RoboCop: Memento Mori is the third of the fourth Boom! Studios releases, written by Frank Barbiere and art by Joao Vieira.
Plot[]
Set entirely during the neurosurgery that lays down the installation of most of the cyberneural circuitry by Dr. Dennett Norton, this story places the reader inside Alex Murphy's head in a hallucinogenic half-dream full of skewed angles and garish colors.
It begins with a pastiche of images, and Alex identifying himself, before dissolving into a nightmare of snakes, while Dr. Norton chides his assistants to be careful, because one slip would damage or destroy Alex's memories. It slides back into Alex's head, in a dream of a typical day, his alarm going off, but when he tries to read the time, the numbers are slippery and unfocused, and when he descends the stairs to his family, they and the furniture are melting, like wax, barely recognizable as human.
Antoine Vallon appears, clear-edged and solid, contrasted with David and Clara, goading Alex into chasing him.
Through his pursuit of Vallon, Alex relives an old bust with his friend Jack Lewis, only, instead of the shootout he remembered, the enemies are spindly robots, and Alex's weapon is comically useless against them.
Another vision has Alex in his home, looking at a family portrait, whose faces are disappearing, as if erased, and Vallon once again appears, taunting Alex to follow through a landscape of chaotic memories including the birth of his son, a shootout, a police ceremony, until he corners Vallon, who admits to having a "vested interest" in this whole enterprise and that he's actually trying to help.
Because "he" is coming, and Vallon flees, only to run into RoboCop, who shoots him as Alex looks on. Alex flees, with RoboCop in pursuit, panicking as he runs because he can't remember who he is, who his family is, any of it, ending when RoboCop shoots him, first in the shoulder, then, presumably, in the head.
The scene cuts back to Norton's surgical suite, where they've finished the surgery, and awaken RoboCop, who asks merely "what happened?".
Trivia[]
- Antoine Vallon does not bear a close physical resemblance to his appearance in the film.
- The story implies that Alex has lost his memories of who Clara and David are, a fact that is seemingly contradicted by the film, where they are the first people he asks for.