- "I've conquered the six to twelve minute barrier. I've conquered brain death!"
- ―Herbert West
"Re-Animator" | |
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Re-Animator | |
Title: | "Re-Animator" |
Volume: | 1 |
Number: | 2 |
Cover price: | $2.95 |
Cover date: | December, 1991 |
Publisher: | Adventure Comics |
Credits | |
Chief: | Chris Ulm |
Writers: | Steven Philip Jones |
Pencilers: | Christopher Jones |
Inkers: | Christopher Jones |
Cover artists: | Lurene Haines |
Cover inker: | Lurene Haines |
Cover colorist: | Lurene Haines |
Colorists: | Michelle Mach |
Letterers: | Joseph Allen |
Assistants: | Dan Danko |
Navigation | |
Previous: | Re-Animator #1 |
Next: | Re-Animator #3 |
"Re-Animator" is the second issue of a three-issue Re-Animator comic book limited series published by Adventure Comics - an imprint of Malibu Graphics. The story was written by Steven Philip Jones with artwork by Christopher Jones. It was colored by Michelle Mach, lettered by Joseph Allen and features a painted cover illustrated by Lurene Haines. This issue shipped with a December, 1991 cover date and carries a cover price of $2.95 per copy (US).
Synopsis[]
Dan and Herbert skulk about the basement of Dan's house, looking for Rufus. Dan has a baseball bat, and Herbert is wielding a croquet mallet. Rufus leaps out of the shadows and slams into Dan, knocking him to the ground. Dan wrestles with the undead animal before slamming it into a wall where it splatters. After taking a moment to breathe, Dan stitches up Herbert's facial injury. West places the ruined cat into a tray and withdraws his special reagent formula. He tells Dan about conquering the six to twelve minute window governing brain death, then tells him about his work with Hans Gruber in Zürich. Implying that he tested his formula on his still-living mentor, Herbert recalls how Doctor Gruber went into a mad frenzy and tore out his own eyes. As a result, West was asked to leave the school.
Dan doesn't believe Herbert West and thinks he just used some form of trickery on Rufus. Herbert asks him if he believes the cat is currently dead. Then he injects him with his reagent. The carcass comes to life, but makes a horrific sound. West punctuates the grisly scene by saying, "Birth is always painful". Unfortunately for both of them, Megan Halsey enters the basement and sees the grotesque Rufus. Dan rushes her out of the room.
On October 13th, Doctor Harrod tells Dan that he is to report to Dean Halsey's office. Megan had told her father about what she had witnessed at Dan's house with the cat. Dan tells Dean Halsey about Herbert West's experiments in reanimating dead animal tissue. The Dean is unhappy and tells Dan that he is pulling his grant and loan funding. Furthermore, he is no longer to see his daughter, Megan. Doctor Carl Hill is present and could not be happier. A grin creeps across his mouth at the notion of Megan's availability. Dan spots this furtive look and tells Hill to stay away from Megan.
Later, Dan smuggles Herbert West into the morgue at Miskatonic University by hiding him under a sheet on a rolling gurney. They scavenge through the cadavers looking for one that would be appropriate to test Hebert's reagent upon. They find a corpse that may have expired from heart failure, but is otherwise a perfect physical specimen. They inject him with Reagent and the thing springs to undead life and runs amok.
Dean Halsey comes to the medical center with Megan looking for Dan. Doctor Harrod directs him towards the morgue, but indicates that Megan has to stay in the waiting area. Halsey goes to the morgue and begins banging on the locked door. The reanimate, gifted with superhuman strength, pushes the heavy steel door off its hinges, which lands on top of Halsey. The creature attacks Halsey, slamming him against a wall and biting off his fingers. Herbert West comes up behind them with a drill and drives it through the reanimate causing it to collapse. The dean however, is dead. Herbert West sees this as a perfect opportunity.
Shortly thereafter, Doctor Carl Hill arrives at the medical school. Doctor Harrod has called him in on an urgent matter, and tells him that Dean Halsey came here in search of Dan Cain. She further tells him that Halsey apparently went insane and attacked Dan's roommate. When Hill gets to the morgue, he finds Dan there with Herbert West and Megan. Dean Halsey is crouched in the corner of the room with blood across his face. He has been reanimated.
Appearances[]
Featured characters
Supporting characters
- A. Mace
- Allan Halsey (Dies)
- Carl Hill
- Megan Halsey
Villains
Minor characters
Organizations
Races & Animals
Locations
- Switzerland (In flashback only)
Items
Vehicles
Miscellaneous
- Broken back
- College
- Dead animals
- Eye injuries (In flashback only)
- Hospital
- Male frontal nudity
- Male rear nudity
- Morgue
- Power tools
- Severed fingers
- Smoking
- Superhuman strength
Notes & Trivia[]
- The tagline for this series is "Death is just the beginning...".
- This issue adapts the second act of the 1985 sci-fi/horror film Re-Animator by director Stuart Gordon and screenwriters Dennis Paoli and William J. Norris. It is loosely based on the short story, "Herbert West - Reanimator" by Gothic horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.
- This series is rated M and is suggested for mature readers.
- In Canada, the cover price for this series is $3.50 per copy.
- Tom Mason is the creative director on this series.
- Kim Scholter is the publishing coordinator on this series.
- Mickie Villa is the art director on this series.
- This issue gives special thanks to Brian Yuzna, who is a producer on Re-Animator, Bride of Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator. He is the director of the latter two films in the series.
- Alan Halsey's name is spelled as Allan Halsey in this issue.
- Herbert West makes reference to The Riddle of the Universe, a philosophical study authored by Ernst Haeckel in 1901.
- Reference is made to Hans Gruber in this issue. Hans Gruber was Herbert West's mentor at the University of Zurich. He appears in flashback in this issue. The name Hans Gruber is more popularly known for a character played by Alan Rickman in the 1988 action film Die Hard, where he served as the central antagonist of the movie.
- This issue establishes that Herbert West originally hailed from Boston, Massachusetts.
- Allan Halsey makes reference to The Body Snatchers in this issue. This is a science fiction novel written by Jack Finney and published in the November-December, 1954 editions of Collier's magazine.
- Allan Halsey makes reference to Victor Frankenstein, who is the titular character from Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
- Note the shovel in Dan's basement. This will become important come issue #3.
- The flashback scene involving Hans Gruber actually takes place as the opening scene in the feature film. The events immediately precede the main events of the film.
Recommended Reading[]
- Re-Animator Vol 2 (Dynamite Entertainment)
- Re-Animator: Dawn of the Re-Animator Vol 1 (Malibu Graphics)
- Re-Animator: Tales of Herbert West Vol 1 (Malibu Graphics)
- Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator Vol 1 (Dynamite Entertainment)