The Matrix Comics                           Trade Paperback Lot

Featuring Volumes 1 & 2  from Burlyman Entertainment.   Awesome!!

The Matrix is an American media franchise created by writers-directors the Wachowskis and producer Joel Silver. The series consists of three movies, beginning with The Matrix (1999), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), & The Matrix Revolutions (2003). The series features a cyberpunk story of the technological fall of mankind, in which the creation of artificial intelligence led the way to a race of self-aware machines that imprisoned mankind in a virtual reality system - the Matrix - to be farmed as a power source. Occasionally, some of the prisoners manage to break free from the system and, considered a threat, become pursued by the artificial intelligence both inside and outside of it. The films focus on the plight of Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) trying to free humanity from the system while pursued by its guardians, such as Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving). The story incorporates references to numerous philosophical, religious, or spiritual ideas, among others the dilemma of choice vs. control, the brain in a vat thought experiment, messianism, and the concepts of inter-dependency and love. Influences include the principles of mythology, anime, and Hong Kong action films (particularly "heroic bloodshed" and martial arts movies). The film series is notable for its use of heavily choreographed action sequences and "bullet time" slow motion effects, which revolutionized action films to come.

The characters and setting of the films are further explored in other media set in the same fictional universe, including animation, comics, and video games. The comic "Bits and Pieces of Information" and The Animatrix short film "The Second Renaissance" act as prequels to the films, explaining how the franchise's setting came to be. The video game Enter the Matrix connects the story of the Animatrix short "Final Flight of the Osiris" with the events of Reloaded, while the online video game The Matrix Online was a direct sequel to Revolutions. These were typically written, commissioned, or approved by the Wachowskis.

Now, Burlyman Entertainment & The Wachowski Brothers presents, The Matrix Comics. Two volumes packed with original "Matrix"  stories set in the world of The Matrix. Read tales that expand the universe of The Matrix, written and illustrated by many of today's top comic book luminaries, including Larry and Andy Wachowski (writers/directors of The Matrix), Geof Darrow (Hard Boiled, Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot), Bill Sienkiewicz (Stray Toasters, Elektra: Assassin), Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Death: The High Cost of Living), Ted McKeever (Metropol, Wonder Woman: The Blue Amazon), John Van Fleet (Typhoid, Batman: The Ankh), Dave Gibbons (Watchmen, The Originals), David Lapham (Stray Bullets, Murder Me Dead), Peter Bagge (Hate, Sweatshop), Troy Nixey (Jenny Finn, Trout), Paul Chadwick (Concrete, The World Below), Ryder Windham (Star Wars Comics), Kilian Plunkett (Aliens: Labyrinth), and Gregory Ruth (Sudden Gravity, Freaks of the Heartland), plus many others.

The Matrix Comics (2003-2004) Trade Paperback Lot includes:

The Matrix Volume 1

Editors: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski, Spencer Lamm, & Sharon Bray

Front Cover by: Geof Darrow & Steve Skroce

Back Cover by: Kaare Andrews

Stories/Chapters

“Bits and Pieces of Information”

Writers: Andy Wachowski & Larry Wachowski

Artist: Geof Darrow

The story takes place in a courtroom as Clarence Drummond asks the Machine butler B1-66ER the events leading up to the killings of owner Gerrard E. Krause and of Martin Koots. B1-66ER admits to the killings as it was revealed that the two humans were planning to deactivate B1-66ER in favor of a newer model and B1-66ER wanted to preserve its own life. The aftermath of the trial is then presented through the Zion Archives where a search for the "B1 TRIALS" reveals the only remaining bits and pieces of information available to the people of Zion on the events leading to the Machine War.

