Revival Vol. 1: You’re Among Friends Review

Hello and welcome to the Comic Concierge Podcast,

a podcast that believes that comics are for everyone,

the key is finding the right one. On today's

podcast, it's actually a reverse Comic Concierge

podcast as the book where you'll be talking about

was actually brought to my attention by my guest,

Matthew Stewart. How's it going, man? It's going

well. A little role reversal in this episode.

Coming cause yeah, yeah We've been talking about

Howard County for a few episodes now But I think

you know issue volume two you talked about actually

picking up revival before we talking about today

So and I was curious you know, what about this

before we get started like what about this book

caught your eye? What caused you to actually

pick it up and try it? Well one it was an image

comic and it's like as people who have listened

to the podcast before, everybody knows my affinity

for Image Comics, just it's the comic brand that

I grew up with. Everybody grew up with Marvel

DC. I was a weird kid and I grew up reading extremely

violent, weird, you know, comic books that were,

you know, Spawn and Violator and Boof and Pit

and everything else in between. So it kind of

gets kind of harkened back to like a comic. Label

that I really admired and I know everybody talks

about, you know saga they talk about walking

dead Of course all the big kind of like triple

-a titles if you will on image, but this one

for some reason I don't know the the cover of

the first volume kind of got my attention with

like, you know very stark background snowy background

with like somebody holding like a big giant scythe

and then reading what it was kind of about it

was like, okay, well it's kind of a zombie story

but there's something else kind of weird going

on between it there's some you know it seems

it's very it's a very layered book as well too

there's a lot of characters which is big for

me But I guess like the overall idea of that,

these people are coming back to life, but they're

coming back to life as like regular people. They're

not zombies. They're not anything else. That's

weird. They're just like, it's like a reverse

rapture basically. So everybody who went away,

now everybody's back and it's dealing with a

very small town as well who are like, okay, it's

got that leftover type vibe to it. Or at least

in the leftovers, like everybody was raptured

away. So it's like everybody dealing with like

everybody disappearing in this town. But, and

this one's like everybody's back to life, but

They're normal. They're like, oh, well, hey,

how's everybody go? How's everybody doing? What

did I miss type thing? So there's a weird kind

of comedy to it. That's weird. But as you get

more into the book, there's this, I don't know,

there's a lot of things going on in the book

that I really liked. Yeah, it was interesting

because I was, I went to this, honestly, knowing

really nothing about it. Like it's interesting

because it always pops up, pops up in my Comixology

Unlimited app is like a book I should read. And

I'm like, well, now I definitely have to. And

I didn't really know even like Determine Bible.

I didn't really know what it meant like you going

into him like oh, that's obvious How did I not

put two together? But yeah, it was a church revival

everybody Exactly But I mean it right right from

the get -go it it kind of it had it announced

its presence or its premise right away where

you know, we're In this book and we're reading

and he's talking about like, okay. Well, we're

in a morgue What's going on here? And suddenly,

you know, we See this man like walk legitimately,

you know try to get out of the the burner as

he's being burned it well in this case it was

to death, but he was actually alive and yeah,

then a little girl shows up and at first I'm

like, are we is this some sort of hell like what

exactly is happening here because she almost

looks like like a ghost because like almost looked

like a Someone from the shining, you know, she's

got that little girls in the hallway a little

bit. Yeah Yeah, so I'm like, oh this must be

like a ghost story, but no it turns out that

in this moment in time people that were dead

or recently dead all came back and At first I

didn't realize that it was just isolated to this

one specific town But we we learn as we go that

yeah, it was just this one location we get some

in the midway through some some conversation

through this, you know, radio or talk show or

something of that nature, where we find out that

people don't know what happened or how it happened.

They've all been quarantined to think it maybe

was some sort of biological thing. But I thought

when it comes to just grabbing your attention

right away, it did that. And then right after

that, we get into just like this weird looking

horse zebra, which I didn't know was a thing.

Had no idea there because they're big in Wisconsin

go figure But I just to me just right away like

from from its opening to like seeing this image

of this galloping horse zebra Just coughing up

on its own blood. I just it said it's mood about

really effectively within you know, it's first

few pages Yeah I mean, I love the art style.

I mean we I know we talked about how I'm big

on the art style and how it looks and You know,

I think the story being told, it flushes out

a lot of characters, but there are a lot of characters.

