Comic Book Review: Revival #17

Before we begin, I’d like to give a quick shout out to ‘Revival’ cover artist, Jenny Fisher, who does amazing work issue after issue. Every issue has an cover that is breathtakingly evocative, and gives a lot more depth to the story that unfolds within the comic’s pages. This cover, in particular, is one of my favorites.

All right. Done. Let’s continue, shall we?

I’ve said it before, ‘Revival’ has interesting story line with a million twists and turns, but its best issues are the one’s that focus on character development.

Issue #17 does exactly that.

From Derrick and Dana slowly becoming friends again after almost dying at the hands of a deformed arsonist, to Martha and May having a heart to heart about the merits of murder (and you know they may be better friends later because May seems to be the only who calls her “Em” like she wants), to my favorite bit, Ibrahim and Sheriff Cypress getting a drink and actually not hating each other, there are all sorts of complicated relationships a-brewing, and I can’t wait to see where they go.

Sure, the plot abounds in the issue… good plot, in fact, if not very tragic plot, and we get more questions that need to be answered… but all of this feels somewhat superfluous to the character arcs that are starting to develop.

Anyway, the real meat of the story focuses on Dr. Aaron Wiemar, the English professor that had been cheating on his wife with Martha. We find out that the would-be arsonist from last issues was a sign of something far more terrible and sinister, and after Dr. Wiemar makes his apologizes to his poor, long suffering wife, he willingly goes to his death.

Why? We don’t know. It’s just another layer of mystery to be added to the twisted tale that is ‘Revival’.