What happened in the ' walking dead' comic book?

I read the first 48 issues and the last part I read was when the prison got over run and alot if characters died.

So what happened,

1) what happened to the black chick with the samari sword?

2) who survived and who died?

3) how did the main character lose his hand?



The reason why im asking these questions is that I just got issues 49-70 somethin' and I don't have issues 1-48 at the momentWhat happened in the ' walking dead' comic book?
1) Michonne is still alive
2) Most of the original crew is dead at this point. Only people left are Rick, Glenn, Andrea, some of the kids, and side characters
3) Rick and the others found this town. Turns out the people there weren't so friendly. The leader of the town sawed off his hand.