Memory Pak: This Resident Evil Comic Made Me Sympathise With A Tyrant

Welcome to the latest instalment in our nostalgia-inducing column, Memory Pak, where we deep-dive into some of the most memorable moments in gaming – good and bad.

Today, to mark the 25th anniversary of Resident Evil 2's N64 launch in Japan, Ollie reflects on a curious short comic book story that, against all logic, made him sympathise with a Tyrant...

I feel rather fortunate that my time at primary and high school was mostly made up of happy memories. I distinctly remember days in which I would sit on the playground steps with my friends, swapping Pokémon cards, linking up our Game Boy Colors, and discussing the impending launch of the GameCube and how excited we were to play the likes of Luigi’s Mansion and Super Monkey Ball.

Throughout those years, although my circle of friends could certainly be described as 'the nerds' or 'the outcasts', I was never the sole target for school bullies. In fact, I was probably one of the most average individuals in my year; the perfect student to be enrolled at Danganronpa’s ‘Hope’s Peak Academy’, you might say. We were mostly targeted as a group, so we’d have stones hurled at us on the playground (though from a long enough distance that the bullies could make an argument that any potential injury would have been accidental) and be subtly pushed into the walls of the school’s corridors.

I got by, though. It was thankfully never egregious enough to completely derail my enjoyment of school; something that, unfortunately, isn’t the case for many youngsters these days. The friendship I had with my peers always outweighed any potential hardships endured, and I’ll forever be thankful for their consistent presence.

Despite this, when I picked up the final issue of the Official Resident Evil Comic Book in Spring 1999, I felt an immediate sense of empathy for the main character of a short story called ... And The Last Shall Be First.

Written by Kris Oprisko and pencilled by Lee Bermejo, it told the tale of a high school student called Dexter Whitlam, a flourishing academic whose sublime intellect was nurtured at the prestigious Pine Grove Academy. What should have been the most formative time of his life, however, is derailed on a daily basis by three vicious bullies: Kelly Thornedike, Wade Boddington III, and Todd Umbenhauer.

Now, in hindsight, I think it’s safe to say that Dexter is (spoilers!) actually the main villain of the piece. They say that success is the best form of revenge, and Dexter does indeed fantasise of a future in which the bullies, having exhausted their families’ wealth, come crawling to his feet as a revered scientist.

Yet Dexter’s instinctual reaction to his daily abuse is to swear physical violence against his tormentors, even exclaiming “I’m gonna kill them!” in front of his friend, Ruthie. As you might expect in a story based on Resident Evil, he eventually follows through on his threat with aplomb.

Following another day of wedgies and broken spectacles, Dexter sneaks to a nearby warehouse where he witnesses scientific equipment being unloaded from a lorry. After making his way into the building, he stumbles upon a large water tank containing a variation of the Tyrant from the Spencer Mansion incident. Rather than leg it back out in fear, however, he notices a vial of the G-Virus and decides to take it for himself. You see where this is going?

Yep, he injects himself with it, immediately mutating into a monstrous Tyrant with giant claws and a perpetual grinning mouth dripping with foam.

He proceeds to track down the school bullies, first impaling Boddington III from behind before disembowling Umbenhauer and hurling him headfirst into a vending machine. When he locates Thornedike, Dexter’s friend Ruthie attempts to appeal to the humanity within Dexter. Yet none remains.

Killing Thornedike, Dexter turns on Ruthie, but before he can strike, a pair of Umbrella agents electrocute him from afar, rendering him unconscious.

Some time later, Dexter awakens in a hospital bed, having returned to his human form. The Umbrella agents explain that they have learned of his intellect and, impressed with his transformation and subsequent rampage, offer him a place at the company, completely unfettered by ethical restrictions. Dexter, though seemingly bandaged from head to toe, recreates the Tyrant’s monstrous grin as the story ends.

I feel quite embarrassed now that I felt such empathy toward such a horrendous character when I first read this story in 1999. Yet at the time, having gone through my own experiences of bullying alongside my close friends (with more to come in subsequent years), gazing at the panels as Dexter enacts his revenge was oddly cathartic, and I rooted for him. I was always raised to not deal with conflicts through violence, and for all my 35 years, I’ve stuck to this rule through and through. Yet I’d be lying if I said that Thornedike, Boddington III, and Umbenbauer’s grisly fates didn’t elicit a small sense of satisfaction.

I still have those exact Resident Evil comics from when I was a kid (apart from the elusive and exceedingly expensive Issue 1), and I partially credit them, alongside R.L. Stine's original Goosebumps run, with nurturing my ongoing passion for all things horror. I probably wouldn't be quite so obsessed with Resident Evil if it weren't for Oprisko's story of revenge, so despite its dark themes, I am forever thankful for it.