Resistance (comics)

Resistance is a comic book limited series published by Wildstorm, based on the Resistance video game series. It is written by Mike Costa, with art by Ramón Pérez, with the prequel being written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, with pencils by C.P. Smith.

Summary
Resistance is a six-issue mini-series, beginning in January 2009. The series features different aspects of humanity's war with the Chimera, detailing certain characters' histories and other activities in the war effort. It also includes prologues to significant events in the game's history (e.g. the preview issue details the early history of Private Jordan Adam Shepherd, the seemingly innocent soldier who was transformed into "Daedalus," the leader of the Chimera.

Issue #0
The background story of U.S. Army Private Jordan Adam Shepherd, the soldier who would eventually become Daedalus, is revealed. In a long series of flashbacks we are shown how Shepherd's childhood was consumed by his father's abuse; we are also shown how, among many of his father's traits (such as his rampant alcoholism), Jordan inherited his extreme temper, religious fervor, and paranoia. This paranoia also caused Shepherd to murder his neighbor, after he became close to Shepherd's wife following her mis-carriage.

Consumed with guilt and desperate to do the right thing, Shepherd joined the U.S. Army and eventually volunteered for Project Abraham; however, Shepherd failed to mention his immune system was compromised during his childhood after wandering into a chemical testing zone in the Everglades (which surrounded his house). This caused (according to SRPA Doctor Ortiz) a "world of problems" when he was injected.

Confined to SRPA's Project Abraham Compound, it is suddenly revealed what the "world of problems" is: Shepherd had suddenly gained psychokinetic powers, which he used to mentally attack Ortiz (for his constant berating was too much for Shepherd to stand). Shepherd is overpowered and sedated by a SRPA panic team; Shepherd's entire lower body then, in response to the injection's side-effects on his compromised biology, expands and transforms. This foreshadows the monster that he will become, Daedalus.

Issue #1
The United States' largest military base in the world, Fort Anchorage, Alaska, has been captured by the Chimera. Efforts to drive back the invaders fail, and the government keeps the news a complete secret from the public. The government then formally activates the Sentinel Program (which was previously only training-based) for the first time.

The first team of trained Sentinel soldiers, immunized to a certain degree (several visual symptoms are seen on the soldiers) to the Chimera virus, is activated as "Sentinel Team Alpha" (which happens to include Joseph Capelli and Benjamin Warner, featured prominently in Resistance 2). The team is briefed on its first mission, dubbed the "maiden voyage of the Sentinel Program"; they will be taken to Alaska for insertion, surgically enter the base, rescue key surviving personnel and materials, and then rendezvous with an air-evacuation. They are also told to not directly engage the enemy. The officer briefing them is asked why a larger force, or other divisions capable of keeping secrets, aren't used instead of the Sentinels. The officer answers that there is something in the base so top secret that only they (the Sentinels) can be sent; the Chimera have captured America's first atomic bomb.

A side-story is included focusing on James Grayson (the protagonist of Resistance: Retribution), and details his early history with his beloved brother Johnny. In James' childhood, the world was a peaceful and blissful place; however, this changed when the Chimera revealed themselves to the world. James' father was re-commissioned as an officer to fight in the war, and Johnny also joined the war effort as a pilot, with James not far behind. James' father was killed in combat, the devastation of which made James realize his father's example wasn't his own; shortly afterwards, he quit the R.A.F. to live his own life. Gradually, when Johnny tries and fails to effectively replace their father, a rift forms between the two brothers.

Life was bad for James; unemployed at a time when England was suffering with decreasing morale (with "monsters" besieging Europe and the Americans refusing to help) and desperate supply shortages. One evening, Johnny and James get into an argument, where Johnny insists James no longer go into the cities, having heard from his friends that they will soon be locked down by the military (and so that at least one of them remains to take care of their mother). James angrily retorts that Johnny doesn't really care about his safety or their mother's, but instead cares more about appearing like a hero. Johnny, however, counters that James doesn't really understand what's going on in Europe. Feeling Johnny is trying to control him, James runs away from home.

