28 Days Later # 16 (Boom! – Nelson / Aragon)

Selena and her crew must make it to London, but before they do they face some hard choices. A city is in peril. Man may prove worse than the Infected. But can Selena even help while her destination beckons? Cover by Eisner Award-nominee Sean Phillips.

Even close to a year and a half later, the series 28 Days Later continues to deliver consistently and powerfully to it’s readers.  Now, I could gush about the writer Michael Alan Nelson and what a great story-teller he is (which is very true) or how his narrative scaffolding is brilliant (which is also very true) or I could talk about the art teams over the last sixteen issues have put together amazing pages and frames that visually allow the emotion and tension of story to come through the pages (which, once again, is true) but instead I will claim that a major factor of the success of this book is the reader’s emotional investment in main protagonist Selena.

Now, is how the reader connects to Selena a direct result of the exemplary writing and art? Sure it is.  But it is the attachment, connection and empathy that the reader makes with Selena that transforms this comic’s story arcs from zombie stories into emotional journeys.  In very much the same way the movie Alien would have had a completely different feel (and very much less emotional – as we saw in the sequel Aliens) if we had followed a Rambo-type being chased in the dark rather than Ripley.  28 Days later would be just another zombie book if we were following military jarheads battling the diseased rather than a exciting roller-coaster of a tale that draws us in to every frame.

Selena, not unlike Ripley, rises to the occasion, does what is needed and doesn’t let anything get in the way while still connecting with the reader through inner-dialogue.  She fights through her emotion and makes the hard calls, instead of simply not having emotions – and that distinction is what moves her into the “great hero” category.  If Selena ever made to the small or big screen, the masses would fall in love with her the same way they did with Buffy, Sarah Connors and the aforementioned Ellen Ripley.

Issue Grade: A