| This article is about the Comic Series character. You may be looking for his TV Series counterpart, the Social Game character, the Woodbury resident, the Grady Memorial Hospital cop, the Alexandria Safe-Zone resident or the actor. |
| “ | For about two weeks forty goddamn years ago! I can't do shit.
―Bob to Bruce about his service in the military in response if he can save Brian from dying.[src]
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Bob Stookey is a character first encountered in Issue 29 of Image Comics' The Walking Dead and a main character in the Novel Series. He is the local town drunk of Woodbury and a former army medic. He traveled with Lilly Caul, and many other survivors during the early stages of the outbreak, where he eventually joined Woodbury.
Pre-Apocalypse
Location Unknown
Little is known about Bob's life before or as the outbreak began other then that he is from Vicksburg and lived in Smyrna before the Outbreak occurred. Thirteen years prior to the outbreak, Bob served for two weeks in Afghanistan with Sixty-Eight Alpha Company as an army medic at the age of 36. He was only given a brief instructions how to be a medic, and didn't really heal anyone of the soldiers - only kept them breathing throughout the war. In Kuwait, Bob saw a soldier choose the battlefront over a behind-the-lines job just so he could avoid the tight quarters of hid Quonset hit office. At some point later on, he had descended into alcoholism.
Post-Apocalypse
Tent City
When the outbreak first started, Bob's wife, Brenda Stookey, was killed and turned, but, Bob was unable to put her down. After that, he made his way to Tent City where he met Lilly Caul. Bob cared for Lilly, so when she decided to leave Tent City after her boyfriend Joshua Lee Hamilton got kicked out, he joined her, along with Josh, Megan Lafferty, and Scott Moon. In Bob's truck, they headed to a farm house, where Bob became jealous of Scott because of his sexual relationship with Megan.
Woodbury, Georgia
Soon they wandered onto Woodbury, where the Governor took a special interest in Bob and told him many of his secrets, like Penny's state and the killing of the National Guard soldiers. The Governor would even at times bounce ideas off of Bob, who by this time was nearly always drunk. He had a one night stand with Megan something he always dreamed of the night before Megan killed herself and had to kill her zombified form, he become very upset and started drinking even more. After a while, Bob's drunken state worried many in the community. However, he eventually became the person responsible for saving The Governor's life. He was called upon by Gabe and Bruce Allan Cooper to save The Governor when Alice and Stevens, the only town medics, had deserted the town. His summoning was due to Michonne's torture of him, nearly to the point of death. Bob was successful in saving The Governor's life, much to The Governor's own disbelief. After a slow recovery, The Governor personally asked him to watch over his undead daughter until he and the Woodbury Army returned from eliminating the prison's survivors.
Descent
After Lilly takes over the leadership of Woodbury, Bob continues to live there and becomes the town doctor.
Bob has his suspicions over reverend Jeremiah James Garlitz and his group, and starts spying on them. He finally finds out that Jeremiah and his group are about to kill everyone living in Woodbury, and tries to warn Lilly. At first, she does not believe him, but finally understands what they are really up to. After the destruction of Woodbury, Bob finds himself one of the few survivors, and leads the rest to the sewers, where he set up a cozy living room while the others were busy with the new survivors. Bob tells Lilly afterwards they can't go back to Woodbury.
Invasion
Bob, along with the few Woodburians, continues his life in the sewers.
Death
Killed By
- Himself (Indirectly Caused)
- Heart Attack
- Lilly Caul (Before Reanimation)
After being separated from the other survivors in attempt to take down Jeremiah, Bob gets a heart attack as a result of his unhealthy manners in his youth. Using his last strength, he saves Lilly from a swarm of walkers before collapse. A heart broken Lilly puts him down after he passes away.
Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Bob has killed:
- Megan Lafferty (Zombified)
- Gloria Pyne (Before Reanimation)
- Numerous counts of zombies.
Relationships
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Brenda Stookey
Not much was told about Bob's relationship with his wife, but, he loved her dearly as when she was killed by zombies he was unable to put her down, and when he finally left his mobile home he left her in her zombified state. Her death was one of the main reasons Bob descended into alcoholism.
Lilly Caul
Lilly and Bob share a good friendship. Bob patched up her wounds, she received from Chad at Tent City. And after that left Tent City with her and several others. They continue to share a good relationship, in Woodbury she often took him in during heavy nights of drinking. After Megan's death, Lilly continued to support Bob and help him deal with the loss.
Brian Blake
When Bob arrived in Woodbury Brian took a special interest in him, he told him a lot of his secrets even revealing the undead Penny to him. Brian came to see Bob as a father figure, and was one of the few people he really cared about. Bob sometimes feared Brian, but, still respected him, he would later go on to save Brian's life after his mutilation by Michonne. When Brian went to attack the prison he asked Bob to watch Penny for him, until he returned.
Megan Lafferty
Bob was attracted to Megan, and would often watch her and Scott Moon have sex. After Scott's death he had the chance to sleep with her, but he decided not to. He was also the one to put her down when she committed suicide. Her death caused Bob to go into a deep depression and start drinking again.
Joshua Lee Hamilton
Bob and Joshua seemed to have a good relationship. Joshua often looked to Bob for advice and respected him greatly. Despite looking down on him for his drinking issues, Bob was shown to be saddened by Joshua's death.
Scott Moon
Bob was extremely jealous of Scott, due to his relationship with Megan. Scott never seemed to mind Bob, and other than that, the two have not interacted much.
Hap Abernathy
| “ | Okay, breathe, Old Hoss, just breathe. Gonna be okay, gonna get you outta here.
―Bob to Hap after he is bitten.[src]
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Bob and Hap had a close relationship. Bob was deeply saddened by the death of Hap, and before he took his life he tried anything to save Hap's life. Bob mentions that he loved Hap's stories, his curmudgeonly personality and loved his stubborn bullheadedness that reminded him of his old army buddies.
Gloria Pyne
Bob never really interacted with Gloria, until the novel "Invasion". He ends up making love to her, before noticing Gloria had been bitten earlier. After a failed attempt of amputation, a heart-broken Bob puts Gloria down.
Appearances
Novel Series
Comic Series
Volume 5: The Best Defense
Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life
- Issue 32 (No Lines)
Volume 8: Made To Suffer
- Issue 43 (Flashback)
Trivia
- Regarding the torture of The Governor, Robert Kirkman wrote: "It 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. You may in fact see Bob again soon. Stay tuned."[1]
- Seeing Bob again turned out to be true, as his last days and fate are revealed in the novels.
- Bob is the only army medic encountered so far in the Comic Series.
- Even though Bob claims he served in the army 40 years ago in the comics, the novel reveals he served there thirteen years before the zombie apocalypse, at the age of 36.
- Bob is one of the few characters within The Walking Dead to die in to a natural cause/disease.
References