Revival #1
Written by: Tim Seeley
Art by: Mike Norton
Cover by: Jenny Frison
Published by: Image
Cover Price: $3.99 (USD)
I’ve reviewed a fair few issues of Tim Seeley’s Hack/Slash and I haven’t always been positive about it. However, with Revival I already know that I will be far less conflicted as to whether this comic is good or not, Revival is definitely a good comic.
As with Hack/Slash, Seeley is still doing horror, though it is a very different kind. The story is set in a small rural town in Wisconsin where the dead have come back to life. They aren’t zombies, or monsters, the people just look like themselves right before they died. This doesn’t mean that they aren’t causing a lot of problems though.
The character we are introduced to who has to face these problems is police officer Dana Cypress. With the town in lockdown and lots of religious and scientific groups butting heads there is plenty for one little town to cope with.
There are three clear strengths in this debut; the character work, the setting and the moments of horror. Despite all that is going on with the now living dead, Dana is introduced very well, as is her immediate family; her son, father and sister. It’s the simple moments of trying to get her son ready so she can go to work and eating a doughnut that help to make Dana seem real. This also works well with the setting.
Though quite different to rural Wisconsin, I grew up in a small town and know what that feeling of isolation can be like. Norton’s snowy landscapes are fantastic and he creates the feeling of a small town, in the location itself, but also in the characters.
This small town feeling makes the book feel personal (I have read that both Seeley and Norton grew in small towns) and intimate, but it also great for the horror. Again Norton shines in this area, with both the supernatural and bloody elements that surround the recent rising of dead being handled expertly.
I was very quickly drawn in by this series and the ending has me hooked. I don’t want to spoil things, but I think this should be enough to get anyone interested; cats, teeth, pliers, scythe (in one sequence!).
8/10
