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Resistance is a 2009 comic book limited series published by Wildstorm, based on the Resistance video game series. The series was written by Mike Costa, with art by Ramón Pérez. The prequel Resistance #0 (which was available as part of the Resistance 2 Collector's Edition) was written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, and 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 Shepherd, the seemingly innocent soldier who was transformed into "Daedalus," the leader of the Chimera).

Issue #0[]

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The story of how U.S. Army Private Jordan Adam Shepherd became Daedalus. In a long series of flashbacks, Shepherd grew up in an abusive home with his father in which he was consumed by his father's traits of rampant alcoholism, religious fervor, extreme temper, and paranoia. When he reached adulthood, Shepherd murdered his neighbor under the mistaken belief that he was having an affair with his wife after he became close to her following her miscarriage.

When he realized he what he had done, and horrified at how he was becoming more like his late father, a guilt-ridden Shepherd attempted to redeem himself by enlisting in the U.S. Army. He 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. After being injected, Shepherd became a "world of problems" according to his irate SRPA handler Doctor Ortiz.

The experiment had drastically mutated Shepherd into a Chimeran creature. He was then confined to a Project Abraham compound and attended by Dr. Ortiz. When Ortiz constantly berated Shepherd for his current condition, Shepherd develop psychokinetic powers in which he use into attacking his handler. Shepherd is eventually overpowered and sedated by a SRPA panic team.

Issue #1 - Dancers On A Plane[]

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The United States' largest military base in the world, Fort Anchorage, Alaska, has been captured by the Chimera. Efforts to drive back the invaders have failed, 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 Chimeran virus, is activated as "Sentinel Team Alpha". The team consists of Joseph Capelli, Benjamin Warner, Hank Leavitt, Campbell, and Waldron. Their commanding officer Major Welles brief them on their 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.

Capelli questions Welles that even he understands the urgency of a possible invasion, but he does not understand over not using a larger force, or other divisions capable of keeping secrets, instead of the Sentinels. The Major answers that the Chimera have captured the atomic bomb.

Meeting

Sentinel Team Alpha

Johnny Grayson recalls his childhood in the 1930s, remembering how he and his brother Johnny were truly happy. However, that all ended when the Chimera came. James's father was re-commissioned as an officer, and Johnny also joined the war effort as a pilot, with James not far behind. The elder Grayson was eventually killed in combat, the devastation of which made James realize his father's example was not 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 and supply shortages, as the Chimera were besieging Europe and the Americans refusing to help. One evening, Johnny and James get into an argument, where Johnny insists James no longer go into London, 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 does not really care about his safety or their mother's, but instead cares more about appearing like a hero. Johnny, however, counters that James does not fully 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 in the war in Europe. 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 - False Start[]

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Sentinel Team Alpha is on a ship en-route to Alaska. 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 Chimeran creature. 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 almost 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, Campbell is shot dead, and his comrades take cover. The creature, a Chameleon, that shot the Sentinel then turns invisible, and kills the incapacitated sailor. Capelli then takes charge of the team and outmaneuvers and dispatches the creature with his combat knife. 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. would not 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 refuses and 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 - Fool's House[]

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Team Alpha finally reached Fort Anchorage. Upon arrival, they find that the hanger doors are open. They enter the hanger, only to find a giant Hybrid cocoon 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 Hybrids' nest in the hanger; he then entered a nearby lab to make an acid to eradicate the cocoons. The Sentinels then raises the question as to how the Chimera, in large massive forces, were able to enter Alaska undetected by radar. Oppenheimer explains that the Chimera's weather-control technology in creating deep cold environments recreated the Bering land-bridge, allowing large massive ground forces to easily cross into North America, which Oppenheimer fears that they will conquer America within an estimate of four days. Suddenly, a Hybrid runs into the room and leaps upon Oppenheimer. The Sentinels try to get the Hybrid off him without shooting, fearing they may hit Oppenheimer. Eventually, they removed the Hybrid and dispatched it by forcing a gun into its mouth. Oppenheimer then realizes that they are too late to get rid of the cocoons, as they already 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. As Johnny had feared, 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.

Back in England, James 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[]

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After killing the Hybrid that attacked Dr. Oppenheimer, the panicked doctor tells the Sentinels to barricade the door. They refuse, explaining that it will not hold the Hybrids 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 any Hybrids they come across. However, there are simply too many for them to handle all at once, and a Chimera leaps into the air and bites the doctor, but the Sentinels quickly kill it. With Oppenheimer now wounded and being not far from an exit, they grab him and run. They soon make it outside and lock the hangar door.

Capelli's reason for fighting

Capelli explains to Oppenheimer for why he fights.

The group later finds their way into the cafeteria and barricade 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 hopeless battle. Capelli replies he want to protect Earth from these "monsters" and Oppenheimer asks again why: "there are men who afraid and full of pain you are full pain and hate". Capelli then explains how he was in Project Abraham and remembers two men, Nathan Hale and Jordan Shepherd. When he tried to sleep, he had visions (likely from sleeping near Shepherd, who is slowly mutating into Daedalus) and saw the Chimera killing everyone; he simply does not wish this to come true. The Sentinels eventually come up with a plan: they intend on making the gas lines in the hanger leak, thus they would be able to force the Hybrids into the command center, where Capelli would be waiting with a Wraith to meet them. The plan is successful in getting rid of the Hybrids, but gives the Sentinels bigger problems as the rest of the Chimera at the base are alerted to their presence.

