Saw: Rebirth
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Saw: Rebirth is a comic book one-shot published by IDW Publishing. It was written by R. Eric Lieb and Kris Oprisko with art by Renato Guedes.
The comic book is a prequel to the Saw, as well as the entire series. It delves into the origins of the tortured John Kramer and his sinister alter-ego, Jigsaw. Also, it fleshes out Jigsaw's past and motivations, and clears up some "plot holes" from the first film such as how he knew all his victims and how a dying old man could concoct such elaborate traps.
[edit] Plot
The beginning of the comic focuses on John's life before he received the knowledge that he had cancer. He is somewhat of a weak and insecure man, living a rather boring life and working at a toy factory. "When it came to taking action... well... there was always tomorrow." He realizes there is more to life, he is just too lazy to grab it. Later on, he breaks up a serious relationship with his girlfriend Jill due to his fear of commitment.
Years go by, and suddenly John is overcome with an illness. "Every night I'd come home and puke my guts out. Every day I'd wake up feeling a little bit weaker." It gets worse to the point that John visits a doctor, Dr. Lawrence Gordon, and is told that he has cancer, and it is very likely that he will die.
Depressed at wasting his life and finding out he has little left, he meets a disgruntled orderly named Zep who shows him around the hospital. "Now that my own life was slipping away, I paid closer attention to the lives of others." He sees different people who he believes have wasted and/or abused their lives; a con artist (Mark from Saw), a young woman who overdosed on heroin (Amanda, who would become his future apprentice), and most shocking of all, a coworker with 'the works' - a decent job, wife, kids - overall, a good life (Paul from Saw), who attempted suicide by slashing his wrists. In the first Saw film John suspected that Paul was merely yearning for attention.
Deciding he had enough, John tries to commit suicide by driving his car off a cliff, but manages to survive. Because of this, he accepts his fate. Considering people undeserving and unappreciative of the life being denied him, he is "reborn" and begins his mission to make people appreciate their life and realize how fleeting and precious life truly is. "I discarded sleep, neglected meals, there was time only for my task, what I'd already come to think of as my mission." He absorbs himself in research, tests and refining to create devices to test people's lives based on their discretions.
The comic ends with John contemplating on how now he will make a difference, one person at a time.
[edit] Connections with the films
The comic fits neatly into the films' storyline and explains many unanswered questions. We learn that John worked in a Toy Division, from where he acquired his sinister puppet. We learn how he was familiar with all his subjects from the first film. We also learn that John's loss of hair from the first film is not due to chemotherapy (at the very least we never saw it happen) but rather him shaving his hair. We also see John doing all the research and experiments for his subjects, something that many had found hard to believe prior.
[edit] See also
| The Saw Series |
|---|
| Films |
|
Saw (short, 2003) • Saw (2004) • Saw II (2005) • Saw III (2006) • Saw IV (2007) |
| Characters |
| Jigsaw • Amanda • Adam • Dr. Gordon • Detective Matthews • Lynn • Jeff |
| Film Soundtracks |
| Saw • Saw II • Saw III |
| Other |
| Traps • "Billy" the puppet • Saw: Rebirth • "Hello Zepp" |