But I also liked that when you were talking about

how they think it's a biological thing. So you

have like the CDC involved. There's a lot of

different layers like, you know, going on. In

this story that it's not just your typical run

-of -the -mill people coming back to life There's

politics involved and I think that's what kept

me going with this story Where there's there's

some pretty likable characters that are very

they felt very very human as well, too They're

very flawed. They're not perfect. So I like That

aspect was like there's not just one gleaming

example of a good person. It's like even the

person who's the protagonist Was it Dana? I forget

her name escapes me right now. But as you learn

further around in the volume She's pretty flawed

character and she has her sister Martha who is

also like, you know rebellious teenager rebellious

Like she finds her like on a bridge looking like

she's gonna jump off the bridge and kill herself,

too So there's weird sister dynamics, which I

like a lot and then the father's involved and

you know It kind of has that Fargo type thing

to it almost like Dan is a little bit like, you

know, um, what's your name? Uh, can't think of

her name for names. Francis McDormand from Fargo

a little bit where it's like this, it's like,

I'm trying to do the best I can, but I don't

really know what's going on. And also none of

these characters, it doesn't seem, they seem

to be like, well, either multi -ethnic or like

native American as well too. So I liked the fact

that the main characters and just like your white

bread, you know, person who's going to save the

day. It's like there's something else going on

there too. But I love the gore too. If you want

to talk about the gore, that's what I'm here

for. I'm here for the gore. So that's what I

love. There were some really gruesome moments

within the opening issue where we get this old

woman legitimately pulling out her teeth. And

I thought it was a good build up to that moment

where it's like, oh, she's out in the cabin.

And then you get there, she's knelt over. You

see these. You these cats that are chewing on

something you look down as it was just teeth

everywhere Yeah until the the moment that it's

actually happening I thought was really rather

effective and it just took kind of like said

what what's going on? It's it seems like What

more is here? Obviously, you know, we know people

are back from the dead, but something's not right

Yeah, I like that tension. And I think we brought

this up with Horror County before where it's

hard to really build a lot of tension in horror

comics. It's extremely difficult because you

can just go from one panel to the next. But the

way that was actually laid out with the teeth

and the cats and then you see the old woman just

pulling your teeth out and trying to put her

dentures back in, that's pretty unnerving right

there. the way the book is set up is such an

effective like turn where something extremely

violent happens as well too so just that tension

being built up with that one scene and the like

in the first uh i guess it's first issue pretty

much i i love the way that looked it was visceral

and then even just the the end of the issue itself

that's near the end of the issue you get a cool

little surprise too like you're getting More

like after the first issue was over. I was like,

okay I'm in like I like where this is like a

pilot and a TV show That was really good that

I wanted to keep reading and going forward in

the book So it worked really well for me and

I'm going into it was like if you Remove death

if like it's like, okay, no one can die How can

your how can your book have tension? Like how

can that work? But we think we soon find out

that whatever occur it was possibly a one -time

thing for the individual people because it's

not that people can die. It's just that those

people, for whatever reason, at that specific

moment are kind of impenetrable or it seems like

that's the case because, you know, we see what

happens with this first issue. But yeah, I agree.

I think you did a good job of just looking at

the... the first issue in the sense of setting

up its premise, building up its characters, even

though there was a good amount of characters

here, felt like you got a good sense of them

all, and then giving you something to hook onto

in the sense of its ability to build tension,

its ability to build its mystery. I thought it

was really effective right from the get -go about

letting you know what it's about. To the story

and it hooks you in like you said and it just

made me want to keep reading and of course Further

down because this is what I think five issues

are in the first volume here It seems I think

it's issue one through five and you start getting

some new characters put kind of put in there

You know you get the you know the crazy. I don't

The guy who's the demon ologist. I can't even

explain what his deal is but He's kind of like

in his own little personal crusade to stop these

you know he thinks are all like hellish demons

or abominations from God you run to be a lot

actually of the curse from the spawn comics I

keep going back to spawn but this is just a character

that he kind of like if this was a prequel I

could see him as being like you know before the

curse became the curse this is this is the guy

that we got hanging out Wisconsin things like

that but then the other thing too we keep following

this ghost who's kind of going around too and

That's where why I like the book. The whole kind

of like specter ghost element to me is a little

I'm still trying to wrap my head around a little

bit. Like I don't quite understand that specific

character or beings use in the book right now.

And you bring up that character and you brought

up Dr. I think it's Mr. Able or I forget what

he's calling going by. I think it's Mr. Pseudo

access or demonologist or whatever he was calling

himself. He used boy the one character I felt

like yeah I didn't have a full sense of or the

one at least in his first volume I thought was

a little bit all over the place like I didn't

necessarily when we first see him Get like this

evil type of vibe. He felt like I don't know

like a cheap version of Hellblazer or Constantine

like he He didn't That's kind of like in a sense

of he's kind of a drunk already. He's scamming

people and yeah, okay Yes, I never got him to

be this have more of a evil motive or be willing

to kind of go where he goes by the end of this

book or end of this issue is that that was my

my one the one thing that didn't work for me

as much as the other other pieces where his character

by the end felt very different to where he was.

And I don't know what that was just my misreading.

I mean, he does threaten a young girl. So maybe

that's a clue that hey, he's not an ideal citizen.

