Now, considering the first official comic was published by Marvel, you'd think that they would continue publishing them, right?
Wrong. The license was taken over by Jim Lee's company, WildStorm, and the first issue of their series was published in March of 1998, almost a full two years after the publication of Marvel's Resident Evil #1 (And likewise, about the same amount of time after the original game), and about a month-and-a-half after the release of Resident Evil 2.
The official title of the series is Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine, but it's usually just referred to as Resident Evil Volume #1, since WildStorm continued their ongoing Resident Evil comics in 2009 with a series titled Resident Evil Volume #2.
Here's a funny bit of trivia, the first four issues of this series were published by Image Comics, who would go on to publish The Walking Dead. Another interesting bit of trivia is that in 1999, WildStorm was acquired by DC Comics, who would go on to publish original and localized Resident Evil comics until 2014, when Viz started adapting "The Marhawa Desire", which is apparently set between Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6. Now that Revelations 2 is out, one must wonder when it actually takes place now, but I'm getting ahead of myself. We probably won't be getting into those comics for a few years now. Today, let's crack open WildStorm's Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #1!
Before we get to analyzing the cover, I'd like to address the title. See, the reason it's called "The Official Comic Book Magazine" is because it's not just a comic-book. It includes behind-the-scenes details on the development of the games, interviews with Shinji Mikami and the rest of the creative staff, and concept artwork, among other things.
There was also a promotional trading-card series put out by WildStorm to promote the comic, consisting of ninety cards. Unfortunately, rather than having details for locations, characters, monsters, and weapons on them, it was mostly just pictures of Leon and Claire taken from Resident Evil 2, with some concept artwork of various creatures and monsters within the game.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get ahold of any of the cards this year. I might give them a full review if I can find them somewhere, but don't hold your breath for it. Besides, the deck-building game is much higher on my priorities list.
At the top of the cover, we see the classic Resident Evil logo above Chris and Jill holding guns. Chris has what looks like a shotgun which looks like in-game Remington M870 (Minus the sight fin on the barrel), but Jill is holding a revolver that doesn't look anything like the Colt Python, the only revolver available in the original game. The body of the gun is black, and while it shares some barrel vents with the Python, the barrel itself it too small, short and thin to actually be the Python. It looks more like a revolver you'd see in a western, or an old war movie than something that's police-issue. And there's no way it can be her standard side-arm, because the S.T.A.R.S.-issue handgun is a modified Beretta 92F Custom, otherwise known as the Samurai Edge. But that's just in modern continuity, it was just a Beretta M92FS in the original game, but either way, they're both mag-fed semi-automatics, and neither of them resemble the gun Jill is holding on the cover!
Besides, her standard side-arm appears to be holstered on her left hip (Which we'll get to later on). So I don't know what this revolver is supposed to be.
The positioning of the holster is weird too, since Jill holds the gun in her right hand in the intro to the game and the game itself, and every other appearance since then. Plus, her holster is positioned for her to draw the gun with her left hand, not her right. And her knife is sheathed on her right hip instead of her pistol.
As touted in the mid-left, this cover was drawn by Jim Lee himself, and it looks really good at first glance. It captures the likenesses of Chris and Jill very well, with details matching the in-game models and actors almost to a tee.
At least, until you start to look at Jill's waist. While Chris looks normal, Jill seems to have an hourglass figure to rival that of Jessica Rabbit.
No, seriously. Look at her body. I didn't notice this a few years ago when I wrote my original draft of this review, but after watching a lot of Linkara's comic reviews, I've learned to analyze the covers of comic-books in great detail.
I went back and watched some of my playthrough of the original game, and I was able to confirm that neither the in-game model, nor the actual actress have this ridiculous a body.
For one thing, the waistband on Jill's pants is way too high on her stomach compared to her actress and 3D model. Plus, for some reason her hips are swayed off to the left in such a way that would probably be hurting her spine. It'd make more sense if she was leaning against a wall in this picture, and peering around a corner. But she's free-standing, which is part of why her pose doesn't make any sense.
Even if we assume that part of the strange proportions can be explained by the fact that she's partially turned away from the reader, her pants are still too high up on her body, and I could still probably get my hands most of the way around what passes for her waist. Seriously, there doesn't look to be much separating her spine from the outside world.
Jim Lee is a legendary artist in comics, from what I've been told. Compare this to Lee's drawings of Wonder Woman in All-Star Batman and Robin,. Sure, it's not the most realistic for how muscular she's supposed to be, but it still looks more realistic than Jill's body does on this cover.
