28 Days Later (comics)

''28 Days Later'' is a comic book series published by BOOM! Studios, written by Michael Alan Nelson and drawn by Declan Shalvey and Alejandro Aragon.

The series follows on from the events of ''28 Days Later'', initially taking place in the gap between it and the sequel, ''28 Weeks Later'', much like the graphic novel '' 28 Days Later: The Aftermath'', and as such references the upcoming American-led NATO occupation. Issues 22, 23 and 24 directly reference events from the second film, and takes place in the same time frame, ending with the Rage Virus spreading into continental Europe.

Main characters

Selena - One of the three survivors from the first film. Selena lives as a refugee in Norway.

Clint Harris - An American reporter who learns that a U.S.-led NATO force will soon enter London to start the restoration process. In an effort to get the "whole" story, Clint plans on sneaking past the quarantine into infected London with his team with Selena as his guide.

Derrick - An American cameraman reporter and Clint Harris' best friend.

Captain Stiles - The main antagonist and a good friend of the late Major Henry West, from the first film.

Collected editions

Plot

It has been two months since the Rage outbreak. At a refugee camp in Norway, Selena is visited by an American journalist named Clint Harris, who asks her to help him sneak through Britain's island-wide quarantine and act as his guide in London. After initially refusing, Selena reminisces about her life prior to the outbreak and decides to join Clint at his helicopter. Clint introduces her to the rest of his team: Derrick, Trina, Hirsch and Acorn. Selena and Derrick instantly dislike each other. Upon being attacked by a U.S. aerial patrol, the group lands in the Shetland Islands. They soon discover that Infection has spread to Shetland from mainland Britain.

After fighting Infected at an abandoned hotel, the group drive a hot-wired van to Sumburgh, fortifying themselves in a pub. Selena and Derrick are able to sort out their differences over a drink and a game of Texas Hold'em poker. Unfortunately, Selena is forced to kill Hirsch when he is bitten by Infected, leading Trina, his lover, to hold a psychotic vendetta against her. As the pub is attacked, Trina bites Selena's arm in an unsuccessful bid to have her killed as an Infected. The group escapes the pub and commandeers a boat, heading for Scotland. Everyone except Selena, Clint and Derrick is killed when the boat is attacked by a U.S. fighter jet.

Selena and Clint are left to guide a blinded Derrick towards the shores of Scotland. As the former two set up a campfire, they discuss what to do with Derrick, since it would be difficult to get a blind person all the way to London. Derrick refuses to allow Selena to kill him, and she reluctantly agrees. In a flashback, we see Clint's initial efforts to cover the Rage pandemic during the original outbreak, during which he travelled to France and witnessed the U.S. military's human experimentation with the Rage virus on the Isle of Wight, which was unaffected by the Rage Virus. Seeing the contagion's effects, Clint decided to approach Selena at the refugee camp.

Selena and Clint save Derrick from two oncoming Infected, and learn that despite claims and reports, some of the Infected in Scotland have not died off. They find cover in a village, where Derrick falls ill and the other two struggle to care for him. Selena once again tries to convince Clint to euthanize Derrick, but he refuses. The following night, a horde of Infected destroy their van. The damage being merely cosmetic, Selena, Clint and Derrick take off in another van and run into a group of armed survivors led by a woman named Kate. Kate sends Selena and Clint to Halkirk to search for antibiotics in what she tells them is a pharmacy; however, it turns out that she sent them to recover her son, Douglas.

The three are captured by U.S. intelligence personnel, which experiments on Douglas with the Rage virus for the purpose of weaponizing it. Clint and Selena manage to escape as a forest fire nears the U.S. camp, which is overwhelmed by fleeing Infected. After recovering Derrick, Selena and Clint commandeer a train in Inverness; Derrick, however, is killed in the process. Travelling to Edinburgh, Selena and Clint discover that the survivors in the city are locked in a resource war with delinquents in Glasgow.

Upon entering England, the pair are confronted by a Captain Stiles, a former British Army officer who seeks revenge against Selena for her role in the death of his commander, Major Henry West. After several close run-ins, Selena is captured and taken to Manchester; Clint is abandoned and is eventually found by the U.S. Army. Stiles takes Selena to the mansion which West and his troops had fortified and tortured her. He meets his death as he walks across the lawn, which is laced with landmines. Selena is rescued by U.S. troops, who had been tipped off by Clint where Selena had been taken.

Selena and Clint are both taken to London, which is being repopulated by British refugees who had escaped during the outbreak, under NATO supervision. Selena leaves shortly afterwards, sneaking out of the green zone to search her former home. There, it is revealed her husband had been infected during the outbreak months earlier, forcing Selena to kill him. Selena and Clint are eventually reunited as the infection once again breaks out in London, and successfully escape across to France via boat. They board a flight to the United States just as the infection breaks out in France and the Infected storm Paris, escaping the infection.

References

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{{28 film franchise
28 Days Later
Comics based on films
2009 comics debuts
2011 comics endings