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This article is about the Comic Series version of Woodbury. You may be looking for its TV Series counterpart.

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 GrimesGlenn and Michonne 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.

Overview

Major Gavin's leadership

It is unknown how long Major Gene Gavin was in charge of the town; most likely from the start of the apocalypse. 

The Governor's leadership

Brian Blake, soon after the death of his brother, adapts Philip's personality through an out of body experience and shoots Gene to the head. He takes over and starts his leadership role as a pure dictator, doing whatever he pleases.

Capture of the Prison Group

Rick Grimes, Glenn, and Michonne stumble upon Woodbury after tracing footprints from a crashed helicopter back to the town. A gate guard, Wes, greeted them alongside many other Woodbury guards. Caesar Martinez orders Rick, Glenn and Michonne's weapons to be confiscated. He then escorts the group to The Governor, who pretends to be nice and leads them to the arena, where he reveals his true colors. He demands the group's home base location. Rick refuses and The Governor orders Bruce Cooper 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. She proceeds to bite part of his ear off, but before she can do anymore damage she is restrained by Bruce.

After being examined by Stevens, The Governor heads off to an undisclosed location.  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's and Woodbury's history. He and his assistant Alice resume to 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 tell The Governor his suspicions were correct. After The Governor leaves, Martinez approaches Rick and tells him that he plans to help them escape.

Rick, Martinez, Stevens, and Alice all get their supplies and begin their escape attempt. They dispatch the guard outside the clinic door and head for where Glenn and Michonne are being held. Martinez pretends to relieve the guard on duty there and they quickly free both Glenn and Michonne.

After doing this, the group make there way to an unguarded spot in the wall and begin to slip over, Michonne tells the group to go and she will catch up. Rick attempts to stop her but she insists that he go. After slipping over, Stevens is bitten by a lurker and he tells the group to go on without him.

It is revealed that Michonne has gone to confront The Governor. She bursts into his 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. After doing so she injures The Governor's groin and gouges his left eye out with a spoon.  She quickly leaves him a bloody mess on the floor and escapes Woodbury, rushing back to the Prison. 

Ready For War

Bruce and Gabe find The Governor and are about to kill his zombified niece, Penny, 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 help, it is revealed that Bob used to be an army medic, but Bob says he never has treated wounds like this. Bruce and Gabe force him to try and he manages to succeed in healing him.

After a few months of searching, The Governor locates Martinez's body, who is revealed to have been working for The Governor all along. He cuts Martinez's head off and shows it to the people of Woodbury, using his injury and Martinez's death as a rallying point for attacking the Prison group, much to The Governor's liking. After a few more searches, The Governor is informed by Gabe that he has found the Prison and they are ready for war on his command. 

Aftermath of The Prison Assault and Lilly's Leadership

Lilly returns with only five remaining survivors from the assault, revealing to everyone The Governor's true nature. She then takes over leadership of the town, making it a true sanctuary for all survivors.

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 James 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. 

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

Bryce's attack on Woodbury

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

  • Arena
  • Courthouse
  • Governor's Apartment building
  • Tent Survivor's apartment building.

Inhabitants

Residents

Former Residents

Deaths

Trivia

  • In the TV Series, the town of Woodbury is powered by solar panels.
    • Also, unlike in the comic series, it grows food and has hot showers.
      • It is revealed by Merle in "I Ain't a Judas" that Woodbury also has a large library.
  • 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.
    • The scenes set in Woodbury were actually filmed in Senoia, Georgia, which is located in Coweta County, adjacent to Meriweather County, where the real Woodbury is located.
  • 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 inhabitated in the parts that did not burn badly.
  • Downtown Woodbury, the Woodbury Fight Arena, and the Woodbury Hospital are buyable properties in The Walking Dead Monopoly.
    • Woodbury is also a territory in The Walking Dead Risk.

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

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