“Sweating the Small Stuff”

Writer: Bill Sienkiewicz

Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz

The story starts with Dez, a blue pill who thinks he is losing touch with reality. He convinces his girlfriend Mia to stop drug running for cartel boss Marlowe. Mia gives up the drug trade only to pick up gun running instead. She also ends up being on bad terms with the cartel. As he starts to tell her his fears, that he can see through to the code that underlies everything in the Matrix, the door is blasted away with bullets. Dez assumes the gunmen to be the "guys in black suits" whom he believes has been watching him. He runs, only to hear one of the gunmen mention that "Marlowe says hello", which makes him realize they are cartel gunmen after Mia. Mia emerges from the smoke with a machine gun and time slows for Dez as he, again, sees everything in code. He comes to realize that he is looking at "the answer". He snaps out of his daze to see the look of fear in the gunmen's eyes as Mia opens fire, killing all of them. Suddenly Dez hears helicopters approaching and, in his mind, sees a multitude of Agents that he believes are, each, far deadlier than any cartel gunmen. Mia grabs his arm and they run. Dez, not knowing where they are going or what is going on, resolves to just keep running, together with Mia, away from the danger and towards answers.

“A Life Less Empty”

Writer: Ted McKeever

Artist Ted McKeever

A story about a hacker extraordinaire who proved capable of being recruited by the Resistance, Tiera was given the choice of two pills by Morpheus. She chose the blue pill but, because she digitally chronicled what she learned, was still able to retrieve her memories and, together with it, small pieces of information about the Matrix. She continued to harbor questions about the Matrix and continued living a life regretting that one decision, often dwelling on her memories and on what-ifs.

“Goliath”

Writer: Neil Gainman

Artists: Bill Sienkienwicz & Gregory Ruth

In an unknown date in the Real World, an alien spaceship attacked the Machine-controlled Earth by hurling asteroids at the planet. One of these asteroids struck a central processing unit in London and killed the 200,000 people it contained. The explosion briefly disconnected London from the Matrix and allowed an unnamed man to have a redpill experience, conversing with some sort of Agent-like program during the disconnection, and slightly learning some truths about the Matrix. Upon reconnecting to the Matrix, the man started to experience a Déjà vu. In fact, the man increasingly experienced it as the invasion of the Real World waged on and, at some point, he even replayed years of his life instead of just moments or days. He would later learn, from the same Agent, that he had been living in an overclocked Matrix and that only minutes have passed in the Real World in the years that had gone by in the Matrix. The Machines retaliated by producing a spacecraft to destroy the aliens, which the man learned to fly in his latest reincarnation as a pilot. He was soon woken up from the Matrix, given the spacecraft, and ordered to destroy the alien ship. He completed his mission only to be told that there was no return to Earth. Granting his final request and on his final hour, he was reconnected to the Matrix, allowing him to live out fifteen more years of a simulated but happy life.

“Burning Hope”

Writer: John Van Fleet

Artist: John Van Fleet

Crew members of an unknown hovercraft were trying to find and rescue a gifted child out of the Matrix under the cryptic guidance of The Oracle. They were able to track the location of the child to an orphanage. Eight Ball was the first operative sent out to find the child and found that the orphanage had just very recently been burned down. Suspecting the involvement of Agents, the operator, Charon, quickly urged Eight Ball to exit and forget about tagging the child but, with Agents lying in wait, Eight Ball was caught in the setup and killed. The crew, minus their absent captain, discussed their next steps in the Real World and eventually decided to continue and complete the rescue mission while the tag program was still active instead of, as suggested by Duncan, waiting for their captain to return the next day and risk the Machines discovering and tracing back the tag program to their Real World location. The next operative that arrived at the orphanage was Link who deciphered what The Oracle told them and figured out through his investigation of the orphanage that the child they were looking for was a girl named Hope. He was able to find Hope with the help of the tag program from Eight Ball. He also figured out her extraordinary ability to change her own RSI, similar to how an Agent could manipulate RSIs, before Hope sensed the arrival of Agents and escaped to the roof. A gunfight ensued and Link continued to pursue Hope to the roof while also successfully keeping the Agents, who were now pursuing them, at bay. Link found Hope at the roof top and, with help from Duncan and Charon, determined a possible exit path. Hope then used her ability in order to fly them out of the roof.

