For a while now, “Revival” has been the little comic that could. While it may not be garnering major praise like some other comics coming out of Image, it has quietly been telling a continuously solid story that has mixed horror with some genuinely poignant, human moments. Here, Tim Seeley and Mike Norton begin to peel away some layers of a mystery that has been set up since issue one.
Written by Tim SeeleyIllustrated by Mike Norton
Em seeks redemption for herself by vowing to protect a young girl from the creature that haunts her. But can even a girl that can’t die deal with something that may not be alive?
As most of our reviews for “Revival” have stated previously, it works very nicely as a zombie story with a “twist”. That twist being that when revivers come back, they are fully sentient and almost act like nothing has happened. This is something that Tim Seeley and Mike Norton have been exploring the past couple of issues as they look deeper into the mystery of the Glowing Figure. Suffice to say, that won’t be spoiled, but something they have introduced and explore here that is worth discussing is a revived third grader. This is a character that was introduced some issues ago and finally gets the spotlight here as she is confronted by the Glowing Figure. This leads to the crux of the issue which allows Seeley to explore the idea of child with the mental presence of an adult.
Something that has really stood out about Tim Seeley’s writing of “Revival” has been his focus on the characters. This has been a strong suit of the series because of it’s limited location, confined to one town in Wisconsin, so a wide and varied cast of characters was almost necessary. It’s Seeley’s ability to make each and every character in the story feel fully realised and actually human that makes this series special. Here, Seeley continues to showcase that ability by exploring the consequences of a revived third grader. What this amounts to is a very human and very poignant moment as Seeley, through the third grader, ponders the idea of a child with the sense of presence of an adult. It’s really the set piece of this issue and shows just how good this series continues to be. Seeley wisely uses the horror elements of the book as a backdrop to the exploration of the people of the town and what has happened to them since Revival Day. While the horror elements are good, making this one of the few horror series I’ve read that’s really got to me, they definitely take a backseat to just how well these characters are written.
If Tim Seeley’s major strength here is his writing of the characters of the town, then Mike Norton’s strength is being able to fully realise the locations on the page. The town of Wasau, Wisconsin that the characters are confined to feels not only alive, but oppressive thanks to the snow-covered environments that Norton creates. The closest comparison that comes to mind is the landscapes of the Coen brothers’ Fargo yet tinged with eerier overtones. Norton’s ability to make the environments and landscapes come alive and feel as much a part of the story as Seeley’s writing of the characters is just another layer of atmosphere that makes this book stand out. Norton also nicely compliments Seeley’s writing of the varied cast of characters being drawing characters that look unique and fully realised. Everything about this book blends together so well that it continually constructs a completely unique atmosphere than is seen in other comics.
While it may not get the big press that other comics get, “Revival” has quietly and confidently been telling a story that explores the human condition in the face of an impossible situation. Seeley’s writing has used his honed horror writing skills to create a fantastic horror comic that is chock full of fully realised, human feeling characters. Each character feels not only real, but important. That leads to a very serialised story that, thankfully, has no dead weight to bring it down. There is no quiet moment that breaks the tension that builds throughout each issue. Pairing that with Mike Norton’s ability to play that story incredibly well against a town landscape that feels real and persistent was simply genius.
Final Verdict: 8.9 – This one just keeps getting better.