A few days later, Johnny is called up to fight the war in Europe and, with his father dead and his mother being taken care of by the R.A.F. for the rest of her life, James found a new family in that of a street gang.

Issue #2
Sentinel Team Alpha is on a ship enroute to their first mission. Despite their bickering, they get along well, mostly because they feel that they have a deep connection due to the Chimeran virus.

Suddenly, the ship is attacked by a massive water-based Chimera monster (which appears to be a Kraken), and so Team Alpha hurriedly equips and prepares themselves, and makes a desperate attempt to fight back alongside the ship's crew. The efforts fail, and the order is given to abandon ship, though only Team Alpha and a sole-remaining sailor makes it to shore as the monster pulls the ship under with all hands aboard.

Intact and armed, Team Alpha, determining that they are approximately 40 miles away from the base, decide to march, though the sailor quickly suffers from frostbite (unlike the enhanced soldiers). Suddenly, one of the Sentinels is shot dead, and his comrades take cover. The creature that shot the Sentinel then turns invisible (apparently, this is a Chameleon), and so is able to kill the sailor. Capelli then takes charge of the team and outmaneuvers and knives the creature to death. The team then moves onward, leaving the bodies of their dead comrades behind.

The side-story on James Grayson continues; the war has advanced to France, with Johnny and his R.A.F. squadron fighting them back. James naturally couldn't have imagined what his brother saw and did, but knows that it must have been horrible. While volunteering for a high-risk mission, Johnny's plane goes down over Berlin; the news of which devastates their mother though nevertheless giving her a sense of pride for Johnny's heroic demise.

This makes James think about what he has been doing and, consumed with shame, he decides to rejoin the military a week later (when France fell to the Chimera). While the R.A.F. wouldn't take him back, the Royal Marine Commandos (who were taking anyone) accepted James and he was commissioned as a Private. One evening, James' criminal past catches up with him when his old gang finds him in a deserted London street, and pressure him not to leave their gang (which involves small-time thieving, of which James was apparently very good at). James naturally no longer finds this life appealing, and so he is forced to fight his old gang until several policemen arrive. Recognizing James' authority as a member of the R.M.C., the policemen immediately arrest the gang, and so James leaves his old life behind to join the war.

Issue #3
Issue #3 picks up with Team Alpha making it to the Alaskan base that is housing the atomic bomb. Upon arrival, they find that the hanger doors are open. They enter into the hanger, only to find a giant Grim nest. As they make their way into the base, they find Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, who reveals that he survived by staying in a bunker (which was also used as a lab for the researchers making the atomic bomb), and that the Chimera invaded the base to gain control of the weapon. After four days of hiding he left the bunker to search for food and found the base mostly empty, but soon discovered the Grims' nest in the hanger; he then entered a nearby lab to make an acid to kill the cocoons. He does not get to finish his story, however, as a Grim runs into the room and leaps upon him. The soldiers try to get the Grim off him without shooting, as they may hit the doctor with a stray bullet if they try to shoot the Grim. Eventually, one of the Sentinels pulls a gun out and sticks it in the Grim's mouth, making short work of it. The doctor then says that it must be too late to use the acid on the cocoons, and that all the Grims must have hatched.

The issue's side-story begins with Johnny Grayson and his gunner crash-landing, after which Johnny pulls his gunner away from the crash site and later sets up camp. After the gunner awakes they continue moving to avoid the Chimera, and soon find a group of survivors who explain to them that they are heading deeper into Chimera-controlled territory. Johnny eventually becomes their leader. Weeks later there are complaints of freezing because of Johnny's "no fire rule," put in place to avoid detection from the Chimera. Some of the group rebel against this order and start a fire, causing Johnny to run out and yell at them to put it out, which they utterly refuse to do. Soon after this, a Chimeran patrol finds them, killing most of the group. Johnny then tells the survivors to run and set fire to the woods behind them to both cover their tracks and slow down the Chimera.

The side-story then focuses back on James Grayson's point of view. At this point in time, he is in basic training and getting yelled at by his sergeant for misconduct. James is eventually sent to guard the camp for a week as punishment, during which he thinks to himself how he lost his family and his friends, and that maybe all hope is lost.

