Customer Reviews

28 Days Later: The Aftermath

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

**Note**
Certain plot details are revealed in my review. However, major plot points, twists, deaths, etc. are not divulged.

Stage 1: Development
Two scientists conduct research and experiments on anger and excessive aggression. They attempt to develop a cure. Warren the main scientist is quite wreckless, while Clive is much more cautious although we learn of his own history with domestic abuse. It is the last straw for Clive when he learns that they have created the exact opposite of what they intended...a rage virus. He refuses to cooperate any longer while Warren loses control of the situation and an infected Chimp escapes.

My notes: I only had one real problem with this chapter. It was confusing in the beginning. There were 4 characters talking along with narrations and it was hard to keep the dialog and characters separate, mainly due to the way bubbles were placed or how characters were drawn or in some instances just shadows. After going over it several times, it became clear although it shouldn't take multiple readings to comprehend what is going on in just the first couple pages.
Warren is a corrupt murderer, Clive has anger control issues and a history with domestic violence...why exactly would these two want to rid the world of rage, when they make a good contribution of anger and aggression themselves? Perhaps fame and fortune...perhaps poor storytelling?

Stage 2: Outbreak
A family is having a picnic to celebrate the mother's birthday. Peaceful enough...until the little brother spies a monkey in a tree, and it doesn't want to play. Things happen very quickly and sacrifices must be made.

My notes: Things happen fast...WAY too fast. Characters have no time to mourn loss, nor do they seem to even take notice of the death of a family member...there is almost no character development at all and it would have had a much deeper impact if it actually gave you a chance to care about the characters. Characters make sacrifices when there was obviously other ways of handling the situation.

Stage 3: Decimation
A lone survivor in a seemingly empty London hunts down any remaining infected and makes some observations on their behavior and comes to the conclusion that they only attack the non-infected because of the use of products such as deodorant and perfumes. When he runs into another survivor, he takes it as a threat and vows to defend his territory...or HIS city as he says repeatedly, and he decides to put his theory to good use.

My notes: I can't stress how ridiculous this story is. The "revelations" on the deodorant just doesn't makes sense when you think about it. It is stressed how quickly the virus spreads, and newly infected obviously were wearing such products right before they became infected. It may make more sense now that the infected are rotting away, but it's not nearly as genius of a discovery as they make it seem.
The guy does something crazy and unjustified...to the point of being completely unbelievable.

Stage 4: Quarantine
The previous 3 chapters come together. Now under quarantine, the characters start to question the motives of their once thought protectors, and ultimately decide that they are in danger by staying under quarantine. A plan must be carried out...

My Notes: Another story where the characters' actions are ridiculous and unbelievable. Why would you flee where you are being protected, where are you going to go? It would be different if they had some sort of insight that would lead to them thinking they were in danger, but that wasn't the case.
The previous three chapters all come together and very sloppily so, and ends very downbeat.

Bonus: Stage 3 (Text Only)
There is also a text-only version of Chapter 3 for some reason at the end, which adds considerable thickness to the book, but doesn't add any actual content. It is interesting to see how a comic book is written before the artwork is done. The text describe how panels are to look, it's sort of like reading a screenplay.

Conclusion: The characters do some pretty crazy things, with little justification, that on top of the lack of any character development really breaks the deal for me and I can't say that I give a recommendation. Perhaps for 5 bucks...but not the 20 I paid. This graphic novel took all of about 10 minutes to read...That comes out to 2 bucks a minute!

If you are looking for some sort of deep insights behind the movie's story or to bridge the first movie and the sequel you may be disappointed. None of the characters from either movie made an appearance or were mentioned in the slightest way.

It is claimed to bridge the two movies...I went into this thinking it may tell what happened to past survivors and that it would bring me right up to the setup for the sequel 28 Weeks Later...I was wrong on all accounts, but this is not why I regret purchasing this. It is because of the poor storytelling and horrid development of the characters. It tells you very little of what you don't already know, and it doesn't really bring you to the beginning of the sequel. It could have very well been written years ago without any knowledge of 28 Weeks Later. I actually was much more impressed by the radical alternate ending storyboards on the 28 Days Later DVD...

