When Lori Grimes was having a baby, someone needed to help a woman out. Carl took the initiative to do just that, earning him a scolding from his mother but possibly saving his baby sister’s life in the process. Where was Rick, the baby daddy? No doubt doing what a leader needs to do, but also neglecting his pregnant wife and squandering their final days together before she dies rather than being the husband she needed.
Comic fans know that not only was Lori still in a loving relationship with her husband and in her son’s good graces (admitting that her brief affair with his best friend Shane was a one-time mistake instead of the whole wishy-washy thing with him on the show), but that Judith, the baby, died with her during the escape from the prison as they were both shot. Not so in the television series, where the baby continues to live, likely due to Carl’s gumption.