Plus, I didn't notice this until just now, but Jill's lips seem to be a little puffy upon closer inspection, and her right leg looks a lot smaller than her left leg is. Plus, look at the massive nails on her left hand. Jill Valentine is a former Delta Force operative, she's not supposed to have nails that long!
This is why I mentioned that this cover is good at first glance. It starts falling apart the more you look at it.
Now we move onto Chris, who seems to have less issues with his body. I say seems because if you look at the bottom of the page, next to Jill's leg, you can see the edge of Chris's pants, which leads me to wonder how long Chris's legs are. This looks especially weird since the place where you'd think Chris's leg would be (In that little spot behind Jill's legs) is taken up by the background. Seriously, Chris just needs to be a little lower and further to the left on the page for his leg to be in the right place.
Otherwise, the cover is actually pretty good. You can see a collection of enemies from the game, giant spiders, a hunter slaughtering a zombie, and a few intact zombies around the corner. It evokes the spirit of the game, and shows the tension of the situation. While our two main protagonists look a little strange, it's a good cover at first glance, and I would be immediately interested if I saw this cover in a comic-store.
The first page of the comic is titled "Introduction to Resident Evil" and is written by Kris Oprisko, one of the two writers of the comic.
It essentially attempts to explain the origin of WildStorm's run on the Resident Evil Comics, with Kris explaining that he and Ted Adams (The other writer of this comic) fanboyed out when they played the original game back in 1996, and they wanted to work on turning the game into a comic almost immediately.
The authors note starts off by saying that "The magazine you hold in your hands is the result of a unique collaboration between the worlds of comics and videogames, creating something we hope is totally new"
Considering this isn't the first Resident Evil comic, it's not that new or unique. Especially since Nintendo Power had been putting out comic tie-ins to games for years before the game this comic is based on was even conceived! And some were really good too!
Not to mention the fact that there were other comics based on games throughout the years, not to mention games based on comics as well. Space Quest comics, Mortal Kombat komics, the Atari Force comics, the Mobile Suit Gundam: Side Story comics, Pokémon comics, and probably the most famous video-game comics of them all, Sonic The Hedgehog comics!
So no, not really all that unique from the perspective of comics based on videogames. But what about as accurate adaptations of the source-material?
Well, let's move on from the authors note and into the actual comic. Please not that this magazine is 44 pages long, including the cover and authors note, so this review is going to be pretty lengthy.
Something interesting to note is that this is an anthology book, which contains multiple stories set around the Resident Evil universe. The first one is "S.T.A.R.S. Files"
We open to a mysterious, Kingpin-esque figure who appears to be in command of S.T.A.R.S. is giving Wesker a new assignment. There's been a series of mysterious murders and disappearances around the city, and Wesker is being put in charge of the S.T.A.R.S. team investigating it. It's mentioned that the only S.T.A.R.S. agent that's in Raccoon City at the moment is Joseph Frost.
We'll get to the plot in a bit, the first thing I wanted to comment on in this panel is the fact that Wesker looks a little too gaunt, when he's supposed to be a muscular guy. Plus, his head is tiny in this panel!
Now, in the game Wesker wears a black Kevlar vest over a dark blue shirt, but Wesker's vest is blue in this. Plus, because his shirt and his vest are the same color, they sort of run into each other. It doesn't help that his lapels and collar are outside of his vest.
It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense for an off-duty cop to still be wearing part of his riot-gear.
Of course, that vest doesn't protect the center of Wesker's chest. I've actually worn a Kevlar vest, and they don't have that massive gap on the upper chest that Wesker's vest has.
Fortunately they've gotten the general shape and color of Wesker's glasses right this time, if not his general proportions.
In the next panel, Wesker is in a phone-booth talking to a guy named Holden. Who if you'll recall, originally appeared in Marvel's Resident Evil comic, and whose only other appearance that I can find was in a script George A. Romero wrote for his Resident Evil movie which was never actually made.
So yeah, this character has been lifted straight from the Marvel comic, because he never actually appeared in the games. Either by being mentioned or actually showing up. He wasn't even integrated into the plot of The Umbrella Chronicles the way elements of the Anderson movies were. But, we'll get to that when I review The Umbrella Chronicles.
He says to Holden that Umbrella can expect a full report once he's rounded up a few S.T.A.R.S. operatives for the Alpha and Bravo teams.
