In the comics, like the show, Eugene begins to refurbish an old radio as a fun project, not necessarily expecting anything Earth-shattering to come from it. Eugene develops a relationship over said radio with a woman named Stephanie in the comics as well. Eventually, Stephanie reveals that her community is in Ohio (not like West Virginia in the show) and that it contains close to 50,000 people. Yes, that’s right. FIFTY. THOUSAND. For comparison’s sake – both Alexandria and Hilltop are estimated to contain a couple-hundred people at most.
Eugene finally tells Rick about his conversations with Stephanie via radio and Rick, Eugene, and Stephanie coordinate a little scouting trip to Stephanie’s community. Eugene, Michonne, Magna (R.I.P. in the show but probably not), Yumiko, and Siddiq (R.I.P. in the show for real) volunteer to go on said trip and before long they’re off to Ohio.
This journey leads into the arc that eventually the concludes the comic book series. Eugene, Michonne, and company reach the community known as “The Commonwealth.” As Stephanie promised, the Commonwealth is truly enormous. It has both baseball and football stadiums for its burgeoning little sports leagues and a thriving local restaurant scene. Thing is, to maintain order in a community so big, the Commonwealth has built up an unfair classist system.
Commonwealth Governor Pamela Milton and her cheerfully corrupt administration of bureaucrats assign societal roles to people based on the jobs that they had prior to the zombie apocalypse. They are attempting to recreate the world exactly as it was and have mostly succeeded for the good and the bad… The Commonwealth is a completely safe, thriving society but it’s also a powder-keg of classist frustration. All those people who proved their mettle surviving the zombie apocalypse don’t always take too kindly to the governor’s semi-fascistic rule. Despite the semblance of peace and harmony, violence lurks below the surface. And that’s BEFORE Rick “Basically George Washington” Grimes comes to town to meet with Governor Milton.
There is a lot to unpack in The Commonwealth. We did so here and will probably write quite a few more articles on the subject in the lead up to The Walking Dead season 11. The Walking Dead isn’t likely to go to the Commonwealth in the back half of season 10. The Whisperers are still around and absolutely need to be taken care of. But introducing the series’ next big community in season 11 is not off the table. In fact, it now seems more likely than ever that the show will get into the comic’s current arc by season 11….and that arc is a big one.