“Butterfly”

Writer: Davie Gibbons

Artist: Davie Gibbons

The story cuts back and forth between a rainy-city-action scene and a calm-zen scene. The rainy-city-action scene is that of a blonde redpill in black clothes being chased by Agents, both parties exchanging gunfire yet bullets only ever nearly hit. The indoor scene is of Chuang Tzu in white clothes, lighting incense, praying, then sweeping. The same butterfly flutters about in both scenes. Then the two scenes finally clash as the redpill jumps through Chuang Tzu's window. Chuang Tzu greets the man. A phone begins to ring. Three Agents enter the room. And more gunfire hits air. The blonde man looks for the phone and Chuang Tzu points to it. The blonde man picks up the phone while Chuang Tzu gets in between and knocks the guns from the Agents' hands. The blonde man disappears. Everyone pauses. Then the agents open fire. Multiple bullets hit Chuang Tzu. As Chuang Tzu closes his eyes to eternal sleep, the butterfly appears before him, and flies freely towards the night sky.

“A Sword of a Different Color”

Writer: Troy Nixey

Artist: Troy Nixey

An unnamed old man was somehow able to escape from his pod in the Real World and then hid at a nearby dumping ground that bordered the fetus fields. He survived by scavenging the site for rats, insects, and supplies, collecting some medieval books in the process, and continued to live free from the Machines in an underground safe house built with a lift connecting to the surface. When the resistance sent out a hovercraft to scout for weaknesses in the Machine's defenses, Heater convinced fellow crew members Nac and Split to check out the fetus fields using the nearby dumping ground for cover. They flew too close to the ground, however, and something clipped through the ship's input tank. After the crash, only Nac was left alive, seriously injured, and passed out. Attracting the attention of both the sentinels and the old man, Nac was fortunate to have been taken underground by the old man before the sentinels could unearth him. Nac woke up startled to find a sentinel, hollowed though it is, facing him and being tinkered on by the old man. The old man laughed and welcomed Nac as a fellow brother of the order, recognizing that they both had body plugs which he referred to as "silvery bites", proof that they both suffered "dragon stings" in "knightly" battle. The dragon was, later on, discovered by Nac to refer to the harvesters.  While Nac started to see the old man as a lunatic, he also saw that the old man did possess some intelligence, only perhaps unable to comprehend his own origins and unable yet to understand the Real World and had been living in a fantasy to cope. Nac then attempted to open up the truth to the old man, explaining what he could about the Matrix, but the old man simply rejected all of it, convinced that it had nothing to do with his own personal crusade to vanquish the dragons. Committed to his mission, the old man tirelessly tinkered with the inactive sentinel and, one morning, was just gone, taking the sentinel with him but leaving Nac a package. The package contained a book on the "Trojan War" and a drawing of them both, an arm over each other's shoulders and raising a sword with the other, with the title "FREEDOM" written above. The package helped Nac determine where the old man was going. Spotting the sentinel from a distance, he witnessed how it attracted more than a few other sentinels before it exploded. Nac returned to Zion and told the story of his encounter to Leet, who, surprised they weren't just rumors, confirms how he heard news of a fetus field getting hit by such a large explosion.

“Get it?”

Writer: Peter Bagge

Artist: Peter Bagge

Johnny comes out of the movie theater after watching The Matrix with his two friends. While the two friends thought of it as a terrific movie, Johnny says he did not get any of the movie. Amazed by his admission, the three go into the Tin Hat Tavern, where James tries to explain the basic gist of the movie while the other friend tells James not to bother. But, asking too many questions, the two friends shortly give up on explaining the rest of the movie to Johnny. Johnny starts to leave while the two friends continue to assure him that plenty of others surely would not have also understood the movie. Thanking his two friends for the beer, Johnny leaves through the door, at which point his friends, along with everyone else in the bar, reveal their Agent earpieces. The two friends, actually Agents Lewis and Davies, express satisfaction that a lot of people don't get the movie, with Lewis stating that the fewer humans who comprehend what's really going on than the fewer they must destroy.