On the next page, Wesker is writing his report to Umbrella on who he's picked for his team, mentioning that he's picked them according to Umbrella's specifications. He also mentions that Umbrella controls the chief of the RCPD, Brian Irons.
Umbrella's interest in having S.T.A.R.S. in Raccoon City is to have a cover for their official damage control.
The next couple of pages list off the members of the two teams Wesker has picked out, with pictures of the characters shown on a mockup of a Windows 98 laptop.
Wesker's first pick for the S.T.A.R.S. team he's going to take into Raccoon City is Barry Burton, a weapons expert and family man. Due to his status as a husband and father, Wesker knows how to manipulate him if he needs to (As he will in the game)
Bravo's commander is Enrico Marini, who's apparently known for being fearless in the face of danger.
That's actually consistent with how he was portrayed in the games.
Next up is Richard Aiken, team communications expert. Wesker comments that he could probably reach China with a CB radio. That's consistent with the games as well.
Bravo's medic is Rebecca Chambers, who Wesker mentions isn't the best fighter, but she's a hell of a medic.
And as their on-call chemist in case there's a T-Virus outbreak, Kenneth J. Sullivan. He's actually got a Ph.D in Chemistry in the games, so I'd say that this is a wise choice, since I'd figure if anyone could whip up an antidote real fast, it would probably be him. It's a shame he was among the first to die in the original game, It would have been cool to see him in action.
Finally, the team marksman is Forest Speyer, who's one of the best snipers in S.T.A.R.S. Not a lot of details are given about him, so I would presume he's about the same as he is in the games.
Next up is the rest of Alpha team. Joseph Frost is the only one in this continuity who knows anything about Raccoon City, and he's also the team mechanic. The latter is consistent with the canon of the games, the former not so much. But we'll get to that.
Brad Vickers is mentioned as being a coward and a computer expert. No mention is made of his status as a pilot. Brad isn't actually mentioned as being a computer expert in the games to the best of my knowledge.
Chris Redfield is mentioned as being an old friend of Barry Burton (He served in the US Air Force with him) and as having been kicked out of the air-force for insubordination. This is the only version of the story where they actually mention what Chris did to get himself kicked out, and that's part of what I like about this comic.
You see, Chris was on a top-secret mission (Presumably as the pilot, since he's usually referred to as an ace pilot in the same breath as when he's mentioned as being a great marksman.) and during that mission, a member of his team was injured (Presumably in a crash or explosion, since the background is all smoke and fire) and Chris was ordered to leave him behind, but Chris went back and got him.
I really like this, because it establishes the kind of person Chris Redfield is.
Mind you, we never actually find out what the mission was, or any further details about it, which is a shame, because I was hankering for more stories about Chris and Barry in the air-force. Hey Capcom, if you ever want to make a prequel game, or novel or comic to Resident Evil that's all about how the S.T.A.R.S. team in Raccoon City met, I'm available to write the story! I've had some ideas kicking around in my head for a while that I think would work pretty well in the canon!
Now, they don't actually mention that Chris is a championship marksman, or the fact that he's a pilot. All they mention is the fact that he's a war-hero who was kicked out of the Air Force for the very thing that made him a hero. This is a part of the comic I like to pretend is actually a part of the games.
Finally, there's Jill Valentine. Recommended to Wesker by Barry, she's known as "The Master of Unlocking" which is a little less elegant that Marvel's description of her as the team B&E expert.
The RCPD decides to send in Bravo to investigate the forest, due to public demand that the police do something.
Another thing they lift from the Marvel comic is the mentioning of Bravo as being mostly green, which we've already pointed out wasn't actually true. The only green member of the team was Rebecca Chambers.
And right here on the sixth page, Wesker contradicts what he just said a few pages ago when he mentions that he's made sure that they'll have engine trouble to keep them from discovering anything, even though their entire purpose in the city was to contain the outbreak without drawing attention to the fact that it was related to Umbrella. They were supposed to discover things.
Maybe Wesker just rigged their engine because he hadn't finished scrubbing the mansion of evidence linking it to Umbrella.
Now that we've summed up the first six pages of story, let's see how they compare to the series as it was then, and as it is now, as well as analyzing the art.
First off, Wesker is supposed to be in charge of S.T.A.R.S. He answers to the RCPD officially, and to Umbrella unofficially. There's no national coordination center.
