Review - 28 Days Later #5

Welcome back readers and fellow fans of the travels of what remains of expose reporter Clint’s band of merry misfits. In what started out as a full party of individuals attempting to get to London to report the truth behind the Rage outbreak, we were left in issue #4 with but a fraction of those people. Since the crew is just beginning their adventure, the number of infected people they’ve encountered has been relatively few. What we have learned is that military jets are still more efficient killers then random Rage infected people. Selena makes quick work of them with her trusty machete while all the other seasoned war reporters bumble around mostly useless. Well Boom! Studios is back with the fifth issue in this look at the events in between 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later. This issue finally introduced us in a more substantial way to the two main members of the adventure other then Selena: Clint, the leader, and Derrick, his cynical, alcoholic right-hand man. Apparently Clint and Derrick just got back from assignment in Baghdad where things did not go as smoothly as they were supposed to. It appears that Clint won the Pulitzer but Clint is worse for wear, and he looks good compared to Derrick. Clint is trying to sleep when his phone rings pretty much constantly for four hours and when he finally looks up he is told by his editor to turn on the TV. Clint finds the panicked people of London running from an unknown virus. He isn’t assigned the report because technically he is on leave, but his editor is just letting him know in case he is interested. Clint loads up and collects his friend Derrick. In what boils down to a background into how Clint and Derrick ended up getting to the point where Clint recruits Selena to begin with (the story leading up to that is fleshed out). I really wish they had done this throughout the previous issues as flashback sequences instead of dedicating this whole issue to it. While the artwork is consistent and well done, and the story is well written, the last two issues have killed the momentum that the series had going for me. This does nothing to answer the cliffhangerish ending of the fourth issue. It seems like there has been enough action (and certainly enough death and destruction) to allow opportunities for Clint and Derrick to explain their backgrounds in brief flashbacks. Given what happened to Derrick in Iraq, let’s just say Selena having to cut down one of their comrades would have provided a perfect opportunity. I’ll leave it at that. I’m not sure if the story has gone this way by design or if the creators simply needed some filler so it didn’t end quickly. Overall, I’m still enjoying the series a lot, but from a title like 28 Days Later I would expect more action then just a news report, a slight panic at an airport, and an experiment gone wrong following the outbreak. I think I appreciate Derrick a little more now which is a good thing, and I’m certainly more invested in the characters, but I was just hoping that the main storyline (for lack of a better phrase for it) would advance a little in this issue. That said, after an issue like this I can’t imagine that #6 isn’t going to be brutal and fast paced now that we have learned about every character left standing. Consider this one a fill-in-the-blanks issue that will answer a lot of questions, but to find out what is happening on the island, alas, we will all have to wait for next time. Happy reading!

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