Return to the virus-infected Manhattan of Prototype in this new graphic novel bridging the blockbuster game with its highly anticipated sequel! Written by Prototype 2 game writer and comics writer Dan Jolley (JSA: The Liberty File, Firestorm,BloodHound), this volume includes three original stories, previously only available digitally, enriching the stories of the central characters of Prototype 2 and revealing secrets of the devastated NYZ!
Release Date 1st August 2012
This prequel graphic novel is split into 3 separate stories. The first of which, "The Anchor", follows Alex Mercer after the events of the first Prototype game. Alex was the main character you played in Prototype, following his story of what happened to him when he awakes in a goverment morgue. And I won't spoil what the ending of the story was here. In this story, Alex travels the world trying to fit back into humanity but only finding that humans are "worse than worthless, humans are vermin". Just seeing how people treat other in every day life, showing no care for your fellow human on the street. This story which no doubt leads straight into the events of the second Prototype game which, at this date, I have still to play.
The second story, "The Survivors", follows a small group of 3 people - Conrad, Marcie and a young boy called Ami Levin. We follow this group just trying to escape the red zone, which is the area most affected by the blacklight virus. Giving us an idea of the extreme measures they need to take just to survive which includes attacking the private military that are there to supposedly protect the uninfected. We follow the journey with them making it back to the green zone where no infection exists at - which point I will not spoil what happens. With these people I am not sure if the story continues into the game itself but, considering it is from the same writer of the game, I would like to hope so.
The third and last story, "The Labyrinth", follows the origin of your character in Prototype 2, Sgt. James Heller. He wakes up with a stranger in some sort of prison cell where he is told people are getting experimented on, after his cell mate is removed from the cell something happens and his cell opens up. He discovers nobody seems to be around except a few of the infected, after dispatching them he finds a store room and a weapon and discovers more survivors. And when in a situation of taking the life of an unarmed scientist that had done experiments on people, he decides not to execute him and we discover it was all a test. He wakes up on a military base with no memory of what had happened and is told a sniper grazed his head with a bullet.
The art design for each story is done by 3 seperate people so each one has its own style. My personal opinion is the 1st and 3rd were very well drawn. The 2nd story I wasn't as keen on, especially the writing, it was dificult to read on the e-reader. So if you have a choice and really want these little extra stories in the Prototype world I would pick up a physical copy as the digital copy, even on my PC monitor, got hard to read at some points. With that being the only negative, I found the sories were well writen and involving. I highly recommend anyone that enjoys the world of Prototype to check this out.
Book Depository:
Prototype 2
Amazon UK:
Prototype 2