S.T.A.R.S. was founded in Raccoon City in 1996 (The year the original game was released) as part of the "Bright Raccoon 21" redevelopment program. Their purpose was to combat the increase in gang-violence and terrorism in the city. You know, the stuff I speculated about in the last review when I talked about the heavy ordnance Alpha was packing.
Now, while the members of S.T.A.R.S. aren't specifically mentioned as being Raccoon City natives, it's fairly easy to presume so about a few of them. For instance, Chris Redfield and Forest Speyer have been best friends for a very long time as far as I can tell, and when Chris left the air-force, he traveled the country before landing in Raccon City. He's also good friends with Jill Valentine, so I'd say that it would be incredibly convenient for them to not all be from Raccoon City.
Plus the fact that Chris's sister, Claire, rides into town on a motorcycle a short while after her brother goes missing, so I'd have to reckon that they're all from the town. This is backed up by the fact that, in Resident Evil, Barry refers to Chris as "Our old partner" which implies a bit of back-story between himself and Jill as well.
In the end, them not being from Raccoon City would be too big of a coincidence. I could possibly see Barry, Brad, Kenneth, Enrico and Rebecca not being from Raccoon City, but Richard's girlfriend lived in Raccoon City.
Plus, as you can tell in Resident Evil 2, S.T.A.R.S. has an office inside the RCPD, with personal effects from Chris, Barry, Jill, Wesker, and Rebecca strewn about the office.
Now, let's talk about the artwork, starting with page two.
The first panel on the second page shows Wesker at a desk, hunched over an old laptop. Aside from the fact that Wesker is still wearing his bullet-proof vest even while he's in his office, and the fact that his arms are still a little too bony to be accurate, there's not a much I can pick on.
I say not much, because his laptop screen goes from green with lines on it in the first panel to having a newspaper scan on it in another. The big problem with the second panel is that the newspaper is rotated to the left a bit for some reason, which doesn't make sense, because this is the '90s, and they hadn't quite figured out how to make webpages "Do a barrel roll!"
The next panel shows a picture of the Tyrant T-002 in suspended animation. It looks pretty good.
The fourth panel on the page is a picture of Barry firing his Colt Python. And it's looking mighty black in this shot. Even though the Python in the game is rather clearly silver. And like I mentioned on the cover, the gun Jill was holding looks nothing like the Colt Python.
Also, even though Barry's belly-holster is obviously set up for him to draw it with his right hand, and the fact that he holds the gun with his right hand in-game, he's holding the Python in his left hand for some reason. This seems to be becoming a pattern in this comic. Otherwise, the panel is actually pretty good. Barry looks like Barry is supposed to.
The final panel on the page is Wesker looking at Barry's file. Nothing much else to say, except that Wesker is still wearing his glasses and vest in his office. Not to mention the rest of his tactical gear. Also, take a look at Weskers thumb in this panel if you have the comic. It looks strangely angular. Hmmm, I wonder if that's going to become a pattern?
Page 4 is a single panel of Wesker's computer, which appears to be running Windows 98. He has five windows open, one with each of the members of the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team, with their names on the window above them.
Let's start at the top and work out way down, shall we?
Enrico's picture is of him holding a tactical shotgun and dashing away from someone who's shooting at him. God only knows how this picture was captured, since Enrico appears to be in a hallway while this is happening. It's possible this came from training, or an operation, but it's unlikely they could get this good a shot with the VHS cameras the RCPD use to record their missions. Not to mention the fact that Bravo's cameraman, Kenneth, would have had to be slightly above Enrico to capture this.
Enrico's face is missing a lot of details too. I can barely make out his eyes. Not to mention the fact that I don't think anyone actually runs the way Enrico is in this panel. He just seems to be displaying too much of a target to his pursuers. Not to mention the fact that he'd not wearing a protective helmet in this shot.
The second window is a shot of Richard in the RCPD command center at the communications array. This is actually something they could have gotten as a photograph in some kind of newpaper coverage.
Now, even though he's obviously in the RCPD command-center in this picture, he's also still wearing his tactical gloved and Kevlar vest. But at least his vest isn't done up as neatly as Wesker's is. And as I mentioned before, this was probably a picture taken for the local newspaper as part of a piece on S.T.A.R.S.
Plus, Richard's head looks kind weird in this shot. Plus, his hair looks a little bit grey, not to mention the fact that it's sticking straight up in the air, even though he's wearing a headset. Also, note the angular joints to his fingers.
The third window is of Rebecca kneeling next to a S.T.A.R.S. member who's lying on the ground.
