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Woodbury, Georgia (Comic Universe)

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This article is about the Comic Universe location. You may be looking for its TV Series counterpart.

“
Right now the safe zone is small, I'll grant you that. But we're planning to expand that wall over there to another block to the north, and this one over here, maybe another two of three blocks to the south, so what we're eventually going to end up with is a town within a town, a safe place for kids, which will, one day, if all goes well, be totally self-contained and totally self-sustainable.
―Lilly introducing Woodbury to the Duprees.[src]
”

Woodbury, Georgia is a town 52 miles away from Atlanta, Georgia, and 30 miles from Fayetteville, with a pre-apocalypse population of 1,102. In the novel, The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor, it is mentioned there are "about sixty" members of the town. The town has a McDonald's, Wal-Mart, and an arena where they held fights for entertainment.[1]

The town was first discovered by the main survivors in Issue 27 of the comics after Rick Grimes, Glenn Rhee and Michonne Hawthorne explore a helicopter crash; they follow the footprints and find that the passengers have been taken to Woodbury.

Woodbury is the main location in the Novel Series, and is still active. The town currently resides fifteen citizens.

Pre-Apocalypse[]

TBA

Post-Apocalypse[]

Construction and Major Gavin's control[]

Shortly after the beginning of the apocalypse, many residents of the town and survivors from elsewhere began constructing a large perimeter wall around the North side of the town while using cars and buses as temporary perimeters. During this time there are about sixty inhabitants keeping to themselves mostly and so paranoid and mistrustful of each other that they rarely come out of their private quarters. The survivors live in deserted condos and empty stores, and have no organized leadership and little cooperation.

Woodbury consists of two social circles. The first group—the one with the most power—includes anyone with a useful trade or vocation. This first group features two bricklayers, a machinist, a doctor, a gun-store owner, a veterinarian, a plumber, a barber, an auto mechanic, a farmer, a fry cook, and an electrician. The second group—known as the Dependents—features the sick, the young, and all the white-collar workers. At some point, the town doctor, Stevens, arrived in Woodbury and saw all the sickness and malnourished survivors sustaining injuries so he offered his services for free at the Meriwether County Medical Center. About a month in, Major Gene Gavin and six other men from the nearby National Guard Station arrived in the town and took on the role of town bullies. Stealing food and money from families as well as taking advantage of women. They also got the Woodbury Veterans Speedway back in operation to keep the townsfolk occupied while charging an entry fee of forty dollars.

The Governor's leadership[]

Brian Blake, soon after the death of his brother, adapts Philip's name and personality through an out of body experience and shoots Gene in the back of the head several times during Gene's attempt to assume power in the courthouse. He is quickly accepted as the new town leader after successfully blowing up a herd that threatened to wipe out the town. Brian starts committing increasingly evil acts in an effort to become more like Philip, to desensitize himself and eventually for his own sick pleasure. He captures and tortures the National Guardsmen and uses them as well as any of the bodies of townsfolk to feed to Penny. At some point Stevens' clinic is moved below the racetrack. On a supply run to the local Wal-Mart, Martínez's crew run into Josh Hamilton's group and take him, Lilly Caul, Bob Stookey, Megan Lafferty and Scott Moon back to the town. On the way they make several checkpoints and speak to lookout guards. They meet with Philip in the courthouse and after Scott jokes about him being like the president, he begins going by the nickname 'The Governor'. He enlists Scott to help him collect fish tanks to store the severed heads of biter trophies and his victims in, Scott being the first.

One day in Woodbury, Johnny Pruitt insults the Augusta State Jaguar's football team which offends Dean Gorman. A fight breaks out and a large crowd of bored residents become entertained by the brutality. This gives the Governor an idea to use the remaining Guardsmen and any rule breakers as fighters in the racetrack, turning it into a Roman gladiator arena. The first arena fight pits the town's butcher and murderer of Josh, Sam, against one of the Guardsmen, Stinson. The crowd goes wild for blood and Stinson almost decapitates Sam with a machete. The Governor begins to prepare a large spectacular gladiator fight between the last two able bodied Guardsmen and uses Stinson to lure a group of biters into a truck which would form a deadly perimeter during the fight. A few residents in the town come to see the Governor for the monster he is and begin to formulate a plot to kill him. The conspirators, Lilly, Martínez, Stevens and Alice plan to kidnap the Governor and his henchmen, Gabe and Bruce and take them out to a nearby herd during the new years arena fight to be devoured. The plan fails and several of Martínez's trusted men are killed. The two groups work together to escape the herd and after arriving back in the town Philip spares the conspirators on the condition they do what he says and don't stick their nose into his business. Lilly realizes the town might just need a monster to keep it running. Philip then returns to the arena and makes an announcement of a new era in Woodbury. He removes the barter system and announces that supplies will be gathered for everybody in the community as well as banning the trading of favours such as prostitution for supplies.

