Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire - Volume 04

As the series draws closer to its conclusion, the action and intensity increases.  Volume 4 of "The Marhawa Desire" picks up exactly where Volume 3 left off - with poor Ricky surrounded by zombie students who seem prepared to eat him.  Feeling he has no alternative, he points the gun at his head, preparing to end it all - - when suddenly, Chris Redfield appears and saves the day!

I am a huge Resident Evil fan, so any time one of the 'main' characters from the series shows up to do battle with the mindless zombies, it brings a smile to my face and reminds me why I enjoy the series so much.  Chris Redfield.  Claire Redfield.  Jill Valentine.  For me, Resident Evil just isn't Resident Evil without them (which is why I was so ecstatic when the RE films introduced all three of them into the movie franchise).  And with Chris on the scene, you know things are going to get really bad@$$!

At this point, the school is completely overrun with the infected students.  A small group of survivors is hiding out in the chapel, but when Bindi, who has become a bio-organic weapon herself, shows up, the number of survivors quickly whittles down to zero.  Leaving Ricky, along with Chris and his fellow B.S.A.A. members, Merah and Piers, to face a horde of zombie creatures all on their own (and with back-up a full 24 hours away...)

The author provides more insight into Ricky's character in this volume, as we see his dedication to his uncle, who took him in after his parents died - - and we see (SPOILERS AHEAD) how it affects him when Bindi turns his uncle into a mindless zombie.  Ricky does what he has to do ... what he knows his uncle would want him to do ... and he makes a vow to see it through to the end, not resting until he puts an end to the pandemic that has taken over the school.

The author also begins to give us a bit more of the cloaked figure - the one who gave Bindi the serum that brought her friend, Nanan, back to life (albeit a much more horrifically altered life) and has been working behind the scenes to keep the infection spreading.  While we don't see who he or she is, we do confirm that this person has a very definite agenda - - and when Ricky catches up to him (her?), Ricky suddenly finds himself on the wrong end of a very deadly syringe!  Talk about a cliffhanger!

Once again, the art is absolutely beautiful.  Naoki Serizawa (who is also writing the series) provides some fantastically rendered fight scenes (and some pretty graphic ones, too!), and is able to move the story visually in some instances without any words at all necessary.  That takes a very talented artists (as I have seen a lot of artists in comics today who know how to draw splash pages, but can't really tell a story in art without the words).  It's a shame this creator isn't going to be doing more Resident Evil stories - I'd love to see Serizawa doing a regular, ongoing series of graphic novels set in the RE world!

With only one book remaining the series, I'll be curious to see how the story ends - who survives and who dies - and who exactly is that cloaked figure?

RATING:  9 emergency helicopters out of 10 for upping the ante, putting our heroes in a nearly impossible situation, and leaving off with a cliffhanger that demands resolution!