Resident Evil Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Resident Evil Wiki


Resident Evil: The Official Comic Magazine, Issue #2 was released in June 1998. It features two original, unconnected stories by Kris Oprisko, and a long retelling of Resident Evil 2 by Ted Adams, which serves as part of an anthogy which links to a number of his other stories.

Stories[]

"A New Chapter of Evil" - Ted Adams[]

The story starts with Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy's police car being destroyed by the renegade tanker. Skipping forward to Leon walking in through the RPD precinct's front entrance and into the "locker room" (the West office), he stumbles onto Marvin Branagh. Marvin briefs Leon on the situation - the town's been infested with zombies and they didn't believe Chris and Jil.

Meanwhile, Claire continues down the street - she admits that her brother hadn't gone crazy like she believed when he told her about the zombies.  Walking into the police station through the helipad, a corridor ceiling gives away to a Mr. X dropping in. Claire kills it with five shells. The two finally meet at the S.T.A.R.S. office. Leon explains that a diary left by Chris suggests he has already left to Europe to investigate Umbrella (and not phoned Claire), and that there's no longer a reason for either of them to be in the city.

Leon rushes back to the locker room to get Marvin, but finds that he's too late. Leon finally kills Marvin as he wanted, too late to stop his transformation. Running through the basement, intent on checking the prison cells for survivors, he runs into Ada Wong, who seeks to meet a man named "Ben", who is currently in the cells. Ada interrogates Ben for details. She knows he told the city officials he was aware of what caused the viral outbreak mere hours ago, and wants information on her missing boyfriend, John Fay.

Although having the prison key, Ben doesn't want to leave his cell and risk being killed by a zombie or "something else". He informs Leon that there's a way out of the building through the dog kennels, leading into the sewers. Soon after Leon and Ada leave, however, William descends from the ceiling and implants an embryo into him. When Leon arrives back to help him, Ben reveals that the Chief of Police has been taking orders from Umbrella. The embryo then rejects itself and bursts out of his chest. Leon chases it into the sewers and kills it.

Elsewhere, Claire walks in on the Chief of Police, with a woman's body laying on his desk. The police chief is nervous, believing Claire to have been sent by someone; he then exclaims that the woman's head is his and is to be added to his "personal collection". The police chief explains that the G-Virus is superior to the t-Virus, and can turn any human into the ultimate bio-weapon. Birkin's whole family, he says, is "running around here". Claire offers what little sanity left in the chief safe passage with her, but he refuses outright.

Searching the chief's rooms, Claire stumbles onto Sherry Birkin, who leads her to a secret elevator. At the bottom, they find the Chief of Police, who still believes Claire to be an Umbrella agent, shakes uncontrollably as he aims his gun at her. He is then pulled under a floor panel and torn apart.

Ten minutes earlier, Leon and Ada had gone down the same elevator, where Annette Birkin confronted them. Ordering the two to identify themselves, she recognises Ada as John's girlfriend. After explaining that the G-Virus forces hosts to seek out compatible hosts for their embryos, she tried to kill Ada; Leon jumps in the way of the bullet.

Leon Kennedy- OCM

Leon's reaction to Annette's accusations

Claire and Sherry continue to walk around the sewers, coming into contact with William. She proceeds to fire at him until he falls over the railing. The two find a bandaged Leon, who walks off in search of Ada. Catching up to her, she warns him that she can hear something. Moments later a giant alligator attacks. With quick reflexes, Leon shoots a gas canister, killing it. The two head over to the underground laboratory (now with a square, rather than octagonal-shaped turntable lift), and Leon radios Claire to follow him. William arrives on the scene, and Leon attacks it, blaming it for the deaths of hundreds. William is again defeated, but he injures Ada in the process.

