

The Heart's Desire[]

Thomas corpse can briefly be seen outside the prison gates, devoured down to the bone. A walker gets its intestine caught on Thomas' skeleton and trips.

Death[]

Killed By

Following his murders of Rachel and Susie and his attempted murder of Andrea, Thomas is temporarily locked in a cell by Rick as the group prepares to hang him. Sicked by the thoughts of the group executing a man, Patricia attempts to break him out, believing that he can be rehabilitated instead. Unfortunately, she misjudged his insanity, and even in his severely weakened state, Thomas tried to kill her immediately, but she rebuffs him.

Hearing the commotion, Maggie suddenly appears behind him and shoots Thomas in the back, shooting the entire magazine from a pistol into his body and eventually one final bullet into the back of his head. After Maggie killed Thomas, at the request of Hershel, his corpse is thrown to the zombie hordes outside of the prison, where it's ripped apart by the masses.

Killed Victims[]

This list shows the victims Thomas has killed:

Relationships[]

For a more in-depth look at Thomas' relationships, read here: Thomas Richards (Comic Series)/Relationships

Allies[]

Enemies[]

Appearances[]

Issues 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Book One
Book Two 👁
Book Three
Book Four
Book Five
Book Six
Book Seven
Book Eight
Book Nine
Book Ten
Book Eleven
Book Twelve
Book Thirteen
Book Fourteen
Book Fifteen
Book Sixteen
Appears Voice is heard
👁 Appears with no lines Appears in a flashback
Appears as a walker 🖼 Appears in a photograph/video
Appears as a corpse Appears in a hallucination/dream

Trivia[]

  • Robert Kirkman revealed Thomas was originally planned to stab the pregnant Lori Grimes in the stomach, killing the baby.
  • Thomas was originally going to be hanged before it was decided to have Maggie kill him.
    • This was implied on the cover art for Issue 18.
  • Thomas is referenced in The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series by the unnamed Atlanta police officer. The police officer tells Lee Everett that Thomas had murdered his wife and kept proclaiming his innocence despite being caught red-handed.
  • Thomas is the only named survivor to be directly killed by Maggie Greene.
  • In Issue 20, a zombie gets his intestine caught on Thomas' corpse and falls.
  • Thomas being the killer was foreshadowed, as when he lied about being sentenced for tax fraud, he turned his head away from the group, unlike the rest of the prisoners, who faced the group.
    • In real life, people who go to prison for tax evasion usually go to different prisons than those who did violent crimes, adding to more evidence he was lying.

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