Resident Evil: Exodus - The Tale of Elza Walker

Appendix 1 - An Interview with Richard Mandel

In this 2017 interview, the author of Resident Evil: Exodus - The Tale of Elza Walker talks about the various sources he used in developing his updated take on Elza's story, as well as the differences between his work and Resident Evil 1.5 and why he made some of the creative decisions that he did regarding Resident Evil: Exodus.

Q: What were some of the influences on you in writing Exodus, other than the Resident Evil franchise itself? Did you watch The Walking Dead, or any other zombie TV shows and movies?

A: I haven't seen a single episode of The Walking Dead as of right now, and that was a deliberate choice on my part. I probably ought to watch it, now that Exodus is done. I hear it's a damn good show. The same goes for all of the newer zombie TV shows and movies. I didn't want any of them to influence me in writing Exodus. I wanted to stay as close to the original Resident Evil source materials as possible, and I was afraid I might get my ideas corrupted or polluted by these other newer zombie story sources. I had very definite ideas about what I wanted to do with Exodus, you see.

That said, there are some definite outside influences on Exodus. I myself have cited Batman: The Killing Joke as a big one -- although what happens to Elza in Exodus has distinct differences to what happens to Barbara Gordon in The Killing Joke. For those differences I cite a much older influence: Leiji Matsumoto's Queen Emeraldas. There's also a strong dose of Suzuki Toshimichi's Priscilla Asagari from the original Bubblegum Crisis/Crash series in my characterization of Elza Walker, as well as hints of both her Boomer friend Sylvie and STAR TREK's Eve McHuron from the classic series episode "Mudd's Women."

There are a lot of feature film influences. Both I and Capcom were influenced by James Cameron's Aliens, for example, and I even make reference to it in the course of the novel. The obvious influence of the original Assault on Precinct 13 is there due to the source material, as is the original Night of the Living Dead. I even re-watched both movies - I saw them both a long time ago, back when I was younger - to reacquaint myself with them. Another joint influence is the B-grade monster movie Alligator - and again, I make an indirect reference to it in the course of the novel. There's a rather obvious Phantasm reference, with Ozwell Spencer channeling the Tall Man in the way he chews out his son over what he did to Elza ("BOY!!!"). There are other lesser influences, too -- some cited in the novel and some only alluded to. Allistar MacLean's The Guns of Navarone, Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and The Birds, the short stories of Saki, the classic horror of H.P. Lovecraft, and so on. Both of the first two Max Max films have both allusions to and scenes in Exodus directly inspired by scenes from both of them. There's lots of TV influence, too - The Prisoner (the Patrick MacGoohan original), STAR TREK, The Twilight Zone, Tales of the Unexpected, and so on - but especially with regards to anime. I've been a big fan of anime ever since Star Blazers (Uchuu Senkan Yamato), and there's even a dash of that in there in how Kevin evolves from a smartass into a smart leader -- just like young Kodai (Derek Wildstar) does in that show. You can also see the influence in Exodus of such excellent anime titles like Hellsing, Vampire Hunter D, Cityhunter, VOTOMS, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and so on.

I cite four authors as my chief influences with regards to my storytelling style: J.R.R. Tolkien, David Gerrold, Leiji Matsumoto, and Robert E. Howard. Tolkien was my first introduction to the invented world grounded in reality, Gerrold shared with me the concept of the willing suspension of disbelief, Matsumoto inspired me with his characters and characterizations, and Howard has a simply wonderful way that he could spin almost any story and suck you right into it. I'll also admit to an overall Edgar Rice Burroughs influence, in that I wanted a rollicking good adventure which would keep you entertained from start to finish, and at the end make you say, "Now THAT was a story!" (laugh)