Proceeding into the facility with an unconscious Ada in his arms, Leon is confronted by Annette, who believes him to be a spy working for Ada. Holding back his rage, he refuses to believe Ada is a spy as Annette continues on. Ada developed a relationship with John solely to get information from Umbrella. The facility computer suddenly announces the activation of the self-destruct system; Annette blames "that tramp" (Ada) for setting it off, and is then injured by debris as a falling pipe impacts on her skull. Leon picks up a vial in Annette's possession, but it is taken from him by Ada, who is confirmed to be a spy. With what little strength is left in her, Annette fires at Ada, hitting her in the chest and causing to lean over the railings. Although Leon catches her, she confesses her feelings to him and lets go, plummeting to her apparent death.

Some two minutes later, Sherry find her mother's body. Annette reveals that the G-Virus sample is actually in Sherry's possession inside a pendant. As soon as Annette dies, Claire throws the family heirloom away. Claire and Sherry catch up with Leon as the computer system announces a mere two minute remaining. Looking for a train, Birkin attacks yet again, mutating into its G-4 form as Leon begins firing at it with his shotgun.

With ten seconds left, the three hop aboard the train and set off through the tunnel, narrowly escaping the blast.

"Mutant Menagerie" - Kris Oprisko[]

It is set just prior, and during, the events of Resident Evil 2.

"Septemer 7th, 7 A.M., Raccoon City Zoo"

Hal has finished feeding all of the animals for the morning and gets ready to head off home. Getting onto his motorcycle, he suggests to Patrick Brady that he should check the electrical system, which may be close to overloading soon. Since the Mansion Incident, most people have opted to stay in their homes, meaning that few are visiting the zoo.

The previous evening, HUNK's unit attacked Dr. William Birkin in his lab. Injured, he infected himself with the one G-Virus sample not taken by the USS operatives.

Mutant Menagerie 1

Blanky and Steiner

45 minutes after Hal's departure, Patrick hears a loud noise. Coming to investigate, he discovers the horrifically-mutilated corpses of his fellow keepers, Blanky and Steiner (one is missing his left hand and right arm, with his ribs exposed from his empty torso; the other has been eviscerated and has an eye sticking out). Brady overhears the assailant at the Reptile House and rushes to it, finding William in a battle with three tigers (he is using a long tongue to drill into one tiger's head while a second bites his leg. A third tiger has been decapitated - there is no explanation for why tigers would be anywhere near the reptile enclosure). Brady fires at the beast, but it isn't fazed by his firepower. Sherry's distant screaming is the only thing that gets rid of it.

Mutant Menagerie 2

The tigers attacking G2 Birkin - no explanation given for why he has mutated.

Believing it to be all over, some of the animals (a tiger; a wolf and a panda) come back to life thanks to the G-Virus and seek him out. Patrick runs back into the zoo office, overhearing a radio transmission from Leon to Claire. Patrick interrupts it to call for help, and is advised to destroy the animals before they can infect anyone else. Patrick remembers what Hal told him about the electrical system. He makes it his mission to overload the generator and destroy the zoo. The one problem is that the generator is in a different building.

Heavily armed, he begins firing at the many infected animals, taking out a snake as it raps around him, electrocuting an ape in a tree and shooting prairie dogs jumping out from underground.

Patrick reaches the shed and sets about the overload, being thrown into the air by an explosion as he flees. Some several hours later, Patrick awakens in the rubble with a headache. He walks into what's left of the office to find that Leon is tring to get in contact with him. He confirms the destruction of the zoo, while Leon confirms the destruction of Birkin's lab. As he sleeps, Patrick is attacked by a sole surviving animal.

Note: Patrick's death is retconned by Resident Evil: Fire and Ice into simply being infected.

"Lock Down" - Kris Oprisko[]

With the Raccoon S.T.A.R.S. unit effectively disbanded, Barry Burton accepts S.T.A.R.S. HQ's suggestion of seeking out psychiatric help in dealing with his nightmares. He notices a man shambling nearby, but tries to ignore it as an over-active imagination. He walks into Dr. Peter W. Lengle's office, but the doctor is called away by an urgent call about "subjects" which have escaped. Right after Dr. Lengle leaves his office, a labcoat zombie grabs him and pulls his throat out. While there's no time to save Dr. Lengle, Barry avenges his death by destroying the attacker's brain with his handgun, which he always keeps with him. Interested by the doctor's access key, Barry takes it, should it be of any use later.

