‘Revolutionary War’ has been an event for fans of a very specific corner of Marvel Comics. That went without saying before the event started, and it doesn’t look like it will change anyone’s minds in the telling of the new tale.
Written by Rob Williams
Illustrated by Will Sliney
Colors by Veronica Gandini
Lettered by Clayton CowlesPart 3 of “Revolutionary War”
• A corporate deep-mining setup unearths an old MYS-TECH base, where magical cloning experiments have been taking place.
• What mysteries or monsters are waiting in Britain’s subterranean bones?
• Featuring fan-favorite Marvel UK characters Dai Thomas, Pete Wisdom, and Union Jack!
The Marvel UK character revival seems to be mostly about one thing: pleasing a very specific set of fans. It’s the kind of thing that the Big Two should do more of. Cult-favorite characters often have vocal fan bases that don’t always get what they want thanks to the importance of the almighty dollar. But ‘Revolutionary War’ isn’t going to sell all that great, no matter what you do. The risk for Marvel is pretty minimal, considering they’re doing a pre-set run of issues as a mini-event using a bunch of characters that haven’t gotten a lot of play in recent years. In the end, Marvel gets to please the creators that want to work with these characters, the fans that want to read about them, and hopefully get a fun and memorable event out of it that people will hopefully regard positively down the road.
So how is that event actually doing in practice, so far? The honest answer is “just fine”, because it does the things that Marvel UK fans want to see, but does absolutely nothing more. Three issues in, ‘Revolutionary War’ has played it remarkably safe – pretty much spending most of its time cramming in references to and revisiting plot points from Marvel UK’s past. In tackling the reformation of the ‘Knights of Pendragon’, Rob Williams chose to go heavy on the humor factor. In fact, this issue is basically a comedy. It’s incredibly tongue-in-cheek about its own mad-cap nature, even willing to break the 4th wall and all that jazz. Pete Wisdon is here as the snarky British meddler (think John Constatine, but somewhere between ‘New 52’ and “Hellblazer”) to bounce off of the more stoic Union Jack. But the best thing about the issue is the reprieve from the overly clever snark that the Dai Thomas character brings. His sense of humor is more literate and refined, which is demonstrated in his normal form and his “possessed by Sir Gawain form” (oh, if you didn’t know, he gets possessed from time to time. It’s his thing). Williams balances all the myriad personalities well, even if the humor is laid on really thick at times.
Will Sliney capably handles the conventional superhero art, though I’m not sure his style matches the over-the-top playfulness at every turn. Sliney handles the appearance of a certain set of Arthurian-era villains with the proper pomp and humor, but other moments, including a big one at the end, come off stilted and odd. It’s not Sliney’s fault – the reveal is so weird and out-of-place in its reach for laughs that it got away from everyone involved.
Sliney’s character work is terrific, which bodes well for him down the road. He’ll be on another ongoing in no time, if that’s what he wants to do. His work was easily the highlight of “Fearless Defenders” and, at times, it’s a highlight here. But in ‘Knights of Pendragon’s’ rougher moments, the script and the art don’t appear to be as in sync as they could be. The final battle becomes more mayhem than anything else, which is fine, though not ideal, for a title that wants to make you laugh more than it wants to do anything else I guess. And that’s the best way of putting it: everything about this book is just fine.
If the words “Zombie King Arthur” do anything for you, I assure you that there is a lot more ridiculousness that follows along those same lines in ‘Knight of Pendragon’. There are pacing issues and it gets almost irredeemably goofy in parts, but these characters were clearly a joy for Williams to write. Were they to get their own series again, he’d be an apt choice to write it, and were it a more action-oriented title, Sliney would be a good choice to draw it. This particular one-shot story just didn’t completely come together, either as a standalone story or a part of the greater whole that is ‘Revolutionary War’. And unfortunately, I fear they won’t get another go-around soon enough. I hope I’m wrong.
Final Verdict: 5.9 – Browse