“There are No Flowers in the Real World”

Writer: David Lapham

Artist: David Lapham

Rocket, a fresh redpill recruit to the Resistance, was in the Matrix and participating in his first mission. In his team were three other operatives, all heading for Phoenix. Shortly after leaving, their operator, Rook, called in to inform the operatives that their ship, the Mariner, was currently under attack. The team immediately scrambled towards the nearest exit but, one by one, each of the crew were quickly getting killed by sentinels in the Real World, permanently disconnecting the operatives from the Matrix. Soon enough, Rocket's whole team were killed leaving him the sole survivor. And though Rook managed to destroy the sentinels before getting killed himself, Rocket had already sustained a broken leg from the attack and, with Rook and all possible operators gone, was stranded inside the Matrix. Rocket contacted the Resistance for help and was given a safe house back in nearby Scottsdale, Rocket's own home town. For days, Rocket awaited rescue in his safe house, all the while resisting with his mind, trying to withstand the pain from his physical body's injuries, and growing weaker due to the lack of real-world sustenance. During these days, he was often visited by a Resistance operative, King, who was relaying news of the real-world search for him. And to help keep Rocket occupied, King started a conversation about their bluepill pasts. And when they tackled Rocket's love life, King made him realize that his previous life as a bluepill was not at all fake or meaningless, simulated though it may be. This lead Rocket to reconnect with Mona Thomas, who used to be his bluepill girlfriend. After a romantic night with Mona was interrupted by Rocket's worsening leg, Rocket, considering the possibly of soon dying, immediately started to distance himself. Fleeing to a diner, he instead got into a scuffle with his old gang. Getting into a frenzy, he killed the gang leader, Larry Little. Also, while in his manic state, he revealed some truths about the Matrix to the spectating diners. This anomaly tipped off the Agents to Rocket's activities. Soon, news came to Rocket from King that he would soon be rescued. Given new hope by the news, Rocket wanted to meet Mona once more but King advised him to prioritize leaving first, warning him of the threat of Agents. But just then, Agent Brown appeared. King managed to kill whoever the Agent had possessed but knew that the Agent would not stop. After giving Rocket a gun and instructions to the exit, he lead the Agent away from Rocket. After Rocket found the hardline location, he called Mona, asking her to quickly meet with him. She immediately went, meeting Rocket at his location. He then informed her of his need to disappear but also promised to come back for her. Mona promised to wait, and also promised to join Rocket wherever they needed to go upon his return. Then the phone rang. Tragically, Mona was suddenly possessed by Agent Brown. Rocket hesitated to shoot Mona and allowed the possession to fully take place. By then though, all was too late. Agent Brown already had Rocket and proceeded to kill him.

“The Miller’s Tale”

Writer: Paul Chadwick

Artist: Paul Chadwick

In a mess hall, in Zion, a storyteller stood on a podium in front of tables filled with people, and before each head was a plate of bread. Then the storyteller started telling the legend of Geoffrey, one of Zion's earliest inhabitants who, through constant struggles and many very risky ventures to the surface, retrieved seeds, and learned and improved the cultivation of grains and the subsequent baking of bread for the city. Though Geoffrey died towards the end of the tale at the Battle of the Wheat Fields, Zion started holding a Bread Feast twice a year to honor the man's sacrifices. A young Morpheus is then seen enjoying the bread.