I was really disappointed by this book. I, like the other reviewers, am a big fan of 28 Days Later and was hoping for more depth into the world created by it. While on the surface this book is supposed to provide just that, what actually comes from this book is just filler. There is a little bit of hinting and preparation for the plot of the sequel, but nothing that couldn't be gathered from the trailer on tv. The art was adequate but didn't establish the mood or atmosphere of the film. The story seemed rushed and could have been drawn out to include better character depth. After finishing the last page I was left with the sad conclusion that I had wasted my time and money. I'm sorry to say that as I'd like to support the people and ideas behind this, but there you go.

Fox Atomic Comics makes an auspicious jump into the Graphic Novel arena with 28 DAYS LATER: THE AFTERMATH, a gorgeous full-color prequel/follow-up to Danny Boyle's zombie epic 28 DAYS LATER, which also serves as a prequel to 28 WEEKS LATER. If only they had charged $10.00 more for this book, you would have gone home from the store 28 bucks later.......

The book, written by the current go-to guy for comic-book Horror, Steve Niles, tells a trio of unrelated stories that come together for the finale, in a most underwhelming fashion. Characterization has never been Niles' strong suit, and THE AFTERMATH is more of the same. We meet the architects of the Rage Virus, join a family trying to escape London after the virus breaks out, and prowl the deserted streets of the city with a gun-wielding vigilante, before Niles attempts to join the stories together without much success. (Are there any potential readers of a book like this that haven't seen George Romero's classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD....? Niles must think so, since he stole the ending from it, lock, stock, and barrel........) The art runs the gamut from serviceable to pretty damned impressive......It's just too bad the art didn't have a better story to go with it. Fans of 28 DAYS LATER will find nothing here they haven't seen before. It's all wrapped up in a pretty package, and it's well worth a look, just don't go in expecting too much.

It hurts me to leave a bad review for this Graphic Novel because I am such a big fan of the movie "28 Days Later".

First off, I think the 4 stories, instead of being combined in one 112 page graphic novel, would've been better if they were more developed, expanded, and released individually as four separate graphic novels.

Just when you think you're getting to know a character - guess what happens! They die - and you don't care because they never made an impact on the reader. The stories seem edited to death. Like they may have once been longer but were spliced down to some incoherent commercial length teaser that lacks substance.

Ouch! This hurts! But I'm disappointed.

Steve Niles, 28 Days Later: The Aftermath (Fox Atomic, 2007)

I've been reading Steve Niles' stuff on and off for a few years now, and to this day, I can't really figure out whether I like the guy's writing or not. His latest offering is a graphic novel based (loosely) on Danny Boyle's excellent film 28 Days Later.... I should have known better than to expect a graphic novel to live up to the film, but Niles, when he brings his A game, is one of the authors who could actually pull it off.

He brought his B game here. I can understand why Niles was the top choice for this; he writes a lot like Danny Boyle filmed the flick, with that same slightly artificial frenzied-jump-cut quality. But where the style of filmmaking led to a fine, claustrophobic menace in the movie, here it just leads to stories that seem more like unfinished sketches. What's here is good, and it's intriguing, and it leaves you wanting more; the problem is that these stories, which are only loosely connected at best, never give you the "more" part of the equation. If this ends up being a series, then perhaps it will redeem itself; if it stands on its own, it's not nearly enough of what could have been a good thing. ** ½

Being a big fan of the original movie and eagerly looking forward to its sequel, I picked this up solely for its claim on giving some background on events on the original and setting up events in the sequel. After reading it, I have mixed feelings about this. The background story as told in the first chapter was not very revealing in that it was already understood (somewhat) in the first film. The three chapters that follow it were not very fluid nor involved to get a deep emotional response from me. The characters seemed flat and underdeveloped. I guess it's expected when there is not much room in the pages to work with.

As for the events that are allegedly going to lead up to the sequel, they were OK and nothing impressive. It does pique the curiosity as to how it will roll out in the film itself when it opens in May but no cliffhanger nor suspenseful lead-up.

Overall it's an interesting read though. The art is different in each chapter which thankfully makes the story tolerable. The graphic novel reads more as "stories within the universe of 28 Days Later" and not so much as directly connected to the film. But that's just how I feel about it. Read it and formulate your own opinion.

Was excited to read the book. The stories feel like Niles was just trying to make some cash on the side and really didn't care about the plots. It's okay to read if you don't have anything else when on the toilet but other than that it was pretty lame. Art was good though. The third story kinda sucked.

