• Scenario: Steve Niles
• Illustrators: Diego Olmos & Dennis Calero
• Publisher: Fox Atomic Comics
• Publishing year: 2007
• Pages: 112
• Coverdesign: Tim Bradstreet
• Based on the movie ‘28 Days Later’ directed by Danny Boyle and scenario from Alex Garland
• ISBN: 978-0061236761

Review:

The Rage Virus

In 2002 a new sensational and apocalyptic movie, directed by British director Danny Boyle, came out in the cinema… Scripted by the author of the novel The Beach (also adapted by Danny Boyle), Alex Garland, this became one of the best apocalyptic horror movies that ever was released… It spawned a sequel in 2007, 28 Weeks later and another sequel (28 Months later) was planned but never came to fruition… Until Danny Boyle and Alex Garland decided to make another sequel, 28 Years later that recently (in 2025) came in theaters… (when this was written I had not yet seen it but when it will this review will be published online I will have seen it!)

Because of this release, I decided to reread the comic that bridged a gap between 28 Days later and 28 Weeks later… Who made the Rage Virus (people say this is a zombie movie but the people infected are not zombies but enraged humans infected by a man made virus) and how did it become pandemic, in such a way that the entire UK becomes a quarantine zone?

This graphic novel offers some answers to these questions in four different chapters: Development, Outbreak, Decimation and Quarantine… Each chapter follows different characters but the chapters are all connected somehow. Due to the different artists working on these chapters, it’s not always clear who comes back when or where but with a little thinking you will get there!

I think this is the perfect companion to the movies as it offers some truly crazy horrific scenes, answers to questions posed in the movies and a link to what will happen in the sequel movie.

When me and my boyfriend where only just a couple, we went to see 28 Days later (he isn’t a horror fan so he must have done that especially for me, not knowing what to expect) so I have fond memories to the movie. He never watched the sequel until recently, simply because he wants to go see the new 28 Years later with me. (isn’t that sweet, I cracked his little anti-horror wall over the years)

And for the fans, there’s also another 28 Days Later comic series published by BOOM! Studios, following the character of Selena (played by Naomi Harris in the first movie). This series has six volumes (24 separate issues) and also functions as a bridge between the two first movies! Now I’m wondering whether we’ll see a new comic series come to life now the new movie is released… one can only hope!

The script of 28 Days later: the Aftermath was written by Steve Niles who also wrote the scenario for the graphic novel ’30 Days of Night’, the Vampire horror graphic novel illustrated by Ben Templesmith.