“Artistic Freedom”

Writer: Ryder Windham

Artist: Kilian Plunkett

Outside a small appliance store stood the young potential, "Spoon Boy", looking curiously into the shop window. On display were some selection of TVs all tuned in on a single channel, Channel 11, on the TV program, Culture Beat. The show was doing a segment on art and was particularly doing a piece about the "Nightmare Sculptor", Raven Underwell. Kitt Pritchard, the show's host, was at the opening of Raven's exhibit at Hednet Gallery where the main feature were the artist's uncanny sculptures of the Machines, mechanical monsters which, according to the correspondent, were enslaving humanity. When a couple of the audiences were interviewed, all that were asked, from a grown man to a young girl and her mother, either openly admitted or, in the case of the girl, expressed and sobbed the feelings of fear the sculptures instilled. “I'm an artist, not a nanny. If people are disturbed by my work, that's their problem.” ― Raven Underwell. Raven, sporting a dark gothic look, was unbothered by the effects her creations had on people. In fact, she seemed to enjoy seeing people react to her work and excused herself as merely being an artist, having no responsibility to hold the hands of those who were disturbed by her work. Kitt promptly reported her closing bits and how that night's opening was by invitation only. She then shoved her very own pass in front of the camera for the world to see. At this point, the talented young boy extended his hand towards the TV screen and, magically, was now holding Kitt's ticket. The segment ended with the shocked correspondent looking at her now empty hand. The boy carefully examined the pass. And then, closely placing it in front of him, read through its underlying code. Then the next moment, the boy was standing in front of Hednet Gallery, staring towards the entrance. The boy then entered the gallery, presenting the pass to the guard at the entrance. Inside the gallery, the frazzled Kitt was still searching for her disappearing ticket while her cameraman, already wanting to move on and get some appetizers, was telling her not to worry about it. Likewise, the mother and child who were interviewed earlier, with the child still crying, pleading her mom to take her home, were ready to move along and were heading for the exit. Raven, standing before one of her works, a massive and life-sized sculpture of a docbot, was commenting about how she liked such honest responses as they were sure to promote her work. And among the audience standing behind the sculpture, a woman was raising her hand poised to ask Raven a few more questions. The woman asked about the Machines Raven called "Somnicultos", or sleep guardians, and the inspiration behind them. And thus Raven started telling everyone about her redpill experience. How she dreamt, not realizing that she actually woke up from the Matrix, of being in a pod connected to a brightly lit power plant. Of how she smelled the hot machinery, and how she saw the Somnicultos caring for her and many more humans sleeping in similar pods like hers, all connected to the power plant. Then moving to a smaller yet still massive sculpture of a sentinel, Raven even mentioned seeing such a creature flying through the air and added how beautiful and caring the creatures were. Somnicultos, or "Sleep Guardians." These simulacra are my creations, but the somnicultos are not. If anything, we may be their creation.” - Raven Underwell. At this, the woman from the audience asked how that could be considering how frightening her works looked like. To which Raven simply called her ignorant. Eyeing the young boy who was carefully assessing her works, Raven approached to ask his thoughts about it when, suddenly, a clanking sound was heard behind her. Looking back, she was surprised to see her sculptures coming to life, their machinery humming. The Somnicultos, now able to move, started killing Kitt and her camera man, then the woman from the audience, and then everyone else. Raven, terrified, sprinted to the exit and out towards the streets and where the destruction quickly spilled. Not knowing what was happening as the surrounding people, vehicles, and buildings were all razed, she hears a nearby phone booth ringing. She picked up only to hear some warning. It said that it was not enough to believe what she saw but that she also needed to understand it. “It is not enough to believe what you see. You must also understand what you see.” - Voice from the phone, Artistic Freedom. Asking back what it was she was supposed to understand, the nearby building walls opened up to show a vast graveyard. Raven closed her eyes in apprehension, muttering the word "caretakers". When Raven reopened her eyes, she was back inside the gallery, at her exhibit, and everything was back to normal. The woman from the audience asked her if she was okay, commenting how pale Raven looked. Raven answered that she was, in fact, not okay, and apologized for being a fool. At the background, the boy could be seen leaving the gallery while Kitt was complaining to her cameraman about how the caviar was like soup and asking for some spoons. There were no spoons.

