Comic Review: Revival #1

Issue: Revival #1

Name: Revival Chapter 1
Published: 2012 by Image Comics

Blurb:

Creators:

Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Mike Norton
Colorist: Mark Englert
Letterer: Crank!

Characters:

The Good: Cooper Cypress, Dana Cypress, Brent, Bonnie, Martha Cypress
The Bad: Mother Stankiewicz
The Undecided: Ibrahaim Ramin, Alien in the Woods, Lester, neighbor, Mr and Mrs Stankiewicz

My Reading:

The issues begins in Wausau, Wisconsin – which for me would basically be considered the middle of nowhere – with the death of what we latter learn is a zorse, a zebra horse hybrid. But then we quickly move elsewhere…to a road block.

Apparently there’s a quarantine going on in the town and the CDC has the police manning all entries and exits to the town. For some reason, there are religious pilgrims that’ve been trying to get past the barricades, but the only person they allow in is the new CDC liaison, Ibrahaim Ramin.

Jumping to the home of officer Dana Cypress in Rothschild, Wisconsin, we start to learn a bit more from a radio broadcast going on in the background. Someone is arguing that God’s existence is proven by what’s happened in Wausau and that it was foretold in the Bible, but we still don’t know what they’re talking about. But as we watch Dana prepare for work, she calls her son to get in the car. He’s been outside in the snow playing and as he starts heading in a strange glowing figure is seen walking in the woods.

The son, Cooper is spooked and races to the car to leave but he doesn’t tell his mom about the strange figure. He just looks back and the creature says…Cooper. Really weird.

At the police station, Dana is called in by the Sheriff who turns out to be her dad and she’s assigned to work on the Revitailized Citizen Arbitration Team, as its first member and we learn a few things. Apparently there was an event where people who were dead in the town came back to life – they were “revived” – and for the most part went back to their normal lives, but some are doing strange things. The CDC isn’t sure what’s going on or if it’s contagious so they just blocked the whole area off.

On her first case for the RCAT, Officer Cypress encounters her sister, Martha, on the way to the Stankiewicz farm where the zorse died. She catches a ride but Dana insists she stay in the car when they get to the farm. At the farm, Mr and Mrs Stankiewicz are blaming their neighbor for killing the zorse but after an examination of the animal, Dana thinks it may have died from blood pressure medication so she asks about the mother.

The mother is a Reviver but the couple says she’s been fine since coming back. The officer finds a bunch of teeth on the ground and when we see the mother, she’s pulling her teeth out – apparently they keep growing. She comments that she never like the zorse since it got all the attention and then swings her pliers around and jabs the into the neck of Mrs. Stankiewicz. Blood pours out everywhere and a struggle ensues. The neighbor, the husband, the mother…eventually, the mother attacks the officer. It’s at that point Martha runs into the barn and seeing what’s happening grabs the scythe and swings it at the mother who takes it outta her hands and plunges it into her chest…so much for staying in the car.

The mother continues her attack and starts getting the better of Officer Cypress until someone slices off the top of her head. As we pull back from the brains, we see Martha who we thought took a fatal wound to the chest standing above the mother with the scythe…she’s a Reviver too.

What did I learn:

  • There’s an interesting mystery going on here.
  • This is gonna be a bloody title.
  • I’m not sure if this is an alien book or a supernatural book or what.
  • The Cypress family, at least 3 generations, are gonna be heavily involved in this tale

My Thoughts:

This is a “rural noir” book, but it sure feels like horror to me and I’m not usually one to read a lot of horror. This title hooked me though with this first issue. Here they are in a small Wisconsin town, kind like Fargo I suppose, but like that place, strange things can happen in small towns.

The art sets the stage for everything from the beautiful zorse to the horrific mother pulling her teeth. I really got the heebeegeebees from some of those scenes but so far, I can handle it. I just have to make sure there’s plenty of lights on when I read this and no one around me is gonna jump out and startle me.

Zombies, aliens, supernatural, or religious, this title is a bunch of fun so far.

My Rating: A-