Capture and escape of the prison group[]

Woodbury begins to run low on food so many supply run groups are sent out. One of which spots a crashing helicopter. Rick Grimes, Glenn Rhee, and Michonne Hawthorne stumble upon Woodbury after tracing footprints from the crash site back to the town. Wes and a few other guards take the group's weapons. Martínez escorts the group to the Governor, who pretends to be friendly and leads them to the arena, where he reveals his true intentions. He demands the group's home base location. Rick refuses and the Governor orders Bruce to hold him down. He then takes out a butcher's knife and cuts off Rick's right hand, Rick faints, and Michonne leaps onto the Governor and proceeds to bite part of his ear off, but before she can do anymore damage she is restrained by Bruce. Lilly and Austin Ballard find the Governor with his ear bandaged below the racetrack. He lies to them about being attacked by the prison group who's planning an assault on the town. Stevens and Alice are the only ones who don't believe the story.

The Governor heads to the holding cells beneath the racetrack. When he arrives, it is revealed that he has had Michonne's arms tied up and his men have beat her. Refusing to give up the Prison's location, The Governor resorts to violently raping Michonne, while having Glenn listen in from the next room. Rick awakens to the sight of his stump, Stevens informs him about the injury and tells him about the Governor and Woodbury's history. He and Alice resume treating his injuries, until they are interrupted by the two arena fighters Eugene Cooney and Harold Abernathy. They barge in arguing about Eugene's loss and when Harold tells Eugene to calm down, he slits Harold's throat in anger. Stevens tries to save him but he dies anyway. After raping Michonne for a second time and beating Glenn, the Governor pays Rick a visit. He lies to him saying that he let Glenn go and that he has his men following him back to the Prison. Though Rick doesn't say anything, his shocked reaction is enough to confirm to Philip his suspicions were correct. The Governor asks to speak with Martínez and enlists him to secretly help Rick's group escape the town and find out the location of their prison. Martínez goes along with the plan and frees Glenn to help him dispatch of two guards outside the clinic before telling Rick that he plans to help them escape. Stevens and Alice also join the group. They gather their supplies and head for the cell where Michonne is being held. Martínez knocks out Gabe who's guarding the door and they free Michonne who immediately takes the lead.

They leave the racetrack and are caught by a few townsfolk before Martínez relieves a guard of his duty and they hide down an unguarded alley. Michonne stays behind to confront the Governor while everybody else jumps the fence. Outside McCallum Feed and Seed, Stevens is bitten on the neck by a lurker and asks to be left. Michonne bursts into Philip's apartment room and they struggle for her katana, Michonne gains the upper hand when she kicks the Governor in the stomach and proceeds to knock him out, He awakens to find himself stripped naked and tied up, Michonne shows him variety of tools she intends to use to torture him and proceeds to use a drill to pierce his right shoulder. She then uses a blowtorch on the open wound and then cuts most of his right arm off with her katana. During the ordeal Brian Blake surfaces from the back of his mind and apologizes for every horrific act he's committed before the Philip persona fights it's way back into the forefront. Michonne uses the spoon to violate his anus and then gouges his left eye out with the same tool. The Governor's henchmen begin to break down the door so she severs Philip's penis and sets Penny loose before quickly escaping through the balcony and leaving Woodbury, rushing back to the Prison.

Preparations for war[]

Bruce, Gabe and Jameson find Philip and are about to kill his zombified 'daughter', until he tells them not to and passes out again. Bruce quickly rushes to the town drunk Bob, who he tells that they need him now more than ever. Bruce brings him to the Governor's mutilated body and tells him to use his army medic background to help now that Stevens and Alice are gone. Bob is hesitant because he's been out of service for years and can barely look at the body but quickly sobers up and tells the men what supplies he's going to need.