Issue #4
After killing the Grim that attacked Dr. Oppenheimer, the panicked doctor tells the Sentinels to barricade the door. They refuse, explaining that it will not hold the Grims off forever, and that there would be nowhere to go if they did so. They eventually decide that they are better off making a run for it; they then dash into the hallway and shoot at all of the Grims. However, there are simply too many for them to handle all at once, and a Grim leaps into the air and bites the doctor, but the Sentinels quickly kill it. Since the doctor is now wounded and they are not far from an exit, they grab him and run. They soon make it outside and lock the hanger door.

Later the group finds their way into the cafeteria and barricades it. It is then used as a command center, and breaks were given from fortifying it each hour for the Sentinels to recover. During one of these breaks, Oppenheimer talks to Capelli and asks him why he fights such a fruitless battle. Capelli replies by recalling how he was in Project Abraham and how, when he tried to sleep, he had visions and saw the Chimera killing everyone; he simply does not wish this to come true. The Sentinels eventually come up with a plan: by making the gas lines in the hanger leak, they would be able to force the Grims into the command center, where Capelli would be waiting with a Wraith to meet them. The plan was successful in getting rid of the Grims, but gave the Sentinels bigger problems as the rest of the Chimera at the base were alerted to their presence.

In the side-story, Johnny Grayson manages to get the survivors to Dunkirk without any more deaths. When he yells at the guards for not letting them in, more guards start coming due to Johnny's screaming; one asks his name, and as soon as they hear it, they immediately recognize him (as Johnny was well known) and let him in. Johnny went to find who was in charge and found Roland Mallery, who informed Johnny that the Chimera were digging under the English Channel.

Meanwhile, James Grayson fails to go to his graduation due to being "pissed" because he was dumped by his girlfriend. The next day he reported for duty with a terrible hangover and met his commanding officer, Cartwright; because of his hangover, he was placed on patrol duty. He thinks for a while on how boring the patrol duty is, until suddenly Hybrids start to appear from holes in the ground.

Issue #5
The issue begins with Capelli taking cover from Titan fire as two other Sentinel soldiers run into the hanger where the bomb is, only to find another Titan guarding it. One of the soldiers runs up to the Titan and stabs it in the groin, and then throws a grenade into its mouth, resulting in a pool of gore. The group then attempts to disarm the bomb, until the instructions on how to do so are evaporated by the gas. As Capelli tries to find a place to retreat his comrade, Waldrom, provides some covering fire before being killed by another Titan. After Waldrom's death, Capelli gives the order to rescue Doctor Oppenheimer. While Capelli finds a safe place, the rest of his squad saves the doctor. Capelli, having found a safe place in a tank, rams a wall down with it and orders the rest of the Sentinels to bring the bomb onto the tank in order for Oppenheimer to defuse it. They then notice a Chimeran battleship heading their way.

In the side-story, British forces are shown fighting a losing battle with the Chimera, while in another scene Johnny Grayson is flying back to England. While on the plane Johnny meets Rachel Parker, whom he often saw at the base but had never spoken with before. He told Parker that if she wanted a report about the Chimera's Earth Movers, he did a fine job of killing endless waves of Chimera. Later Johnny speaks with James, who is in a hospital because of an injury to his leg; Johnny tells him to stop messing around, as he had found out how James would frequently disobey orders and endanger the lives of other soldiers. Johnny further mentions that he had seen James' boot camp file and was starting to lose faith in him. James replied coldly, saying that Johnny left both him and his mother, and that they are not on speaking terms anymore. As Johnny leaves, James begins to think about how badly the war in Europe has gone, and that if London falls then the end is near.

Issue #6
We skip ahead in time to Capelli sitting in an interrogation room at the SRPA base that Alpha Team was briefed at, and is approached by an un-named SRPA official, who tells Capelli to tell him what happened up in Alaska, as Capelli is in a world of trouble.

