Revival #13

This is a perfect jumping on issue for new readers. Characters are re-established, and the mythology is really just now starting.

When Revival started over one year ago, it started with a mystery. What quickly became clear was that the emphasis of this series was not on the mystery, but rather on the book’s vast collection of characters. The cast became the heart and soul of the book and more important than even the mystery.

With twelve issues under their, Tim Seeley and Mike Norton have returned to the mystery with Revival #13. This issue delivered a surprising amount of developments to the stories mythology, which will excite some of the book’s less patient fans. More is revealed, or at least hinted, about the living dead people of this small, Wisconsin town.

The characters are trying to return to normal in this month’s installment, after dealing with murderers and body smugglers for much of the last arc. The creators take the basic concept of the “date night” issue and in typical Revival-fashion, the story goes in truly unexpected directions.

Seeley’s dialogue remains one of the most important fixtures of this series. Each character sounds unique, and I couldn’t help but laugh at seeing how these characters we’ve come to know react to a night of karaoke. This series feels so much like a great TV show that you watch on a weekly basis, when you become so wrapped up in a show that the characters come to feel real.

Of course, Mike Norton deserves a lot of credit for this aspect of the series as well, uniquely rendering each character to fit the voice that Seeley gives them.

Unfortunately, this issue feels like the weakest example of Norton’s pencils on the series, as some pages (specifically those in the hospital scenes) feel a bit rushed. Characters that are usually drawn with a clean line, are a little more sketchy this time around. It didn’t ruin the scenes, and the rest of the book is up to his usual standards, but it stands out when the rest of the book (and series) look so good and consistent.

This is a perfect jumping on issue for new readers. Characters are re-established, and the mythology is really just now starting. This has been one of my favorites for the last year and I think now is a perfect time to try it out, before things really ramp up.

Tim Seeley (W), Mike Norton (A) • Image Comics, $2.99, August 21, 2013.