Johnny Grayson manages to get the survivors to Dunkirk without any more deaths. When the guards refuses to allow them entry and leading to an argument between them and Johnny, they are eventually let in after Johnny's identity is recognized. Johnny then search for the person in charge and find Roland Mallery, who informs Johnny that the Chimera are digging under the English Channel.

Meanwhile, James 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 meet 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 - Target With Five Faces[]

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Capelli takes cover from Titan fire as Waldron and Warner run into the hangar where the bomb is, but only to find another Titan guarding it. Waldron wounds the Titan by stabbing it in the groin before throwing a grenade into its mouth. 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, Waldron provides some covering fire before being killed by another Titan. After Waldron's death, Capelli gives the order to rescue Oppenheimer. While Capelli finds a safe place, the rest of his squad saves the doctor. Capelli commandeers a tank and orders the rest of the Sentinels to bring the bomb onto the tank in order for Oppenheimer to defuse it. But they then notice a Chimeran battleship heading their way.

British forces are fighting a losing battle with the Chimera. Meanwhile, Johnny Grayson is flying back to England. During the transit, Johnny meets Rachel Parker, whom he often saw at the base but had never spoken with her before. He tells Parker that if she wanted a report about the Chimera's Earth Movers, he did a fine job of killing endless waves of Chimera.

Johnny soon reunites with James, who is in a hospital because of an injury to his leg. Johnny admonish his brother for his habit for disobeying orders and endangering 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 their 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 - White Flag[]

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Capelli is sitting in an interrogation room 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."

The remaining members of Sentinel Team Alpha got in the tank just as the Chimeran battleship bore down upon them. As a result, the ship accidentally scooped them up. Capelli senses the ship is banking around and heading back to Europe Sentinel Hank 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 the Sentinels. Using the tank's main gun 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.

Back in the present, the SRPA 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 seven rounds) firing at the hull to breach it. The official casually notes this and then pointedly asks what happened next.

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 secured. 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 replies 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 but only to notice Warner and Leavitt getting in the tank as well. Leavitt says that Murphy told them to fall back to the tank. Capelli questions as to 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.

It

"It" as described by Joseph Capelli.

Capelli sadly recounts that 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 prevent the Chimera from getting the bomb, and save his team. Capelli assumed 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 ten 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. Twenty or thirty minutes later, Alpha Team regained consciousness and saw "it" from about 50 miles away: the bomb had detonated and completely destroying the ship in a fiery explosion, with Murphy still aboard. The survivors were picked up 17 hours later by a submarine that SRPA had sent to investigate the blast. Capelli, truly touched and lost for words, complements that Murphy was a hero and, if SRPA had not erased all their names from the records, would be recommending him for the Medal of Honor.

The official, however, is not pleased with how the mission had turned out. He criticizes the Sentinels, and especially Murphy, for losing the bomb, the very weapon SRPA sent Alpha Team to recover. Furthermore, 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 it's clear that Leavitt was the only one who had any clue how to handle the mission, and Murphy and Capelli only botched it. The official further express that Murphy do not deserve any commendations. Just as the official calls Murphy and along with Capelli a "disgrace," Capelli punches the man in the face.

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 (as aforementioned by Oppenheimer), and so Murphy saved every man, woman and child in the United States. The official is unmoved and declaring Capelli that he is "done": he is heading to the brig, and he would not 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."

End of Issue 6

Welles muses over needing "monsters" as Capelli lies in captivity.

As Capelli is led away in handcuffs, Major Welles and a higher-ranking officer look on, having heard every word. The officer asks Welles what he thinks, and Welles replies 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. A private arrives and shows Welles a letter found in Capelli's effects; it is addressed to someone named "Sarah". It is a total breach of protocol, but SRPA could not find a single woman with that name in Capelli's file. But the private knows that some of the Sentinels were more "familiar" with "Cassie". 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 they "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." Capelli is left languishing behind bars, the scars on his face caused by the virus clearly seen.

Johnny Grayson was shot down again, and his entire squad was wiped out. James, meanwhile, is 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 foolish as promoting Grayson, saying he would not 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. James acknowledges his words before he leaves.

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James Grayson attends his brother's burial.

James narrates 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 to destroy the facility before moveing on. The soldier he addresses, Diggle, however, hesitantly says James cannot go into the room. James pushes Diggle aside and enters the room, anticipating one of the soldiers has set the detonation fuse wrong again. But he only finds 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 he uses to execute his mutated brother.

Johnny is buried outside by the squad. James tells himself over and over "what" was lying on the slab was not Johnny. Nevertheless, James says goodbye to Johnny, more for himself as a way to say goodbye to his brother, England, to the life he had and the punk he used to be, as it's a broken world now and James needs to be a better man for it. James takes his Johnny's jacket with him. He looks at the Chimera skull & cross-bones emblem on the jacket, and he declares he will never forget.

Trivia[]

  • John Gillespie Magee, Jr.'s poem High Flight is read through in the intro of issue one.
  • James's, as well as his brother Johnny's, eye colour erroneously keeps changing from blue to brown.
Resistance series
Main games Resistance: Fall of Man · Resistance 2 · Resistance 3
Spin-off games Resistance: Retribution · Resistance: Burning Skies
Special Editions Resistance Dual Pack · Resistance: The Trilogy · Resistance Collection
Viral marketing games Project Abraham · America First - America Only · Get A War Job · SrpaNet · Metastasis
Comics Resistance
Novels The Gathering Storm · A Hole in the Sky
Strategy guides Resistance: Fall of Man Signature Series Guide · Resistance 2 Signature Series Guide · Resistance 3 Signature Series Guide
  1. ^ Released with Collector's Edition of the Resistance 2 video game.
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