But again, it could be me projecting thinking

like he's Like, you know, like a Constantine

where he's, he, you know, he's a little bit rebellious,

but he has, he's got a heart of gold. But by

the end, he's clearly evil. And, um, and it's

funny you mentioned that, that ghost character.

Cause when I first saw it, I'm like, Oh, it's

got to do with aliens. I thought, I thought at

first it was alien, but yeah. Yeah. It looks

very alien. Yeah. It's cool. And it kind of,

it's a cool, like. compare contrast like you

know these revival people that look like humans

or they are humans but then you have this one

like ghostly specter who's living in the woods

and eventually find out find out about this ghost

specter but you know come the end of the entire

volume you're still getting a lot you have a

lot more questions than you have answers you

don't really know how these specters are kind

of working in the greater form of the entire

story, what their use is, will they stick around?

I mean, there's a lot of questions that kind

of go and it works for me once you kind of understand

what like the demonologist guy, the exorcist

is doing with these ghosts and how they kind

of go after specific items that belong to them.

So it's like, like typical ghost story, like,

you know, unfinished business type stuff, but

there's also like a very Evil poltergeist type

feel to him as well. I don't really know So so

ways to go to figure that whole arc out Yeah,

yeah, that's something that probably builds on

on further and you know as we're talking I'm

thinking about the fact that when it came to

able like once we heard that his Music tone or

his ringtone was the best kit. It probably should

have been a good sign that he's not he's not

to be yeah, but Yeah, if you're into 90s metal

like yeah, this guy obviously cannot be trusted

he did it all for the nookie That was the one

and there's little things in this book that it's

funny, but it's also just so weird how You know,

I don't know because there's extremely coarse

language is in this as well, too Which you would

expect from an from an image comic anyway to

begin with but then there's like, you know very

scuzzy characters and they cut the Constantine

or the Hellblazer or even the preacher like he

kind of runs me like a little bit of preacher

of mr. Abel as well to kind of all those characters

kind of rolled into one But yeah, I mean there's

I like the book overall, but there are like little

weird things going on there But you know, the

humor is very gallows humor Yeah, what I do find

really intriguing about this book though is that

there is like there's a ton of like human drama

going on and that's like Yeah, it's one of those

stories where you could probably remove the supernatural

horror element and you still have a pretty solid

drama there you don't have a situation where

you have a female cop who was Had a kid when

she was younger trying to prove to her dad that

she can be just as good as him Even her sister

storyline like I thought her character really

captivating She's from the reveal the first issue

saying she was part of revival to that relationship.

She's having with that professor and like just

what she's going through like I thought we Talking

just on a character standpoint. They did do a

lot of building and I do feel like there is I

could see Why this goes as far as it does I was

worried, you know, when you have premise like

this It's like how far can you take it and it

didn't take me long to figure out Okay, what

they did smartly was they're building up these

characters. So there's a lot of pieces here and

there's a lot going on I would say in this first

volume like at be honest like it I had to make

sure I was keeping track of everything but because

they they certainly I think pack up that pack

a lot of story Which is you know, a good thing

within this with any search for issues Yeah,

I like it a lot how they did pack a lot in I

mean it leaves you reeling thinking about like

man there's a lot of stuff to kind of unpack

after you kind of read all this and then the

whole story at the end of the day when you really

think about it is that though who killed Dana's

sister because apparently no she saw her the

other day or however long ago she saw her and

then she's coming back as you know a reviver

or whatever it's called part of the revival but

it's like she obviously either she's powerful

and she can't die or she was killed and then

came back to life now she can't die so there's

something going on like a murder mystery where

you got to kind of figure out okay How did she

get these powers? Why did she like being beat

up as well too? Because she gets her ass kicked

in this book quite a bit, especially at the end

and then even in the middle there too. But yeah,

the family drama aspect, I really liked that

a lot. I liked the soap opera element to it.

There's so many things kind of going on, a lot

of characters being intertwined and intermingled

as well too. But yeah, if you kind of got rid

of the whole horror element, there is a really

interesting, very cool human drama going on as

well, too. I want to know more about that. I

mean, you know, the other stuff is answering.

It also makes me wonder, like, why, when it comes

to these, you know, revivers or, forget exactly

the terminology they were using, why some of

them seem to, like, come back and just be not

there completely, or there's, like, an evilness

to them. Whether it's like the grandmother in

the beginning the reporter's father and what

he I assume he ends up doing it but the way this

volume ends I assume or When she comes and finds

her husband like with his disemboweled disemboweled

I assumed that was the father who did it But

like but she seems fine like she seems like oh

not fine But she's not to the level of you know

psychotic as they are but they still seem to

have some yeah, like There's something underneath

them like you see the the one the old gentleman

who was in comatose just looking at the watching

television and there's one specific moment where

he's just like There's like a tear in his eye

and I first thought it was him whatever I was

watching but I think maybe was just him realizing

his consciousness still isn't there and then

the grandmother who once she realizes what she

did to her daughter Basically, you know tries

to kill herself the only way she can in that

in that The whatever they could incinerator.

