Stone Island (2000AD)
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Stone Island is a new horror series in the weekly comic 2000 AD. It is written by Ian Edginton who can also be seen working on The Red Seas. The artist is Simon Davis who can also be seen working on Black Siddha and Sinister Dexter.
The story is fully painted and is set in a prison called Long Barrow Maximum Security Prison where main character David Sorrel has been sentenced to life in, following the murder of his wife and lover.
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[edit] Characters
- David Sorrel has murdered his wife who was cheating on him with another man. He has now been sent to Long Barrow Maximum Security Prison where he has made friends with Harry Rivers and a rivalry with Nathan Grice who has now mutated into a monster.
- Harry Rivers is an older inmate of Long Barrow and has had David Sorrel thrown in his cell. Why he was put in, we are yet to know. In his cell is an escape route behind a poster like in The Shawshank Redemption that has been used to escape from the mutiltated monsters.
- Nathan Grice is one of Long Barrow's more dangerous inmates and has been in a fight with David Sorrel, in which he seems to have caught something causing him to turn into some sort of monster.
- George Fenton is the guard who first witnessed Grice's mutation and escaped his clutches. Now he has seemed to have taken a complete mental breakdown and has attacked David and Harry mistaking them for the monsters. Now him, Harry, David, Jon and an unknown woman are getting prepared to secape Long Barrow.
- Jon Prentiss is another guard who has survived the chaos along with the unknown woman. We don't know if anything happened to him but know that he is calm but seems to be taking orders from George.
- The Light & the Way is the leader of "The Otherworld creatures". It also controls David Sorrel.
[edit] Plot
[edit] Part 1
2006. Dartmoor. David Sorrel has been sentenced to life in Long Barrow Maximum Security Prison following the murders of his wife and her lover, whom are also beheaded. He is put in a cell with Harry Rivers who tells him that if he wants to keep safe in Long Barrow you have to have some reputation, and that you'll be tested by some of the dangerous inmates as well. David is tested almost straight away when he bumps into Nathan Grice who picks a fight with him. David wins it even though Grice cheats by using a small blade that he was carrying in his pocket, to cut his face a little. David and Harry are subdued by some guards. Later at the infirmary, a guard known as Mr. Fenton is called in to be asked a few questions about the brawl. Grice seems to have caught a strange fever and has a nurse in with him. But when Fenton and the man from infirmary go to check on him they find that he has turned into a strange creature that has beheaded the nurse.
[edit] Part 2
David is dreaming about the night that he murdered his wife and her lover, in which he grins an insane smile, one which resembles the monster Grice's. His cellmate Harry Rivers wakes him up and David tells him about that particular night that got him locked away in the first place. He says that when he was arrested he couldn't tell the police a thing. Even the polygraphs said he was clean. He tells Harry that he knew about his wife's affair and that they were going to be divorced anyway. But he swears that he'd never kill her, when suddenly, the lights in the cell go out. Harry bangs on the cell door shouting that it isn't anywhere near lights out, but all that can be heard on the other side is screaming. For a moment they think it's riot but a strange creature which (they don't recongnize as Grice) walks by. Harry thinks that it could be some old enemies which he got angry to get into the cell, coming to get even with him. Harry uses a chair to smash some bricks off the wall, revealing an escape route that he's made behind a poster, mentioning that he once saw that "Shawshank" movie. Harry runs off while David stares at the monster Grice that has just made it's way into the cell. Wasting no time, he follows after Harry with the monster Grice and others hot on their trail.
[edit] Part 3
Hell is breaking loose in Long Barrow Prison as a guard runs through the blood-splattered corridors before being decapitated by one of the monsters. In the ventilation ducts Harry and David watch. They are tring to find their way out of the prison and Harry seems to know where they are going so David asks how. Harry tells him that he was allowed to write a book about the prison once giving him access to the internet where he discovered about facts about the ventilation system, cellars and exits. They continue through the ducts when David stops him, realizing it's too quiet. Harry has a look out a vent only to find two of the creatures staring at him. Harry holds them off as David climbs higher up the ducts. Harry follows quckly and they decide to get out of the ducts but David is hit by a guard, mistaking him for one of the creatures.
