With the zombie fad not seeming like its going to die anytime soon (pun intended), we have a new comic aimed at that same market. Only this time, a la Torchwood: Miracle Day.’
What do I mean? Well, in a small town in Wisconsin, something coined as the “Revival” is happening, which is to say some people in the town aren’t dying.
What first attracted me to this story, aside from the fact that I’m from Wisconsin, was that the comic is described as a Rural Noir, a concept I have never heard of before.
While it lives up to its “rural” description, its take on “noir” has yet to make itself clear in this trade, though I think it is fast approaching that point. The story follows Dana, a single mother and cop, who is investigating the Revivalists (those who are coming back from the dead), only to find out her sister, Martha, is one as well. A startling fact she finds out when Martha is stabbed in the throat with a scythe.
With the town quarantined, the fear in the town multiplies as Revivalists burns themselves alive and alien-like creatures wonder through the woods. Throw into this dramatic mix a zealot intent on exorcising demons, and you have five issues of the best kind of drama: unexpected drama.
The imagery in this collection of the first five issues is stunning, and some of the subject material is horrific, but fascinating. Depressed and undying teenagers who masochistically enjoy their deaths meet old men who are only pretending to be brain dead, meet long dead corpses searching for past mementos, and in the middle of it you have Dana, trying to protect her sister and understand the mystery of the Revival to protect the town from itself.
‘Revival Volume 1: You are Among Friends’ collects issues #1-5. The 6th issue was out Janury 23rd, 2013, and ScienceFiction.com will continue to reveiw the series beginning with issue #7, which comes out this Wednesday, February 20th, 2013.
A good read, and I can say that I added this to my pull list with an alacrity I never knew I had. I’m looking forward to this comic book on Wednesday.
‘Revival Volume 1: You are Among Friends’
Written by TIM SEELY
Art by MIKE NORTON
