The Walking Dead #19

The woman with the chained walkers

By mid-2005 Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead was a year and a half old. Issue #19, cover-dated June 2005, opens with the line "Move, Dammit! Move!" and introduces a stranger: Michonne, a mysterious woman armed with a katana, leading two armless, jawless zombies on chains.

The chained walkers served her as camouflage among the dead. Later issues revealed they had been her boyfriend Mike and his friend Terry, whom she kept as grim pets. Before the end of the world she had been a lawyer.

The issue's cast list is long: Rick Grimes, Lori, Carl, Tyreese, Carol, Glenn, Andrea, Hershel, Axel, Dexter and others, and Dexter dies in this issue. Michonne quickly proves herself by saving members of Rick's group.

Kirkman, Adlard and a Tony Moore cover

Kirkman wrote and lettered the story. Charlie Adlard, born in Shrewsbury, England, on August 4, 1966, penciled and inked it. Adlard had drawn Judge Dredd for the British weekly 2000 AD and The X-Files comics in the United States before taking over The Walking Dead from co-creator Tony Moore with issue #7 in 2004. He drew every issue from there to the end at #193.

Moore, who had drawn the first six issues, drew, inked and colored the cover of #19, which is signed with his initials. Cliff Rathburn supplied the gray tones that give the black-and-white interiors their depth.

Michonne became one of the series' central figures. She formed a romance with Tyreese, whom she recognized from his days in the NFL, and suffered brutal abuse at the hands of the Governor in Woodbury before taking a savage revenge on him. When the comic ended in July 2019 with issue #193, an adult Michonne was serving as a High Court judge in the Commonwealth.

A cult comic before the television boom

In 2005 The Walking Dead was a modest seller. Monthly order estimates show issues #17 and #18 at about 15,600 and 15,500 copies in April 2005, and issue #19 at about 17,222 copies when it shipped in June, 139th among comics that month. Those numbers explain why early issues are harder to find than their age suggests; a 2014 collector's article called #19 "extremely tough to find."

The series won the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series in 2010, and on October 31, 2010, AMC premiered its television adaptation. A hooded Michonne appeared briefly in the season two finale, "Beside the Dying Fire," in 2012, and Danai Gurira took the role from season three.

Gurira played Michonne across ten seasons and then starred in the 2024 spinoff The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, which followed her reunion with Rick Grimes.

What a 9.8 sells for

In 2014 a collector's guide priced raw copies at $150 to $250 and CGC 9.8 copies at about $450 to $500 or more.

A decade later the 9.8 market sits in a similar band. Between December 2024 and October 2026, CGC 9.8 copies sold online mostly for $440 to $750, with the highest at $750 on June 7, 2026 and a low of $300 in June 2025.

No public census count for the issue was available in the sources consulted, so the number of CGC 9.8 copies is not given here.

The numbers

Cover price

$2.95 US; $3.70 Canada

Story length

22 pages

Estimated orders, June 2005

17,222 copies to North American comic shops; ranked 139th

Census

Not available in the sources consulted

CGC 9.8 sales on record

25 dated sales with a single clear price, December 2024 to October 2026

Series

193 issues, October 2003 to July 2019

Timeline

1. Oct 2003

   The Walking Dead #1 is published by Image Comics.

2. 2004

   Charlie Adlard takes over the art with issue #7.

3. Apr 2005

   Issues #17 and #18 ship at about 15,600 and 15,500 copies.

4. Jun 2005

   The Walking Dead #19 ships, introducing Michonne, at about 17,222 copies.

5. 2010

   The series wins the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series.

6. Oct 31, 2010

   AMC's The Walking Dead premieres.

7. 2012

   A hooded Michonne appears in the season two finale; Danai Gurira is cast for season three.

8. Feb 26, 2014

   A collector's guide prices CGC 9.8 copies at about $450 to $500.

9. Jul 2019

   The comic ends with issue #193, Michonne a judge in the Commonwealth.

10. 2024

    The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live puts Michonne and Rick at the center of a spinoff.

11. Jun 7, 2026

    A CGC 9.8 copy sells online for $750, the highest in the period reviewed.

12. Oct 3, 2026

    A CGC 9.8 copy sells online for $599.

The world in 2005

• Jan 20, 2005

  President George W. Bush begins his second term.

• Feb 14, 2005

  YouTube goes online.

• May 19, 2005

  Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith, opens in theaters.

• May 31, 2005

  W. Mark Felt reveals himself as Watergate's "Deep Throat."

• Jul 26, 2005

  Space Shuttle Discovery launches on the Return to Flight mission.

• Aug 29, 2005

  Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf Coast.

• Sep 29, 2005

  John Roberts is sworn in as the 17th Chief Justice of the United States.

Price record

A realized private sale is a completed transaction outside an auction room. The amount is what changed hands on the date shown. Private sales are reported less consistently than auction results, so a single comparable carries less weight than a run of them.

By reference price, The Walking Dead #19 is number 74 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (70 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Michonne's two chained zombies were once her boyfriend and his friend.
• Before the outbreak, Michonne was a lawyer.
• She recognized Tyreese from his days as an NFL player.
• Michonne made a hooded cameo on television before Danai Gurira was cast in the role.
• The cover of #19 was drawn by Tony Moore, who had stopped drawing the interiors after issue #6.
• In the final issue Michonne is a High Court judge presiding over Carl's trial.