Gouvernement Tobolsk
Little is known about Komarov's youth. He was born in the village of Komarovo, Tobolsk Governorate (now part of Tyumen) into a family of government peasants and graduated from Omsk Army Commissioned Officers College, after which he was assigned to a company sent to the Far East to build new outposts. In 1858, his company was quartered in Khabarovsk, in 1859—in Sofiysk, and in 1860—in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur.