Monday, December 22, 2014

Revival Volume One: You're Among Friends


Revival Volume One: You're Among Friends
Issues #1-5
Publisher: Image Comics
Story: Tim Seeley
Art: Mike Norton
Rated: M/Mature
Genre: Horror
Price: $12.99

Revival is the story of a small town in Wisconsin where the dead have risen from the grave. I know what you're thinking; “Do we really need another zombie story?” or perhaps even more pointedly, “Doesn't Image already have a fairly successful little zombie comic running right now?” Believe me, before I purchased this book I had the same thoughts, but within the first few pages you'll know that this story is very unlike many other zombie stories. As it's presented the revival seems to be a very isolated incident, one which results in the quarantine of the town, CDC involvement, and attempted pilgrimages to the site. In many ways it's like an anti-The Leftovers; a small town's struggle with an unexplained event, the return of their loved ones, and the consequences of those returns.

The revived people are not like the zombies we've grown accustomed to, they're not rotting, flesh eating killing machines, they're just people that do most things people do; they're just dead while they do it. The reactions to their returns vary, as you'd expect. There's happiness that loved ones have returned, there are those that found closure and now are confronted with their dead friend or relative all over again, dead victims wish to find their killers, religious groups all have their own interpretations; all of the realistic real world responses to such an event are presented. Then, when it's time for things to go sideways with some of the revived, it goes really sideways, to grisly effect.

The art does the job, without being extraordinary. What I was most struck by was Mike Norton's ability to create such a diverse set of characters. The cast features many ethnicities and body types. There's a large Hmong population, a CDC doctor with Muslim parents and more. The population is not made up of only athletically gifted, superhero physiques. It's an actual populous with just about everything represented, something that cannot always be said about a comic book, and it's refreshing.

The one gripe I could have with this collection of issues is that there is a lot of information and characters to introduce. There are so many that at times I found myself warming to a character just in time for the story to jump to something else, leaving me hanging. It seems clear who the main characters are going to be, but there are so many different stories to tell regarding the denizens of Wausau, Wisconsin that I would have appreciated a little more time to get to know them. A little more focus would have been nice. It's such a small thing, that is sure to be rectified in coming issues, that it seems almost petty to mention it. Be that as it may, it was something that I noticed while reading.

Conclusion: Revival is a zombie story unlike many of those out there. The real world reactions and varied cast of characters will make it easy for just about anyone to jump right in and enjoy the story. The lack of focus through the first few issues is sure to be resolved, which will create a multi-layered story that horror comic fans will relish.

Rating: 8/10

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