Reaching the lobby, Barry finds that the test subjects-all zombies- devouring the fleeing visitors and employees. Too numerous to defeat, their closeness to the exit poses a serious risk to the town, and Barry struggles to think of a plan to keep them sealed inside the building. Reaching the elevator, Barry decides on tripping the breaker on the electronic lock in the basement to trap them inside. An eviscerated, but still conscious, man pleads to Barry to stop the zombies from escaping as he trips the lock. The man explains that there is a secret laboratory under the basement, which is set up to explode in the event of a containment breach - he hands over a map showing the locations of bomb parts. Not caring whether or not the man was responsible for the containment failure (or indeed the laboratory), Barry kills him to end his suffering.

Using Lengle's key card, Barry enters the damaged and seemingly-deserted laboratory, concluding that the t-Virus had been synthesized inside. A Tyrant precedes to attack Barry, who hides in an adjoining room. Still vulnerable to the creature's attacks, he grabs a fire axe and swings at it, claiming a nearby bomb part. Grabbed back by the Tyrant, a well-placed vial of acid is thrown into its face, giving Barry a chance to escape.

Moving onto the third floor, Barry enters a postal centre in search of another part. Already infested, it proves to be a problem, as the key to the locker holding the part is in a dismembered arm being eaten. Killing the zombie, Barry is free to use the small key. With one part to go, Barry enters the sub-basement - the waste room. It is here that he is forced to encounter giant roaches which have grown to a meter long. In the short gun fight, Barry's leg is damaged, but it doesn't stop him reaching the penthouse to set up the bomb. Giving himself a five-minute head start, he runs through an ongoing (zombie) dance session and jumps out of the window into a "strategically placed pool".

Characters[]

Crew[]

  • Ted Adams - Script writer ("A New Chapter of Evil")
  • Carlos D'Anda - Penciller ("A New Chapter of Evil")
  • Mark Irwin - Inker ("A New Chapter of Evil"); Editor ("Lock Down")
  • John Tighe - Inker ("A New Chapter of Evil"; "Mutant Menagerie"; "Lock Down")
  • Tad Elrich - Colorer ("A New Chapter of Evil")
  • Amie Grenier - Letterer ("A New Chapter of Evil"; "Mutant Menagerie"; "Lock Down")
  • Kris Oprisko - Script writer ("Mutant Menagerie"; "Lock Down"); Editor ("A New Chapter of Evil")
  • Lee Bermejo - Penciller ("Mutant Menagerie; "Lock Down")

Further notes[]

  • The Resident Evil 2 re-telling condenses the plot in places, or makes alterations for the sake of making the plot run faster. Based on the Leon A; Claire B storyline, Sherry becoming host to the G-embryo does not happen. William Birkin is killed off in a revised G-4 encounter, and so doesn't attack the train in his G-5 form. The Tyrant is killed off at the start of the story, thereby giving no reason for Ada Wong to make a spectacular re-appearance. As such, she is simply dead. In addition, Brian Irons is implied to have been killed by Birkin directly by being torn in half, while Ben Bertolucci was rejected by the G-Embryo.
  • There is some problem regarding when exactly the outbreak took place. Ted Adams' Issue #1's story, "Raccoon City-R.I.P." shows that the viral outbreak is already in full swing before Birkin is attacked by HUNK's team, and the truck driver being attacked by zombies suggests this all happens in one day. However, Kris Oprisko's Issue #2 story, "Mutant Menagerie", set on September 7 (shown in the story to be during Resident Evil 2's story), establishes that Birkin was attacked the evening prior.

Sources[]


Advertisement