Capelli tells his story - he and the remaining members of Sentinel Team Alpha got in the tank as the Chimeran battleship bore down upon them. The vibrations that had been caused by the ship stop; curious as to why this occurred, the four men get out and find that the tank has been accidentally scooped up by the ship - the Sentinels are trapped on the Chimera battleship, which Capelli senses is banking around and heading back to Europe. Sentinel Leavitt takes the lead, coming up with an idea to blast a hole in the ship's hull and throw the nuclear bomb into the ocean off the coast of Alaska when the ship reaches it in approximately 10 minutes time; he justifies this plan by saying that the bomb must be kept out of the Chimera's possession. Before more is said, wave after wave of Chimera forces attack and Alpha Team, running low on ammo, have to make their shots count. Using aid from the tank and getting weapons off of dead Hybrids, Alpha Team is able to hold their ground as the entire ship's complement comes down on them.

The scene goes back to the present, where the official notes Alpha Team still had a plan (courtesy of Leavitt), and if it had been completed, it would have allowed the possibility of salvaging the bomb by SRPA, and thus with it back, the mission would have been accomplished. Capelli confirms that this is true, going so far as to note Alpha Team expended the last of their artillery (specifically 7 rounds) firing at the hull to breach it. The official casually notes this and then pointedly asks what happened next.

The story continues - after the hull is breached, Sentinel Murphy gets out of the tank and orders Capelli back into the tank to man its gun, while Murphy goes to make sure the bomb is secure. Capelli, in the midst of combat, says he is needed out there and counters that Murphy should use the tank so Alpha Team can bulldoze the bomb out the side. Murphy states that they have to make sure it's defused before it drops, and Murphy is the only one who knows how to defuse it. Above the carnage, Murphy yells for Capelli to, for once in his life, stop questioning him and do something Murphy asks. Capelli reluctantly complies...only to notice Warner and Leavitt get in the tank as well. Leavitt says that Murphy told them to fall back to the tank. Capelli, naturally, asks why he would order that, as now no one is covering him. Suddenly, Oppenheimer, now conscious and with a strange smile on his face, activates the tank's engines. Before Alpha Team can stop him, the tank falls out the side and off the ship.

The scene goes back to the present, with the official, looking sympathetic and moved by what he is hearing, listening as Capelli sadly says Alpha Team later guessed that Murphy, who knew that performing Leavitt's plan would have left no one alive to make it home, did the only thing he could think of - Murphy decided to sacrifice himself to make sure the Chimera didn't get the bomb, and save his team. Capelli goes on to state that Murphy must have used a syringe to give Oppenheimer a transfusion of his own blood, which for a normal human would be like taking a hit of pure adrenaline. It would kill him within 10 minutes, but Murphy possibly figured that Oppenheimer wasn't going to survive much longer anyway, and he needed him awake. Because the ship was only 5,000 feet off the ground, Murphy knew as long as the tank stayed in one piece, the team (possessing Sentinel regenerative powers) would only be rendered unconscious after they crashed onto the snowy ground. Oppenheimer, however, died in the fall. 20 or 30 minutes later, Alpha Team regained consciousness and saw "it" from about 50 miles away - the bomb detonating and completely destroying the ship in a fiery explosion, with Murphy still aboard. Alpha Team was picked up 17 hours later by a submarine that SRPA had sent to investigate the blast. Capelli finishes by stating, truly touched and lost for words, his belief that Murphy was a hero and, if SRPA hadn't erased all their names from the records, Capelli would be recommending him for the Medal of Honor.

The official (regaining his composure), however, dismisses the story, as it has a problem - Murphy (who he addresses as a "hero" in a sarcastic tone) destroyed the bomb, the very object SRPA sent Alpha Team to recover, and his actions consequently led to the death of Oppenheimer, one of the only men who knew how to build another atomic bomb. The official, raising his voice with every word - and Capelli himself getting madder and madder - believes its clear that Leavitt was the only one up there who had any clue how to handle the mission, and Murphy and Capelli botched that plan. In fact, the official can hardly believe Capelli's talking about medals - him saying that medals aren't given to those who "screw up" on missions. The official finishes by calling Murphy a disgrace, and doing the same to Capelli...only to be punched in the face by the latter before he can finish speaking.