One must wonder who this is, since he's wearing a blue outfit, like Wesker and Forest do in this comic, but has pure black hair, whereas Forest has brown hair and Wesker has brown hair. It could be some other S.T.A.R.S. member, but Rebecca Chambers was on her first mission in Resident Evil, so maybe this is just some promotional shot they took for the paper. That would explain why she doesn't appear to be doing much in this picture.
The fourth window depicts Forest Speyer holding a rifle in what looks to be a really uncomfortable position, with his vest halfway open. The strange this is that in the background you can clearly see a person walking their dog, and someone else calmly strolling along, next to a car, which leads me to wonder what the hell is going on in this panel.
Also, the fingers on Forest's left hand seem more arranged to be holding a guitar that a gun to me.
The final window shows Kevin pouring the contents of one test-tube into the other, which would pretty much have to be a promotional picture, because there's no way they'd get this shot any other way.
I'd just like to point out that his forearms are freaking massive. So are his hands. It looks kind of weird compared to the rest of the characters who have incredibly gaunt builds.
Kenneth looks really intent in this picture, like he's pouring something incredibly dangerous. But if he was, he'd be wearing more protective gear than just his bullet-proof vest. And what kind of room is he in? I see a black wall and a pair of red-lights, but I can't tell where he's supposed to be. Maybe inside the RCPD blackroom?
Moving onto page five, we see four pictures of the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members, this time with Alpha Team. For some reason the windows we see here have the last name of the characters pictured with a jpeg file extension, which is something we didn't see on the last pages' windows.
We start off with a picture of Joseph Frost fixing a S.T.A.R.S. chopper. While his arms seem a little strange, his outfit is pretty much accurate to his appearance in the game. Except for the fact that his bandanna is blue, rather than red. His face looks about the way he did in the official artwork. The camo pattern on his pants is a little off, but aside from that, he actually looks like Joseph. Based on the picture, he looks like he's working on a chopper in the sun, which would mean he should just be wearing his S.T.A.R.S. t-shirt, and not his tactical vest. Like I've said before, I've worn Kevlar in the past, and it's not particularly pleasant when the sun is beating down on you.
Anyways, the second window is a picture of Brad Vickers sitting at a computer. You can tell this is the '90s, because he's got a massive CRT monitor in front of him. Like everyone who doesn't appear to be in much danger in these photos, Brad is also wearing his Kevlar vest, even though he's obviously sitting at his desk in the RCPD building. Even though he's not supposed to be stationed at the RCPD in this timeline. There's not much to complain about in this picture. He looks like Brad Vickers, what more do you want?
The fourth panel shows Chris Redfield carrying someone out of a blazing fire. The caption below seems to imply that this picture is from the secret mission he was on in the air-force, but that doesn't make any sense.
Chris is wearing his S.T.A.R.S.uniform, as is the man he's pulling out of the fire, not United States Air Force fatigues. But he doesn't have his knife on his shoulder, or his holster on his leg.
Also, for some reason, most of the characters have their S.T.A.R.S. emblem on the left shoulder of their T-shirt. Everyone except for whoever Rebecca was tending to back on page 4, whose emblem was on the right shoulder of his shirt. I mention this because the guy Chris is carrying doesn't appear to have a S.T.A.R.S. emblem on either shoulder. You could say that he's supposed to be the guy Rebecca was tending to, but that guys shirt was blue. And it's possible he could be Joseph, but his face is a little too square to be Joseph. Plus, he's not wearing Joseph's camouflage pants, or (red) bandanna.
Chris essentially looks fine from the neck-down in this shot, but as soon as we hit his face we notice that he doesn't look a whole lot like the in-game model, the concept art or the actor who portrayed Chris in the live-action bits of the game. They've got the hair that sticks straight up down pat, but his face only vaguely resembles what he looked like in the art for the original game, and it doesn't resemble his current depiction at all. They've got all the other little details of his outfit correct though, so that's a plus.
The major problem is that the other guys arm which Chris has slung across his shoulders looks like it has an extra joint to it. It really doesn't look healthy the way it's positioned. Not to mention the fact that Chris's is facing the camera sidelong, while the guy he's carrying is facing it head-on. If you look at the place where that guys legs are supposed to be, you see that they're not visible. For his left leg it makes sense, since it's blocked by Chris's leg, but for his right leg it doesn't, since his right hip is in such a place where you'd think his leg would come down right into the gap in the background between Chris's legs, but it doesn't. It's possible that his legs could both be limp behind him in a place where they're blocked out by Chris's body, but even if they are, it's still drawn weirdly. One of my standards for graphic-novel art is that it always make sense at first glance, but it should also make sense upon all subsequent viewings, otherwise it all falls apart.
