Father Gabriel Stokes

Few characters in the zombie-apocalypse landscape carry as much moral weight as Father Gabriel Stokes, the haunted man of the cloth who first stepped into Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard's The Walking Dead #11 in 2009. A Modern Age creation through and through, he's spent fourteen years navigating one of Image Comics' most celebrated series alongside titans like Rick Grimes, Michonne, and Glenn — as demanding a cast of survivors as comics has to offer. His presence across both The Walking Dead and its gorgeous Deluxe reprint editions speaks to how deeply he's woven into the fabric of Kirkman's world. If you're making your way through this landmark series, Father Gabriel is exactly the kind of complicated, enduring figure who reminds you why the book was always about far more than the undead.