“Hunters and Collectors”

Writer: Gregory Ruth

Artist: Gregory Ruth

The hovercraft, Polaris, was loading up on the surface when the operator, Twist, detected that a sentinel was patrolling nearby. Nova tried to gather back the crew members still on the surface when Flint, gazing at the ruins of the long lost human city they were in, decided to mysteriously stay instead. Nova, uninvited, followed Flint as he took off, believing that Flint was heading off to collect more artifacts, and decided to let the ship go without the two of them. As Nova followed Flint, she attempted asking him questions about the unexplored edges of the city they were headed to, but Flint was unresponsive, denying all conversations. Nova, knowing how Flint was, decided to not press any further questions. During their expedition, however, Flint had been ignoring the artifacts that they were supposed to be collecting. Nova then recalled how people had believed that Flint, who used to be a captain, had changed since losing his ship, the Pequod, to a sentinel attack. That Flint, the first of the Resistance who successfully and repeatedly scavenged the heavily Machine-patrolled surface for pre-Zion artifacts, had gone mad after losing Pequod and his crew, and was now suicidally lost in his thirst for vengeance. But Nova continued to refuse believing these things, and just continued to follow Flint, displaying her immense faith in him. As their trek dragged on its third day though, Flint was more and more proving to be mad, barely stopping to rest or dress any of the wounds they sustained in their land travel. And on the fourth day, Nova could no longer deny Flint's madness as she found themselves standing on top of the Pequod's wreckage, realizing that she was not following someone out to collect but, instead, someone out for a hunt. Nova confronted Flint and pointed out his madness, which Flint affirmed when he revealed that he had actually lead the sentinel, which Twist had tracked days earlier near the Polaris, in towards them. And sure enough, not long after this revelation, a loud crash was heard behind Flint confirming the presence of the sentinel. Flint quickly instructed Nova to hide while he himself stood his ground in preparation to fight the approaching Machine, muttering the words, "no more running," as he readied his spear. But the battle did not end as quickly as it normally would have... Flint evaded the sentinel's first attack, a heavy crash of a tentacle to where Flint stood. Flint side-jumped close to the sentinel's right, and as the sentinel was slow to turn towards Flint, he used the opportunity to leap above the sentinel and deliver a mighty downward thrust into its head before quickly jumping back away once more to defend, slicing away the sentinel's tentacles when it attacked, and piling up damage against the sentinel while carefully dodging its attacks. But while Flint showed early success in this battle, he utterly lacked the heavy weaponry needed and was soon, inevitably, overpowered in their melee, getting shoved down whilst blocking the sentinel's many arms, and his body immediately pierced by one of the sentinels tentacles, killing him instantly. Witnessing this entire fight, Nova believed that Flint must have been setting and planning this encounter for months, suicide though it may be, in his desire to die with his ship and crew. Perhaps, Nova thought, he even wanted her to witness it, to serve as a cautionary tale and warning to ward off Zion from any similar foolishness. But, following Flint's example of "no more running", Nova stepped out from behind the safety of the wall where she hid and was watching from, to instead take her turn in facing the sentinel. Wielding her own spear and burning with resolve to return to Zion, and to honor Flint and the Pequod's crew, Nova put up as much defense as she could, blocking the tentacles, then parrying and dodging them, before leaping high above the sentinel and thrusting her own spear into the sentinel's head much like Flint just previously did. Standing atop the sentinel, she then quickly scrambled to her knees and wretched out cables from the sentinel's now exposed head, immediately causing the sentinel to malfunction. Nova, having successfully survived the encounter, collected Flint's body together with the rest of the Pequod crew and proceeded to bury them together with their ship's wreckage. She then collected what artifacts they had originally collected before their ship crashed, and she discovered a treasure throve of books among their collection. She then tore a page from one of the books, the epilogue of the novel Moby Dick, and left it with Flint's grave. She also decided against using Flint's demise as a tale of warning to Zion, instead wishing for Flint's legend to continue to inspire more collectors like herself. So upon her return, she would tell the tale of how Flint "the Collector" had defeated the Machines and unearthed a grand treasure for the children of Zion. Taking back the rest of the artifacts into a hoverpad, Nova started her long trek home.