Capelli stands over the official and, disagreeing with his assessment of Murphy being a disgrace, angrily states the bomb destroyed the Ice-Bridge over the Bering Strait and irradiated the entire area, making it impossible for the Chimera to cross over from Russia by land, and so Murphy saved every man, woman and child in the United States. The official responds by declaring Capelli is "done": he is heading to the brig, and he won't come out until SRPA is ready to drop him "right into the asshole of the Chimeran War Machine". The official finishes by stating that "the next washout on a suicide mission is you pal".

As Capelli is led away, in handcuffs, by a guard, Major Welles and a higher-ranking officer look on, having heard every word. The officer asks Welles what he thinks, and Welles thinks the mission was a disaster, a failure of leadership more than anything. Welles, however, notes Leavitt "seems promising" (hinting how he became an officer and leader of Echo Squad in the Intel documents of Resistance 2 before his own death). Also, more recruits coming up through Project Abraham will allow SRPA to specialize with teams. Welles is sure SRPA can find a place for every Sentinel, even Capelli. An un-named private then arrives and says there's one last thing - they were going through Capelli's effects when they found his letter addressed to "Sarah". It is a total breach of protocol, so SRPA looked through his file and can't find a single woman with that name in his past, but the private knows that some of the Sentinels were more "familiar" with "Cassie" (Cassie Aklin). Welles cuts off the private and says that will be all about the subject - explaining to the confused private that SRPA has taken just about everything they can from the Sentinels, and killed almost everything that makes them human because "we need monsters now", but, they can leave this grave from Capelli's past undisturbed as Capelli deserves to mourn his humanity in his own way. Welles finishes by saying, "Because I look to the future...and I don't see much humanity left". The last scene in the story shows Capelli languishing behind bars, the scars on his face caused by the virus clearly seen.

The side-story on James Grayson also comes to an end; Johnny was shot down again, and his entire squad is wiped out. James, meanwhile, was stuck in England on Cartwright's bad side. Cartwright, however, tells James that things have actually gotten so dire that Cartwright is going to have to send James back into combat, rather than the brig. James thanks Cartwright, saying he is ready to return to the front. Cartwright, however, is not desperate enough to make a decision as stupid as promoting Grayson, saying he won't trust James being at the front again. James, instead, will be going behind the lines, leading a squad to clean out conversion centers. James is dismissed from the meeting, but as he walks away, Cartwright stops him by saying that he is sorry to hear about his brother. Acknowledging his words, James leaves.

James narrates that this is what he and the squad did - the squad's purpose was horrifying, as, while seeing people turn into Chimera was terrible, what was worse were the ones that were still human, and the other soldiers the squad met up with were near-consumed by death, all the humanity in them being leached out of them one way or another. There were those that truly became monsters worse than Chimera, with one soldier James clearly remembers, but he dismisses that as "another story".

After a month of clearing conversion centers, James (believing himself numb to the horror), while on another mission in another conversion center, casually walks up to a gathering of soldiers in the last room, asking if they are finished there so they can set the charges, destroy the facility, and move on. The soldier he addresses, Diggle, however, hesitantly says James can't go in there. James pushes Diggle aside and enters, anticipating one of the soldiers has set the detonation fuse wrong again, and moves to see...and his voice trails off by what they are gathered around - Johnny, who is no longer human, lying on a slab of metal. The soldiers offer to take care of Johnny themselves while James leaves, but James instead orders one of them to hand over a gun, which James uses to execute Johnny.

Johnny is buried outside by the squad, with James saying to himself over and over "what" was lying on the slab wasn't Johnny. Nevertheless, James says goodbye to Johnny, more for himself (as he knows Johnny can't hear him) as a way to say goodbye to Johnny, England, to the life he had and the punk he used to be, as its a broken world now and James needs to be a better man for it. James moves to leave, taking Johnny's jacket with him. James looks at the Chimera skull & cross-bones emblem on Johnny's jacket, and declares he will never forget (thus the stage is set for "Resistance: Retribution").