[edit] Part 4
David is remembering a time when he was looking at a picture of him and his wife before he murdered her when he hears shouting. He and Harry are being beaten by the guard from Part 1 whose name is George. Also in the room is another guard called Jon and a woman who realizes that David and Harry are nothing like the monsters and stops George from killing them. But he goes back at it when Harry insults him. The woman tries threatening George but he slaps her. David puts it all to an end by headbutting George onto the floor, taking his truncheon from him as well. After telling them a lie about how they're out their cell, Harry asks if they know what's going on. The woman says that everyone thought that it was a riot at first until the Governor went down to check it out and didn't come back. She tells them that that was when the power went out. Jon says that it was drugs that caused the mutations but George interrupts, telling him that it was Grice. He says that Grice killed the doctor that was with him and escaped, even though George locked him in the infirmary. Harry asks when the cavalry shall arrive but the woman tells him that there is none because the creatures took out the phones and emergency radios. George blames the Government for the breakout but Jon thinks that it could be a plague mentioning Long Barrow's history. David says they're leaving anyway and Harry will guide them.
[edit] Part 5
Harry is explaining Long Barrow's history, revealing why it was made in an odd shape. They are clinging to the gas mains extremely high above the floor where hell has literally broke loose. George says that he knew it was a mistake giving the inmates access to the internet where Harry has learned how to escape from the prison. After George comes close to falling to his death, Harry asks David if he was from the army, mentioning his fighting. David says no and also comes close to falling but Harry catches him. Harry asks if he's alright but he clearly isn't when his sight becomes all weird, almost looking like thermal vision, before going back to normal. Harry says he feels a bit strange himself but not for long because they've made it. Harry kicks a vent and jumps outside onto a van and into the carpark. They're not going anywhere though as all the wires have been cut making it impossible for them to use the vehicles. They go inside into a large room where the tools are kept only to find them missing and the power cables ripped from the wall. Jon asks why the creatures would do that, meaning obviously, why they have a plan. David says that they have to get out of here because the monsters know that they're there. They run to the unlocked door and attempt to fight the monster off. It extends over the broken door and almost gets in before David pushes it back with a plank of wood. They all continue to lie against the door as Harry asks an obvious question. "What do we do now?"
[edit] Part 6
All of the escapees are pushing back the door, and George and Harry are arguing. George thinks up an idea and asks the girl to push the nearest car over to the door to block it. Harry wakes David up and David's vision goes funny again. When the girl finds out it's stripped bare, George tells Harry to go help her. One of the monsters breaks through the wall and slashes George, who crawls away from the door. The monsters break through and kill George as the girl and Harry try to escape through a vent. David is unharmed by the monsters, saying he's their "favourite son". The girl is dragged into the shaft and Harry is most likely killed. Jon is hiding in a vent in the ground, holding his crucifix.
[edit] Part 7
David is having another flashback where it is revealed that the lover of David's wife is none other than his best friend. Outside the house David is grabbed by some sort of claw. At the prison the woman begs David to help her and Harry. David says that they should be grateful they're alive and says that David Sorrel no oonger exists. He is The Light and the Way and is crucified inside out while the creatures experiment on him. Harry on the other hand undergoes a transformation just like the monsters themselves. He manages to fight it off a bit tells them both that the creatures are aliens. He tells them about their origins and that his blood is what caused the infection. He died of a broken heart and has returned to unmake the world.
[edit] Part 8
David reveals that there are more of the alien like creatures in other places like prisons all over the world. He reveals that he only murdered his wife so he could get inside. Suddenly he feels pain and shouts to the aliens for air. Sme kind of gas is revealed and it seems that the unknown woman is about to be killed by Grice. But luckily the horribly mutated Harry has managed to fight off the transformation and kills him with a pole and tells the woman to make a run for it. David meanwhle rip in half revealing a white light that seems to be a gateway to the aliens dimension. And suddenly Jon Prentiss runs in covered in crosses with a homemade bomb attached to him. He runs all the way to David and sets it off seemingly destroying the prison. Outside the woman wakes up and finds that Harry has saved her. He tells her to tell everyone what happened at Long Barrow and if they don't believe her then she should make them. She asks for him to come with her but he refuses, telling her it's risky for him. The Otherworld beings aren't done with them yet, it's only just begun.
[edit] The Otherworld
According to "The Light & the way", "there is a thin, mean world that exists between life and death. They prey upon transitory souls like salmon spawning upstream". Split into drones, workers and warriors, the creatures of this world look like twisted zombies. Cramming their advanced technology into Sorrel when he died of Carbon monoxide poisoning to invade Earth, but failed when Jon Prentiss sacrificed himself.
[edit] Trivia
Long barrow refers to prehistoric tombs and Dartmoor is known for its Neolithic remains. Significantly the prison itself resembles a menhir within a stone circle.
[edit] Publication
- Stone Island (with Ian Edginton and Simon Davis, in 2000 AD #1500-1507, 2006)
