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Abraham Howard Neumann was a devoted P-SEC operative and protagonist of the comic book's events[1]. He was usually called "Bram" by his co-workers. He staunchly disagreed with and strongly resented Unitology, making it somewhat ironic that his friend and partner, Vera Cortez was a Unitologist herself. Neumann once mentioned that he "lost" his wife to Unitology which may explain his dislike of the group.
Biography
Early Life
Abraham Neumann was born on Mars on July 15, 2464. His father, whom he idolized was a cop. Immediately upon leaving school, Bram joined the Martian police to follow in his father's footsteps. Bram was a beat cop during the infamous Mars independence riots in Mars Capita, the planet's largest city-state. The violence and depths of the human behavior that he witnessed there led him to try out for homicide to get off the streets as much as anything.
He succeeded, but the celebration was tinged with sadness as his father died shortly after of heart failure. Bram threw himself into work to cope with his grief and quickly established himself as a tenacious, intuitive cop dedicated to his work.
Unfortunately, the long hours and stress of the department ruined his marriage. Bram married Joanna back when he was just a beat cop and she was unable to cope with a husband who was now constantly on call, always late at home and "too busy" to start a family. Seeking solace, she turned to Unitology which was slowly growing in numbers throughout the Mars colonies. The religion soon dominated her life, but Bram was -- perhaps willingly -- blind to it's effects in his wife. Eventually, they fought when Joanna insisted on hosting a Unitologist group at their apartment and Bram moved out.
It was at this point that a new commander took over the Capita Homicide division: A stuffy, middle management suit who Bram quickly discovered was also a Unitologist. During a particularly heated argument of the department's lack of resources, Bram punched his commander's lights out and resigned. For a day, he was on the headline news on Mars.
Perhaps as a result of such a high-profile exit from the department, Bram was contacted soon after by an old Homicide partner, now retired and working for the CEC's P-Sec division. He knew that they are looking for new hires and recommended the job to Bram as an easy life after the stress of being a Homicide Detective. Bram did not need persuading -- right then, he would have taken a custodial job so long as it was off-planet. He eagerly accepted to get as far away from Mars, his wife and Unitology as possible.
But to his surprise, Bram found out that he enjoyed the work. It was sociable, low-stress and paid well enough that he soon became comfortable and had trouble remembering what it was that he ever liked about being a Homicide detective. He soon rose to Sergeant and transferred to Commander James' squad where he met and partnered with Detective Cortez.
Though Bram was estranged from Joanna, they are still legally married. He continued to have occasional correspondence with her and strained irregular visits to see her on Mars. In his heart, he hoped that she would see sense and leave the Church with nothing hurt besides her pride. But, that day never came and one year ago, Bram discovered that Joanna gave the Church of Unitology their entire joint life savings including the money that he put aside since working for the CEC. As Joanna was still officially his wife, the Church insisted that this 'donation' was legal and the Mars courts dismissed Bram's complaints. Bram filed for divorce immediately and it was granted six months ago. He since developed a casual relationship with Marla Janssen.
Events of Dead Space
Throughout the events that are happening to the Aegis 7 colony, Neumann was suspicious about the Red Marker and believing it to be the cause of the incidents of violence and insanity affecting the colonists. Neumann urged Hanford Carthusia, the manager of the colony several times to abandon the mining operation, but his appeals fell on deaf ears. When the Necromorphs started appearing and attacking the colonists, Neumann and Marla tried to evacuate the planet, only to find themselves stranded when the shuttles are destroyed in an accident. Neumann and Marla then tried to communicate with the Ishimura by reaching the colony's communication needle. The two then discovered the Necromorphs inhabiting the needle. Marla was impaled and killed by one of the creatures, but was able to save Neumann by hitting a button door, closing him from the Necromorphs.
After losing everyone close to him and soon losing contact with everyone else, he appeared to be on the verge of insanity by the end of the series. The last time that we saw him was that he was walking away from the video log that he was previously recording, presumably to his death, telling anybody that whoever found the recording to not look for him as they "may not like what they find." In the game, Isaac Clarke found an audio excerpt of a message that Neumann made after the shuttles crashed in Issue Five. It was unknown if he survived. He either was killed or somehow managed to escape Aegis VII.
Trivia
- Neumann and Cortez worked together on three previous colonies until the recent events on Aegis 7. Neumann was unaware that his partner was a member of the Church of Unitology.
- Unlike many other characters in the comic who succumbed to either insanity or Unitology, Neumann simply became more depressed throughout the comic and lost the will to live.
- Nathan McNeill had a hallucination of Neumann and his team in Dead Space: Extraction (Chapter Nine).
- "Neumann" is quite literally the opposite of "Altman", "Neumann" translates from German to "New man" whereas "Altman" means "Old man".
Gallery
Appearances
- Dead Space (Mentioned Only)[2]
- Dead Space (Comics) (First Appearance)
- Dead Space: Extraction
Sources
See Also