Philip Blake (Novel Series)

Philip, better known as The Governor, was the leader of Woodbury, according to Caesar Martinez; last little town on earth. When the dead began to rise, Philip gathered together a large number of survivors, numbering almost forty, and established a semi-secure settlement in Woodbury, clearing and guarding almost four city blocks, upon which he declared himself "Governor" (as president "sounded too silly"). Upon his introduction, the Governor appears to be a fair and strong leader, but it quickly becomes clear that he is at best, Machiavellian, and at worst, insane.

Philip has a daughter who became a zombie; he keeps her tied up in his apartment, feeding her severed body parts of those who displeased him whilst using the heads of his victims for his own pleasure.

Blissfully unaware of this, the citizens of Woodbury revere him as a steadfast and benevolent leader.

Woodbury was discovered by Rick Grimes, Glenn and Michonne, who were following the trails of a crashed helicopter. The survivors found out that the Governor was using living human beings to feed the zombies in a twisted mix of perversion and sport for the locals. When Rick would not reveal the location of The Prison, he cut off Rick's right hand, locked Glenn down, and raped Michonne.

When the fence guard, Caesar Martinez, helped Rick, Glenn and Michonne escape, Michonne decided to stay a little longer deal with the Governor. After a vicious fight between them, Michonne tortured and mutilated him, but the arrival of the Governor's men stopped Michonne from killing him.

Prison assault
The Governor led a full attack against the prison, when he convinced the folks from Woodbury that Rick and his friends were evil. The survivors of the prison put a tenacious defense, that forced the Woodbury army to retreat. Michonne and Tyreese followed the Governor in retreat. Tyreese got caught and Phillip used him as a bait. He threatened to execute Tyreese if Rick wouldn't open the prison doors. The survivors refused and the Governor beheaded Tyreese. When the governor returned to his camp, Michonne once again tried to kill him. Enraged, the Governor led a brutal and final assault to the prison. The Governor crushed the prison defenses, killing Axel. To obliterate any further resistance, Governor ordered the tank to drive through the fences. The Woodbury army began to massacre the survivors on the Governor's orders. They killed Patricia, Billy Greene and Hershel Greene and Lori Grimes and her new born baby, Judith Grimes.

Death
Lilly, one of the survivors from Woodbury, realized she had murdered a baby on the Governor's orders. Lilly put a bullet through his head and kicked him toward a wall of zombies, ending his life and the brutal prison assault.

Trivia
In 2009, The Governor was ranked as IGN's 86th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.

In a Comic Book Resources interview, Robert Kirkman jokingly said,
 * "A lot of different characters have aspects of my personality, I think, but for the most part, I'm just making people up. Not one character is exclusively based on one person. Except for The Governor, who is exactly like Joe Quesada [editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics]. They are literally exactly the same."

Regarding the torture and medical care of The Governor, Robert Kirkman wrote:
 * "[I]t wasn't that Bob was such a good medic that suddenly came out of nowhere that saved Governor's life-although he certainly did save his life. The idea is that Michonne was keeping The Governor alive, so she could torture him more. His wounds were bad, but not impossible to heal from."

Television series

 * Director Frank Darabont stated with a grin on his face: "I can't wait to get to Michonne and The Governor. I can't wait to get to those characters. I love those characters"
 * Cyriaque Lamar, Assistant Editor at io9.com, suggests that Merle Dixon could become the TV series' Governor after being left handcuffed on a roof about to be flooded with the undead.