The Walking Dead: 9 Comic Book Moments The TV Show Totally Butchered
2. Denise's Death
While Denise's death in season six of The Walking Dead was surprisingly well-done from a technical perspective (let's face it, an arrow through the eye could have looked cheesy as hell), it was nowhere near as iconic as it should've been.
Because in the source material, it's long-time character Abraham, not relative newbie Denise, who takes the arrow out of nowhere. Not only was it a shocking moment at the time, it completely upped the stakes in Alexandria's war against the Saviours. Just like in the show, at this point in the comic book Rick was pretty much wiping the floor with Negan's group, yet by offing Abe in such a surprising way, the Saviours were finally cemented as villains to be reckoned with.
Unfortunately, the TV series lessened that threat by swapping Abe out with Denise. Not only that, but the classic Walking Dead 'make-a-minor-character-suddenly-important-and-then-kill-them' cliché was in full effect, meaning that you knew Denise was dead as soon as she started divulging her entire backstory.
And that's not the only crime either, because by killing Denise, the show robbed itself of another iconic moment down the line. In the source material Denise is killed after she's bitten by a walker in a selfless act, choosing to perform surgery on another survivor to make sure they live rather than selfishly amputating her own arm.