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Posted in: Comics, Review, Tokyopop | Tagged: Carmelo Zagaria, graphic novel, leon kennedy, resident evil, RESIDENT EVIL: Infinite Darkness, tokyopop, Valentina Cuomo, video game
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness : A Decent Procedural-Horror Thriller
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness - The Beginning is a serviceable graphic novel from the game universe featuring Leon Kennedy and zombies
Article Summary
- Explore Leon Kennedy's new adventure in 'Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness - The Beginning'.
- Graphic novel entwines investigation with classic zombie outbreaks, capturing game's essence.
- Keith R. A. DeCandido pens Leon's journey, minus the game's iconic cheesy one-liners.
- Fans of the franchise will enjoy familiar horror-thriller elements and look forward to more.
Resident Evil is that horror franchise cobbled together from every zombie movie you can remember into a series that never seems to end. The video game series has so many installments and spinoffs that they managed to spin off into manga, Pachinko game machines in Japan, English language novelisations, animated TV series, animated feature films, and Western graphic novels. Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness – The Beginning is the latest American graphic novel side story in the series featuring series hero Leon Kennedy, of the boy band good looks and dreamy hair. And Leon has seen and fought the Umbrella Corporation and the zombie-making T-virus so many times that he's probably the most experienced cop-turned-federal investigator specialising in that particular unending conspiracy that is the entire series' (undead) lifeblood. And this is a perfectly decent procedural thriller with zombie eruptions in it.
Yes, Evil is Still Resident in Resident Evil
So Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness – The Beginning, as the title suggests, is the starting segment in a new adventure for Leon Kennedy and the wild and crazy guys out there trying to spread the T-Virus. A bomb goes off at a newly-opened museum in Pittsburgh, Ohio, and Leon is sent to investigate because the make of the bomb is by people on a list he's been hunting. The story is a perfectly decent investigative procedural as Leon works with the local cops to find the ones responsible and discovers a radical environmental terror group intent on setting off bombs to cull the human population to save the world. What the terrorists don't realise is their pawns by a powerful group who want to spread the T-Virus, and when victims of the bombings start getting up as – what else? – hungry, hungry zombies, Leon has to stop more bombs and the T-Virus from spreading any further before Pittsburgh becomes another Racoon City.
Leon Kennedy's Hair is Dreamy as Ever
Writer Keith R. A. DeCandido is a skilled and competent writer who has written novelisations and comic spinoffs of countless movie and game franchises, and he takes to the Resident Evil world like a pro. Leon Kennedy is pretty much the character we know from the games, and the emphasis here is on his competence as an investigator chasing down leads to get to the bad guys since the reader doesn't get to play as Leon shoots at countless zombies. The zombies do show up, and Leon becomes the insanely calm and unflappable zombie fighter for whom this is another month on the job. He has a "here we go again!" weariness about him, though it's too bad DeCandido doesn't write the cheesy 90s one-liners Leon is prone to muttering in the game that adds to their camp appeal.
If you're a fan, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness – The Beginning would not be a waste of your time. It feels like the world of the game and animated series. It's not the most original series or characters or plots in the world, but you're here for the "competent hero with great hair shooting at zombies" action, and that's what delivers, with an ending that reveals there are more stories to come.
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness – The Beginning is published by Tokyopop.
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness - The Beginning
7/10
A perfectly readable story set in the Resident Evil universe featuring Leon Kennedy and his perfect hair investigating a series of bombings in Pittsburgh that brings him in contact with secret bad guys who want to spread the T-Virus and unleash the zombie apocalypse again, this graphic novel concentrates more on Leon's skills as an investigator since it's more plot-driven than a game can be, but don't worry, zombies still break out and there's still lots of biting and shooting them in the head.
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