The Walking Dead #164 (Image Comics 2017) Charlie Adlard & Dave Stewart Cover

This is issue #164 of Robert Kirkman’s post-apocalyptic series, delivering the original monochrome interior artwork that defined the franchise’s gritty aesthetic. Released by Image Comics in 2017 under the working title “A Fallen House,” the installment tracks a decisive shift in settlement logistics among the surviving communities.

Maggie directs her group down the highway from the Hilltop outpost toward Alexandria, anticipating safe passage inside fortified walls. Instead, they encounter a walker-clogged perimeter that forces immediate firefights and exposes structural weaknesses in Alexandria’s defenses. The central problem revolves around resource allocation and chain-of-command disputes; when survival pressure spikes, conflicting tactics between Hilltop agricultural workers and Alexandrian residents fracture earlier agreements. Readers mapping the broader timeline will identify this volume as the structural catalyst for the eventually forced cooperation between civilian infrastructure and rural supply chains.

Kirkman scripts the narrative while Charlie Adlard pencils the interior panels, with inkers Stefano Gaudiano and Cliff Rathburn applied to maintain the series’ consistent cross-hatching density. Adlard and Dave Stewart collaborate on the front cover, balancing stark figure placement against textured environmental backgrounds to emphasize movement isolation.

• Standard American comic format, 28 pages
• Interior finish: Black and white
• Content rating: Teen Plus
• Credits: Writer Robert Kirkman; artists Charlie Adlard, Stefano Gaudiano, Cliff Rathburn; cover by Charlie Adlard and Dave Stewart
• Release window: 2017 Image Comics distribution

Completist collectors prioritize this specific printing because the original panel-to-panel rhythm aligns exactly with the serialized expansion shown in later media adaptations. Standalone readers gain uninterrupted context for the Alexandria-Hilltop supply route collapse, receiving a self-contained escalation arc that resolves without requiring prior knowledge of adjacent monthly releases.