Fringe Comic Number 6

From Fringepedia - The FRINGE wiki

Talk

Fringe Comic Number 6

Theories

Contents 1 The Visitor 1.1 Synopsis 1.2 Image Scans 1.3 Credits 2 Trivia 3 Unanswered Questions

Fringe Comic #6 was released June 24th, 2009, and is dated Aug 09.

It is the sixth and final issue of a six-part series, and features only one Fringe-related story: The Visitor.

"The Visitor" catches up to Walter in St. Claire's. He has recounted his adventures in the previous comics. Doctor Sumner is on-hand and is hosting Walter's interrogation by a visiting doctor.

Synopsis

The story begins with a doctor talking to Walter Bishop, who has been recounting stories from his past. How scientists heads were kept alive in jars, that he and William Bell were teleported out of Alaska, how they traveled back in time to Nazi Germany, and sent Hitler to the Mesozoic era to be eaten by dinosaurs. The doctor demands to know why Walter is lying to him, but Walter tells him he is not. The doctor says that parts of his stories are verifiable--a Dr. Matheson did go missing and a Levi Berger did survive the war--but there are many inconsistencies. All the scientists Walter had mentioned were janitors at Harvard. The doctor demands the truth from Walter, but Walter insists that he is telling him the truth. He then proceeds to give Walter a large electric shock when Dr. Sumner interrupts their session, as visiting hours are over at St. Claire's Hospital.

As the Visitor walks to his car, Sumner asks how much longer the FBI is going to need Walter for their investigation, as he is concerned about Walter's state of well-being. He asks what it is they're looking for, but the Visitor replies that it's classified and Sumner doesn't have clearance. He then sternly warns Sumner not to interrupt his sessions ever again.

An orderly named Frank escorts Walter to his room and puts him to bed. As Walter sleeps, he is visited by another version of himself, although clean-shaven and casually dressed. The other Walter says that he's here because Walter needs him, and that under no circumstances must he give the Visitor the information he wants. Walter is scared and says he cannot take much more, but his alternate self tells him to formulate a plan and escape St. Claire's.

The next day, Walter is among his fellow patients, and takes a paperclip from one of them named Jasper, saying he could poke his eye out. He then comes across Dashiell Kim, working away on the equation. Walter asks Dashiell to tell him about the door he found, which Dashiell refers to as "the portal." Dashiell tells him that he thinks it is in the basement, just as Frank and another orderly come around with their morning medication. Frank sees Walter accosting Dashiell and asks if everything is all right, before making sure Walter takes his meds. Walter opens his mouth to show that he swallowed them, but Frank doesn't realize Walter hid them in his hand.

In his therapy session with the Visitor, Walter is hooked up to a machine that will shock him if he does not answer truthfully. The Visitor then asks him to retell the story about the lake. In a flashback, Walter says that he was driving home with his son for Thanksgiving dinner, when their car skidded out onto a frozen lake. The ice held the car for a time but eventually broke and they began to sink. Walter tells the Visitor that he managed to free himself and save both their lives, though the flashback shows The Observer rescuing them. The Visitor knows that Walter is lying, and asks him again if he's sure nobody else helped them escape the vehicle. As the Visitor prepares to shock Walter again, he uses the paperclip he took earlier to undo his restraints and shocks his tormentor instead. He dons the Visitor's lab coat and exits the room, unnoticed by the watch until Frank discovers the Visitor on the floor and reports a security breach.

Five minutes later, Dr. Sumner, Frank, and the Visitor discover Walter lost in a storage closet in the basement. The visitor makes a phone call, saying it is time for Plan B. He brings a device to St. Claire's called the "neural extractor", a device that will isolate the centers of Walter's brain storing the information they need and forcibly extract them. Dr. Sumner is horrified calling such machine a torture device and that he will not allow it in his hospital--but the Visitor tells him he doesn't have a choice. Sumner looks on sadly as Walter is led into the room, where the Visitor begins to tell Walter just exactly what the machine will do to him.

Dr. Sumner arrives in his office to find the phone ringing, and upon answering it is shocked to learn that the FBI is on their way to St. Claire's. He is confused, and tells them that the FBI is already here.

As the Visitor prepares to start the machine, Dr. Sumner bursts into the room with two orderlies. He tells them he needs Walter escorted to the waiting room, and that they are to place the Visitor in solitary until the police arrive--he's been impersonating an FBI Agent. As the orderlies lock the Visitor in a room, he uses his cellphone to report his "coordinates". Dr. Sumner returns with the police to apprehend the Visitor, but upon entering the room finds he has disappeared, the only remains being a black burn mark on the floor and a bottle of suntan lotion.

Footsteps wander down a hallway, where a door is unlocked and we see Walter sitting at a table. Agent Olivia Dunham enters the room and says "Hello" to Walter. Walter turns and says "I knew that someone would come eventually."

Image Scans

Credits

• Writers: Danielle Dispaltro & Justin Doble & Alex Katsnelson
• Artist: Tom Mandrake
• Colorist: Wildstorm FX
• Letterer: Wes Abbott
• Assistant Editor: Kristy Quinn
• Editors: Ben Abernathy & Hank Kanalz
• Special Thanks to: Jeff Pinkner & J.H. Wyman

Preview courtesy of DC Comics - Wildstorm

Trivia

• This comic leads right up to the moment when Olivia first meets Walter in Pilot
• The Visitor teleports in the style of David Robert Jones, as seen by the suntan lotion and burn marks on the floor

Unanswered Questions

Theories about these unanswered questions should be placed and read at Fringe Comic Number 6/Theories

Unanswered questions
Do not answer the questions here. Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer. More details...

• Who is the Visitor?
  • Is he working for ZFT, or another group?
• How did the Visitor get teleported like David Robert Jones if Walter's teleporter was not stolen yet?
• Are Walter's "stories" (the previous comics) not entirely true, as suggested by the Visitor?

Comics

Fringe Preview Comic • Comic #1 • Comic #2 • Comic #3 • Comic #4 • Comic #5 • Comic #6