Douglas Monroe (Comic Series)

"No anger, no fear...just "Daddy ate my eyes." He says it as if he believes it's something normal, that happens to everyone. Four years old. The poor boy doesn't know any different."

- Douglas Monroe to Rick Grimes.

Douglas Monroe is a character first encountered in Issue 70 of Image Comics' The Walking Dead and is a former Democratic Ohio U.S. Congressman who leads the Alexandria Safe-Zone when he takes control after Alexander Davidson. Douglas lives in the Safe-Zone with his wife, Regina, and their son, Spencer.

Ohio
Douglas was a Democratic U.S. Congressman from the state of Ohio before the outbreak occurred. This position gained him and his family a spot in the Alexandria Safe-Zone when the outbreak started. He was invited by his friend Alexander Davidson, who worked as security liaison in the white house.

Alexandria Safe-Zone
Douglas was a seemingly friendly person who cared for people. Douglas was married to Regina, who could be seen as quite his opposite at times. They had one child, Spencer. He held a great deal of trust in Aaron and the other people of his community, as all he wanted to do was keep the peace in the community.

While he appeared friendly, in truth, he's also suspicious of Rick Grimes and his group just as much as they are of him and the Zone residents. Despite this, he does seem to put some trust in Rick, as he confides in him that he honestly can't remember what day it is anymore and asks advice on giving jobs to Andrea. He also hoped to expand more streets and buildings into the Safe-Zone eventually.

Before establishing the Zone, Monroe lived in the open for three months after the apocalypse, killing two living men.

There were two notable times when he's shown angry, one during his conversation with Rick about a father who hurt his child during his drug hallucinations and expressed his desire to hurt people like that. Another was when Heath mentioned Davidson, causing Monroe to become very angry and to lash out at Heath for even mentioning his name. Monroe is attempting to give Rick and his friends a fair chance in the community, giving each one a job. Given the knowledge that Rick was a sheriff, he's given him the job of constable. He chose Glenn as a runner, Maggie as a school teacher, Morgan as a chef, Abraham as security in construction, Eugene as a community planner, Fr. Gabriel Stokes a pastor when the church is made part of the zone, and Rosita to be trained with medical personal. He admits he has difficulty finding jobs for Andrea and Michonne, because of their strength in fighting and defense. After consulting with Rick, he decides to make Michonne a constable and Andrea as a look-out, after Rick says it may be necessary to have one.

Before his death, he seemed to have his sights set on Andrea. In Issue 71 and Issue 72, he had made unrequited advances to Andrea, despite her constant assurances that she has no interest, especially since he's married. He claims that his marriage to Regina is purely political and that they stay together only for their children, and that there was no love between them. When Andrea told this to Rick, both laughed and neither one believed his excuse. Bruce's conversation with Abraham in Issue 73 suggests that this lecherous streak is not an isolated incident, ironically mirroring Davidson's own habits that led to his eventual exile from the community. Further, it is implied that at least some of the placements Douglas makes are not based on individual skill but how expendable a person is.

Alexandria Safe-Zone Chaos
When zombies started to crowd into Safe-Zone, Douglas was hiding out in his house, planning to attempt suicide. When the walkers had almost completely overran the Safe-Zone, Douglas emerged from his house and began to shoot at the walkers. After killing numerous walkers, he was finally devoured by a group of walkers. However, while being swarmed and devoured, he fired off a series of random shots. One managed to hit Carl in the eye and nearly killed him, yet it only managed to scar him for life.

Killed By
In Issue 83, soon after Jessie and Ron's death, Douglas is bitten and devoured by a group of zombies. As Douglas is being eaten, he accidentally shoots Carl in the eye. In Issue 85, his body is burned by Abraham.
 * Zombies

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Douglas has killed:
 * Numerous counts of zombies, and at least two men.
 * Pete Anderson (Indirectly caused)

Rick Grimes
Rick and Douglas had a civil, yet sometimes rocky relationship. Upon the groups arrival at the Safe-Zone, Douglas befriended Rick and sensed that his keen instincts and survival skills would be tremendous assets, despite objections from his wife. Conflict first arose between the two over a disagreement on how to handle Pete's abusive behavior towards his family. Despite Rick's violation of the Safe-Zone's rule against weapons, Douglas chose to let him off under the condition that he never publicly opposed him again. Following Regina's death and the DC Scavengers attack, Douglas fell into a depression, leaving Rick no choice but to take over as leader.

Andrea
Douglas attempted multiple times to get Andrea to be interested in him, but she always politely declined.

Regina Monroe
Although Douglas and his wife Regina loved each other, at some point Regina became aware of how Douglas used his position as leader to proposition young women in the Safe-Zone, they stayed married to maintain appearances. They also seemed to disagree on whether or not to trust Rick's group. Douglas went into a deep depression after her death, not only regretting his infidelity, but also beginning to question whether the community had been or ever would be safe, resulting in his suicide during the walker herd's attack.

Spencer Monroe
Douglas was Spencer's father so they would have had a basic father-to-son relationship. Apart from when Douglas died, Spencer didn't seem to care to much for his father.

Aaron
Aaron was very loyal to Douglas and was appointed by him to be the community scout along with Eric. After the unfortunate incident when Eric was stabbed by a potential newcomer, Aaron confronted Douglas about retiring from his position to become more intricate within the community. Initially appalled at this change of heart, Douglas came to embrace Aaron's decision and felt bad for the pain he had indirectly caused by giving them the job in the first place.

Pete Anderson
Douglas was always wary of Pete and had discovered that Pete was abusing his wife and son, Although he had this information Douglas chose to take no action against him because Pete was a doctor. After Pete had been kept in a temporary house to keep Jessie and Ron safe he eventually filled with rage went to confront Rick which resulted in Regina trying to intervene and being murdered by Pete. Douglas quickly began to despise Pete after the murder of Regina and gave Rick permission to kill him.

Tobin
Tobin and Douglas had a pretty basic relationship, they knew each other as they were part of the same community. Tobin detested his job that was assigned to him by Douglas, but he worked for him nonetheless.

Gabriel Stokes
At first Gabriel and Douglas seemed to have a good, friendly relationship as Gabriel took the role as the priest of the church. But Gabriel felt disgusted by Rick and the others actions, brutally killing Chris and the other hunters and told Douglas that he felt as though Rick and the others don't fit in with the rest of the community and he suggests should be kicked out of the safe-zone. Douglas is shown to be shocked and slightly angered by what Gabriel says and tells him that the people in the community have done the same to build and protect the place, himself included and asks Gabriel not to make him ask Gabriel leave his home, this seemed to strain the relationship between the two although this could be explored further as they weren't seen interacting again.

Appearances
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Volume 19: March To War

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Trivia

 * Douglas is currently the only politician ever encountered in the Comic Series.
 * The story Douglas tells Rick is a reference to a Bakersfield California article.
 * Douglas is the only member of his family not to die by knife; Regina had her neck sliced and Spencer was gutted.
 * He is the last survivor to die by the attacking herd in the Alexandria Safe-Zone.