If you've been following the gaming world, odds are pretty good that you've at least heard of Alex Mercer, the anti-hero protagonist in Activision's action game, Prototype. In the game, Mercer wakes up in the morgue, moments before his own autopsy, with no memory of his life before that moment and powers well beyond anything imaginable. At the same time, the outbreak of a strange virus has forced a total quarantine of New York City. With the military patrolling the streets, the city in chaos, and Alex Mercer in the middle of it all trying to make sense of it all, Mercer's story is more than enough to fill the game. But what about the rest of the story? Well, that's where WildStorm's new Prototype comic series comes in.
While the Prototype game focuses on Alex Mercer and his quest for both revenge and knowledge, the Prototype comic tells the story behind the story. As players of the game already know, the New York incident isn't the first time that the military has lost control of its experimental biological virus. Back in 1969, the town of Hope, Idaho was the scene of another outbreak. General Randall, back then just a Lieutenant, was in charge of the cleanup mission. While the mission is touched on in the game, the comic expands on Randall's story in gruesome detail, culminating is his confrontation with Elizabeth Greene, a.k.a. MOTHER.
Meanwhile, back in the present day New York, the comic follows two NYPD detectives investigating a series of brutal murders all seemingly tied to one Alex Mercer. During the course of their investigation, the duo begins to uncover some of the secrets behind Mercer, GENTEK, and Blackwatch. Of course, this puts the detectives right in General Randall's crosshairs, and soon they find themselves running for their lives while trying to expose the cover up and shed some light on the real reason behind the chaos in the streets.
One of the first things you can't help but notice about the Prototype comic is that, despite appearing on every cover, Alex Mercer, the main character in the game, is little more than an ancillary character in the book. If not for the occasional cameo, you'd never even know he was there. Instead, the book focuses on how the events in the game are affecting everyone else, as well as delving deeper into how past events caused things to build to critical mass. Instead of simply retelling the plot from the game, writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti have crafted a great companion book to expand on the Prototype experience. While you don't necessarily have to play the game to understand the book or read the book to get what happens in the game, those that do both will be treated to plenty of "NOW I get it" epiphanies.
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