This comic was made to fill in the gaps between the movie "28 Days Later" and its sequel "28 Weeks Later." And to fill in some of the backstory in to what caused these events. The story is told in four parts beginning with two scientists working on their latest project on-a drug that will stop uncontrollable rage. But something goes horribly wrong. The virus mutates...into an uncontrollable rage virus affecting everyone bitten by the creature as it rampages through London. It soon spreads throughout the city, claiming families and children and everyday people under its terrible power, turning them into unrecognizable creatures. Soon the entire city of London is deserted except for the creatures that have been infected by the virus. And they hunt for their next meal.

I've not seen either movie, but I was really hoping that the work would stand on its own...and it just doesn't quite measure up to that for me. You don't have to have seen the movies to read the issue, but it just feels like I'm missing a lot of the story by not having seen them. For example, with the army post set up in the fourth section, where did that come from and how did people get there? There's just no information about it at all and just suddenly appears. I'm used to filling in gaps, but that's a pretty big one. And why the heck did a scientist call an animal liberation front to release a monkey that was infected with a rage virus? What kind of sense does that make? And when he woke up how did he even know what the heck was going on? I know it's a fantasy work, but this one left my head straining. Even worse for me is that I just don't feel like we got to really know the characters at all, which makes it hard to feel for them as I read the story. I just would have liked to see a little bit less blood, gore, and zombie killing and more information about the characters.

The artwork for this issue just felt really convoluted to me. For something that was put together as a single issue it just didn't have enough consistency in the style. It alternated between art like an actual comic and having images based upon photographs, almost like movie stills, with colors applied to them. I think what jars me the most is the fact that the styles are so different from one section to the next which takes away from the story because you have to keep trying to figure out references for who the characters are from section to section as they don't always look alike. I think it would have worked better for the story line if one style had been chosen versus three. Treating each section as a separate style though, the artwork is quite really quite nice with loads of details for people to latch onto and discover more about the surroundings of the characters. Taken as a whole though its like trying to watch one film that had three different directors, all with their own unique style.

It seems more like they were trying to capitalize on the movie, versus making a good comic which is disappointing to me. If you're a fan of the movie or its sequel and want to know more about what caused the events then this book is for you. Otherwise, I can't really recommend it because although it sort of stands on its own, you really need the movies to bookend it. If you're looking for a good zombie comic I'd recommend reading "Rotten" or "The Living Dead" series instead.

I loved 28 Days Later, it was a great movie. This comic wasn't awesome, but it wasn't horrible. However it should be called "Tales of 28 Days Later." It's made up of stories that take place before the movie, during the events of the movie and after the infected begin to die off.

The book shows how the disease started and what it's original intention was. Turns out it was intended to be used as a way to control people's behavior and was meant to be released into the public in the form of an airborne virus. It is set up well and at the end of the very first story in the book we find out just how the animal rights activists in the beginning of the movie found out that there were chimps in the facility being experimented on.

It's also interesting to see how the uninfected humans acted almost as violent as the infected ones when push came to shove or if they couldn't get something they wanted or if something got in the way of their goals. Or when the rules of society no longer apply to them because society has crumbled, they can now act out their primal aggressions and desires to attack and destroy each other.

Another story in this anthology is about a family and how they are basically torn apart due to the infection and how they are forced to kill one of their own family members who is infected and how the parents sacrifice themselves so their remaining children can escape to safety.

Usually comic book adaptations of movies are a bomb, but this one was pretty good. If you liked the movie, it's worth checking out.

28 Days Later by Alex Garland is the script from the movie, but seeing and hearing the tale as a movie is a different experience than reading it yourself. Without the actors and the stage your own mind fills in the blanks and it depends on how imaginative you are as to how much you will enjoy it. In the reading I formed very different images than were projected in the movie. The survival driven behavior felt more motivated and the characters more frightened. In the movie Hannah seemed more precocious and Selena more deadly. The differences were all subtle, but there, and seeing the movie before I read the book was an interesting switch for me. As for the tale itself, it is a stunning, frightening, blend of characters and events that will make you aware of the dangers we all face from both scientists and animal advocates who think their way is what is best for all of us. As the tale proves out, thinking for yourself is the only way to go.