After successfully treating the Governor, the town lacks leadership during his recovery and rumors start to spread about his whereabouts. Lilly Caul finds Steven's body and learns the truth about the Governor. She teams up with Bruce and Gabe to create a secret circle of people to trust with this information and brace for an imminent attack. She takes the role of de-facto leader and enlists David and Barbara Stern to spread a rumor about the Governor leaving on a supply run. Bob Stookey finds a new purpose and quits his alcoholism to become the town's doctor. Lilly saves Gabe's life and earns his trust after biters break through the wall outside the courthouse, Bruce remains skeptical about Lilly taking control and holds his dislike for her. A week later the Governor wakes up from his coma and is informed of everything that's happened over the week. He tells Gabe about his plan for Martínez to help the survivors escape and figures he should be back any day now.

After Martínez doesn't return, Philip enlists Lilly to gather a small team and go out to find him. The group returns with Martínez's head which Gabe gives to the Governor. The next day the Governor makes his long awaited reappearance to the town in the arena and officially declares war on the prison group after lying about the circumstances surrounding Steven's death, his mutilation and Martínez's head being left at the gates overnight. Lilly and Austin are appalled at the manipulation. Rick's group blow up the National Guard Station and raid the local Wal-Mart which Bruce notices. After gunfire is heard nearby, the Governor himself goes out to investigate and finds the bodies of Bruce, Sam and two other guards. He demands Gabe, Rudy and Wes to find the prison immediately and leaves them there.

After a while, they return having found the location of Meriwether County Correctional Facility. Instead of launching their attack immediately, they wait for a few weeks and prepare the whole town for war in the meantime. When the day arrives, the Sterns are tasked with looking after everybody who stayed behind. The Governor briefs the militia outside their gates and everybody rides out to the prison.

Aftermath of the prison assault and Lilly's leadership[]

During the prison assault, Woodbury somehow catches alight. Lilly returns with only five other surviving soldiers and they put out the fires and spend all day cleaning out the town. That night, Lilly gathers everybody into the courthouse and tells them everything that happened while they were away, including her killing the Governor. Everybody in the town votes Lilly as their new leader and a new era chapter in Woodbury begins. The next day, everybody gathers in the arena to hear Lilly give a moment of silence for each name she reads of all those who have died in the last few months. The reading ends with Philip Blake.

TBA

Jeremiah's control of Woodbury[]

TBA

In the fourth novel, Lilly continues to lead the town of about 30 people. Later on, she accepts fourteen people in, led by a religious man named Jeremiah Garlitz. He plans on killing everyone in a suicide pact as he wants to lead all of them to Heaven. While Lilly and Bob find out what is going on, Church Group opens fire and leads so called "superherd" inside, killing most of Woodburians and Church Group members. 

Descent to the tunnels[]

TBA

Woodbury is then infested with walkers, including the houses. The surviving Woodburians inhabited a tunnel nearby.

Bryce's assault and kidnappings[]

Over a year after Jeremiah's death, Woodbury was restored and the people work on a railroad connecting Woodbury to Atlanta. However, Woodbury is attacked by a group of soldiers led by Theodore Bryce, who kill almost every adult and kidnap the children and Barbara.

Current Status[]

Woodbury remains secured from walkers, but has essentially become a ghost town; Lilly, the children, and the other remaining Woodburians have moved into Sixteenth Street, a large department store. David Stern abandoned Woodbury and then burned down the town in The Walking Dead: Return to Woodbury after seeing his wife's assumed kidnappers roaming inside. However, some of the parts of the town survived, such as Stevens' clinic. Lilly Caul then leads her group back to the town's inhabitable parts.