The final window on this page is a picture of the lovely Jill Valentine. While her face seems a little too anime styled for how she's supposed to look, it's actually pretty good. It looks like it's somewhere in-between the modern depictions of Jill and her original concept art. The big problem in this picture is her left arm looks strange. Her left hand is a bit massive, but that could be explained by the fact that it's closer to the camera than her right. The main issue with her arm is that her left bicep looks too skinny for a former Delta Force operative. It's also in direct contrast to her massive left forearm, which looks too big, even considering the fact that it's closer to the camera. Her muscle-tone is a bit lacking for someone who's supposed to be the first woman accepted into the United States Army's Delta Force training program. I know she's not supposed to be as strong as Chris (Considering how much iron he pumps, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who is) but she shouldn't be completely lacking in any muscle definition, especially when Kenneth has obviously got so much to spare.
Also, when you really look at it, her left hand doesn't quite seem to actually be bracing her weight on the wall, more like it's hovering above it. The background seems like it was draw by a completely different artist than the one who drew Jill. And for that matter, it looks incredibly out of place. Jill seems to be picking a lock, but this wall looks like it came out of a System Shock 2 comic. The panel she's looking at seems to be mostly buttons, like it's a keypad. But for some reason it's got a keyhole in the middle of it.
Speaking of looking, Jill's eyes don't seem to be focusing on her work, and her head isn't exactly aimed in the right direction for what she's doing.
Moving onto the next page, we're shown Bravo team getting into their helicopter as they're ready to take off in a full-page spread. This main panel has all five of the original members of Bravo Team in a line on their way to the chopper. Unfortunately, nobody seems to be carrying any equipment. Maybe it's already loaded into the chopper, but nobody seems to be carrying their sidearms either. Richard's not carrying his shotgun or his radio, Forest doesn't have his rifle, and Rebecca doesn't have her first-aid kit either.
I've been looking at the original art, and I noticed that almost everyone is missing sidearm holsters, which would explain why everyone who's not on the cover doesn't have theirs on.
Also, when you get beyond Rebecca in the background, everyone seems to lose a lot of detail, specifically in their hands. Richard's arms also seem to be as long as his legs.
The second panel and the narration captions from Wesker imply that they started having engine trouble right after they took off. I know that's not the case, but if you hadn't actually played the first and second games you might be a little confused by this.
With that, we come to the end of the first story. This review has already clocked in at about five thousand words, so I should probably stop and break this up.
I say story, but this was more like a seven page introduction sequence, and the job of an intro sequence is to get us interested in the plot and the characters. I might not be the best judge of how interesting this is to an outsider, since I'm already invested in the characters and the story. But I remember what I thought when I originally read the comic two years ago, and I really liked the ideas it brings to the table. They've fleshed out the characters a bit more than they were in the original game, and that's pretty nice.
But in the end, it does little more than retread what the Marvel comic did. I have a feeling that if you combine the unique elements of the Marvel comic and the first story in this comic, edit it to include background details from the rest of the canon and hand it to a better artist then you'd have a pretty damn good comic.
Although I'm disappointed that this first story gives away the Wesker twist on the first page. I know the twist is legendary now, and it was fairly well-known inside the fandom (Since you pretty much had to see it when you finished the game) it spoils a great twist for someone who's just being introduced to the series. Yes, the game was two years old when this comic was released, and yes, since Wesker is essentially the series main villain at this point, it's essentially pointless to complain, since the twist is essentially spoiled by all of the media surrounding the games, but it's something I thought I should bring up.
Anyways, while this didn't really do much to tell the story of the first game, it was still decent, and like I said, it introduces a lot of background elements I like, even if the art isn't so good.
All in all, I liked this story when I first read it, and I still like it now, even though there's a lot left to be desired with the art. I give this story a 7.6* rating. It gains a lot of points for fleshing out the backgrounds of some of the characters, but loses some for not fleshing out others as much. Then it loses a few more points for the issues I mentioned with the art. I'll try and get my review of the next story out tomorrow. Hopefully I won't have to spend so much time picking apart the art as I did in this review.
Part 2 Part 3
No comments:
Post a Comment