This article is about the Commonwealth in the Comic Series. You may be looking for the Commonwealth in the TV Universe. |
The Commonwealth is a network of communities that first appeared in Issue 175 of Image Comics' The Walking Dead. The Commonwealth has advanced equipment and almost fifty thousand survivors living in different settlements. It also has an event arena for different sports and concerts by surviving musicians of the outbreak, whom the apocalypse made popular. It also has its own army.
Overview[]
The Commonwealth is a strong community of 50,000 survivors, consisting of various connected towns, which are all under the control of Pamela Milton, the Governor. She governs with an army of guards led by Officer Mercer at her disposal, all of whom are donned in white armor and wield rifles/spears and shields.
A class system is enforced throughout the community with people being placed based on the jobs they did before the apocalypse, with a high class and a low class. The lower classes work average jobs such as baker, tailor, butcher, while the upper classes can act as lawyers, sub-governors, etc. Despite elements of trade and currency, the Commonwealth is not capitalistic and appears to run like a feudal monarchy with modern amenities. Due to their bratty nature, the higher-ups of the Commonwealth have a very pompous attitude of any potential other communities, and view themselves as superior. This behavior from the upper classes has caused tensions to build over time leading the lower class to revolt along with many of the soldiers displeased with the leadership causes a serious movement to overthrow the ones and charge and either replace them with someone else or create a new system entirely.
There are also various entertainment activities like sports games held in arenas, concerts at a stadium, and restaurants.
Pre-Apocalypse[]
Nothing about the Commonwealth prior to the apocalypse is known. Most of its citizens lived across the Midwestern United States.
Post-Apocalypse[]
Negan Lives[]
TBA
Volume 30: New World Order[]
Eugene, Michonne, Magna, Yumiko, Siddiq and Juanita are taken to the Commonwealth by Lance Hornsby and his soldiers. Lance demands the survivors to reveal their identities and locations, which becomes difficult as Eugene resist on talking to him. Eugene demands Lance to take them to Stephanie, but Lance is resistant to do so. Michonne then asks if they could just do the interviews. As they do them, the people get to know each other better. Lance asks if they use extreme ways to survive, and uses an example of a man they received who covered himself in blood every day in order to survive. Michonne assures they have tried it only couple times but have not adapted to it. As Eugene still insists on meeting Stephanie, Lance then takes the group deeper in to the Commonwealth.
On the way to the Commonwealth, one of the soldiers tells Michonne that Lance is "kind of a prick" but they need him to be one in order to survive. Soon, survivors encounter walkers. Lance puts a pin on that Eugene's crew have "nerves of steel" around the undead, and they continue their journey.
Lance reveals that the Commonwealth is composed of nearly 50,000 survivors. While looking at the community's board for missing and/or lost loved ones. Michonne looks and sees a picture of herself signed by her lost daughter Elodie, tears stream down Michonne's face as she realizes that her daughter is most likely alive.
Lance leads the group to the actual city of the Commonwealth where they come across Stephanie. Lance forbids them to speak to her because she wasn't even allowed to make contact with Eugene or reveal their location. Eventually the group comes to meet Maxwell Hawkins. He picks Michonne to speak to Pamela Milton on only the basis that she was a lawyer as her occupation before the apocalypse. Pamela explains to Michonne that the point of the Commonwealth is to establish order in this world, that civilization is a like a machine, everyone has a part to play otherwise chaos will ensue. Then Michonne confuses about her daughter possibly being alive and says she would that rather hear from her about the Commonwealth. This stuns Pamela who immediately volunteers to take Michonne to the baker, where Elodie wrote on the picture where to find her. Once they get there, sure enough Elodie works at the bakery. When Michonne and Elodie see each other they immediately burst into tears and hug each other.
Volume 31: The Rotten Core[]
TBA
Volume 32: Rest In Peace[]
TBA
Post-Trials[]
Sometime after Rick Grimes' death, the Commonwealth expanded to include the D.C. communities. They eventually made contact with another network of Communities known as the Western Alliance. Railroad construction is underway to connect the two communities, and is expected to be completed within a year. They also elected Maggie Greene as not only their new leader, but president of the Commonwealth. The original Commonwealth (the communities in Ohio) is referred to as "Commonwealth One".
Locations[]
- Commonwealth One
- 6th Street
- Bakery
- Event Arena
- The Whitmore
- Train Yard
- Greenville
- Alexandria Safe-Zone
- Hilltop Colony
- The Kingdom
- The Sanctuary
- Oceanside
- Train Tracks
- Grimes Family Farm
Inhabitants[]
- Maggie Greene (President/Commander-in-Chief of the army)
- Pamela Milton (Former Governor/Commander-in-Chief of the army)
- Lance Hornsby (Deputy Governor/Administrator/Bookkeeper)
- Mercer (Former General of the army)
- Cloris (Leader of Greenville)
- Michonne Hawthorne (High Court Judge)
- Maxwell Hawkins (Assistant)
- George (Soldier)
- Samuels (Soldier)
- Frost (Soldier)
- Jerome (Soldier)
- Rufus (Soldier)
- Matt (Bakery Manager)
- Elodie Hawthorne (Michonne's Assistant/Former Baker)
- Carl Grimes (Messenger)
- Sebastian Milton (Prisoner)
- Juanita Sanchez
- Kayla
- Curtis
- Curtis' Mother
- Curtis' Sister
- Curtis' Brother
- Nancy
- Hershel Greene
- Paul Monroe
- Aaron
- Heath
- Brianna
- Mikey
- Magna
- Yumiko
- Kapoor
- Elias
- Conner
- Aditya Kapoor
- Lauren
- Elodie's Son
- Stephanie
- Anthony Keith
- Fendersons
- Almost 50,000 other survivors
Deaths[]
- Anthony Keith
- Dwight
- Rick Grimes (Alive and Zombified)
- Stephanie
Appearances[]
Comic Series[]
Volume 30: New World Order[]
Volume 31: The Rotten Core[]
Volume 32: Rest In Peace[]
Trivia[]
- The Commonwealth is by far the largest network of communities in the series, with a population of almost 50,000 residents.
- The rifles used by the Commonwealth military appear to be FN FNCs, which is odd considering the FNC has never been used by any American or Canadian law enforcement or military organization.
- The Commonwealth is one of the three communities located in Ohio, the other being Wellington and Greenville.