Locations[]

Within the walls[]

Outside the walls[]

  • Wal-Mart
  • McDonald's
  • McCallum Feed and Seed
  • Dairy Queen
  • Piggly Wiggly
  • School
  • Smitty's Cafe

Inhabitants[]

Formerly[]

Deaths[]

Trivia[]

  • In reality:
    • Woodbury does not have a Wal-Mart, the nearest Wal-Mart is 15 miles away in Thomaston, Georgia.[2]
    • In Issue 38, the survivors are searching for the National Guard Station.[3] Andrea mentions Barnes Mill Road. The nearest Barnes Mill Road is 28 miles away in Hamilton, Georgia.[4]
    • The nearest National Guard station is three miles from Woodbury in the book.[5] In reality, the nearest National Guard is an armory 25 miles away in LaGrange, Georgia.[6]
    • The Governor's assistants mention searching for the prison, and that the prison maybe on Mcauster Lane.[7] Mcauster Lane does not exist.
  • In its last appearance, Woodbury remains fully functional as a safe-haven open for all survivors, led by new leader Lilly Caul. In contrast, Woodbury in the TV Series remains abandoned and destroyed after the Governor burned it down. In addition to this, all of the remaining Woodbury residents have been killed as of the prison attack in season 4's "Too Far Gone". However in the eighth novel, Woodbury suffers a similar fate to the TV Series counterpart being abandoned, overrun by walkers and burnt down, with most of the inhabitants dying. However, the town is soon reclaimed and inhabited in the parts that did not burn badly.
  • Downtown Woodbury, the Woodbury Fight Arena, and the Woodbury Hospital are buyable properties in Monopoly: The Walking Dead Survival Edition.
  • In the real-life town of Woodbury, the majority of the population (56.5%) are African-American, though this doesn't appear to be the case in the Comic or TV Series. This implies that the majority of Woodbury's population in the post-apocalypse are not the original residents, but are likely made up of refugees from other parts of Georgia.
    • In the Comic Series, the Governor does mention that most of the population isn't originally from Woodbury, which was one of the reasons they had difficulty locating the prison, despite it being only a few miles away.

References[]

  1. ↑ Issue 27, page 7, 15.
  2. ↑ Walmart
  3. ↑ Issue 38 page 11
  4. ↑ A reader in the letters section (Issue 60, page 25) mentions that there is a Barnes Mill Road in Richmond, Kentucky.
  5. ↑ Issue 38 page 12
  6. ↑ Google Maps
  7. ↑ Issue 43, page 14
v • d • e
Comic Series Locations
Locations Cynthiana, Kentucky • Harris Memorial Hospital • Rick's Neighborhood • Grimes Family Home • Interstate 75 • Atlanta, Georgia • Atlanta Survivor Camp • Wiltshire Estates • Greene Family Farm • Meriwether County Correctional Facility • Woodbury, Georgia • Woodbury Arena • Governor's Apartment • National Guard Station • Wal-Mart • Woodbury Army Camp • Fr. Gabriel Stokes' Church • The Hunters' Base • Alexandria Safe-Zone • Hilltop Colony • Washington, D.C. • The Sanctuary • Tower Outpost • The Kingdom • Train Depot Outpost • Savior Outpost • Oceanside • Slade County Retirement Home • Atlantic Coast • The Companion • Whisperers' Camp • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Juanita's Apartment • Train Yard • Wall of the Lost • The Commonwealth • Event Arena • The Whitmore • Greenville • Grimes Family Farm • Springhaven • Train Tracks • Rick Grimes' Statue
Special Locations Barcelona, Catalonia • Claudia's Apartment • Museo Militar • Ibiza • Sewers of Barcelona • Spanish Boat Dock • Boat • Michonne's House • Neighbor's House • Car Dealership • Tyreese's House • Jones Family Home • Negan's House • Maniolaswi Valdo Hospital • School Gym • House • Gas Station • Paul's Camp • Wal-Mart • Hotel • Thrift Store
Larger Regions Kentucky • Georgia • Virginia • Pennsylvania • Ohio • United States of America • Spain
v • d • e
Novel Locations
Novel Locations Wiltshire Estates • Atlanta, Georgia • Athens, Georgia • Atlanta Apartment Building • Woodbury, Georgia • Woodbury Arena • The Governor's Apartment • Tent City • Fort Noise • Jasper, Florida • Meriwether County Correctional Facility • Carlinville, Georgia • Slidell, Louisiana • Augusta, Georgia • Calvary Baptist Church • Gordonburg, Georgia • Haralson, Georgia • Moreland, Georgia • Atlanta Medical Center • Sixteenth Street • Ile de la Lumiére
Typhoon Locations Fongyuan Village • Beacon of Light • Horse Ranch • The Grove • The Smokers' Silo • Zhangjiajie National Park
Larger Regions Georgia • Louisiana • United States of America • China
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