Um, so there there seems to be yeah with some

of them Something is more foot with others. They

have it more more more together So you make a

good point of like did was she murdered? you

know, did she maybe commit suicide because Thinking

about like the fact that the first time she sees

her is on top of that bridge that she made me

jump off and That's where it came from. So There

are a lot of pieces here. There's a good mystery

within all this Yeah, I mean it seems like the

older characters is ones that are a little bit

more kind of like, you know Ravenous and kind

of more murdery. It seems almost at least in

this volume But yeah, I mean I do like that kind

of you know They go on these like kind of like

tears of like, you know mania, but then they

go back and like Like the old woman who was like

oh terry I killed terry and it's now very heartbreaking

for her She didn't realize what she was doing,

you know Um, so there's just yeah, I mean I do

like that. There is no rhyme or reason yet to

how People are affected by this revival. So everybody's

kind of reacting. It's almost like a dip in the

lazarus bit Almost where you kind of like to

lose a little bit of your consciousness or lose

a little bit of your sanity when you are brought

back, so um, you know That's the best kind of

comparison I can make. Sure, that's a good point.

Yeah. But yeah, I thought as a book that, with

a book that has a lot going on like this, it

could be easy to kind of get confused and not

know everything that's going on. And I don't

think I got. Picked up every beat so far, but

I think that's somewhat purposeful. Like we see

this this mystery that's building especially

how the volume ends where She's looking at a

list of names that are highlighted I'm like,

I don't know who that's in reference to or the

professor at the end is looking at the screen

with the poem and I'm like I forget what that's

in reference to but Yeah, but like I said, I

think when it comes to the broader strokes, I

think those Those are you can pick up really

well and there are like it does a good job of

I think we talked about the drama piece But there

are some like you mentioned that gore some really

horrific and action -packed Like high -tension

moments to you like the snowmobile chase that

was a lot of fun, especially how it ends and

and Just yeah I thought that was effective Effective

for sure even if I thought like the able character

was a little underdeveloped. But when it came

to a pure action standpoint, I thought it was

well done. Yeah, I liked all the different segments.

You had good action. You had good family drama.

You had good gore. You had good story. You had

good build about just like and again, I like

the kind of politics that are going on there

as well, too. So there's like a lot of good things

going on in this book. It's very busy. But if

you can kind of, you know, compartmentalize things

and you know, you know, it's almost like watching

like the end of like a season of The Wire at

the end or something where they're unpacking

everything at the end of the Issue as well too

where you have her looking at the like the phone

numbers and her playing no ha ha no Sherlock

Holmes You're watching Sherlock Holmes and she's

playing detective and stuff like that So there's

a lot of cool little things going on and you

know, I do like you know, you brought the mangled

body After you know the truck hitting and she's

like he's laughing about it like things like

that. It's like Is she getting off on this thing?

I mean her character I like the best because

I Don't know I want to know what happened to

her I want to know why she just enjoys this like

pain that's going on and you know There's something

a lot It's the most intriguing the most late

the two sisters are the obviously the two best

characters for me. Yeah pieces are the most well

developed so far, but I like the younger sister

better because she's like crazier. She's got

more stuff going on. So I'm looking forward to

reading more about this. Yeah, I'm looking to

see more about the reporter and seeing her her

story develop a little bit more. Yeah. So yeah,

there was a lot of great imagery in this, like

her being crucified on a tow truck and stuff

like that. I thought that was. Yeah, it does

juggle all that pretty well. Anything else you

want to bring up regarding the book before bringing

to a close? No, I mean, I think it's a book.

I'm glad it's a book I'm glad I picked up and

took a chance on because I'm not one for Taking

chances on just books. I have absolutely no idea

what they're all about. But it just it hit me

in a certain way where I'm like I'm intrigued.

I want to know what's going on. I know images,

you know, always putting out good quality books

in the first place So I'm not surprised that

it's good But I you know have three other volumes

I want to dig into so there's obviously a very

long way for this This book to go so I got plenty

of stuff ahead of me. So I mean, I'm looking

I'm looking forward to the ride yeah, and I Appreciate

you recommending it to me because it's like well,

like I said, it's one that's like bit on my,

I need to catch up with and I'm glad I did and

it's one I'll definitely have to similar to Howard

County keep up with because I am looking forward

to it. And if you are someone like me that does

have a Comixology Unlimited, the first volume

is available for free. So it's, I think it's

definitely worth the read. And I think if you're

not, you know, digging with it by the first issue,

you kind of, I think it's a good sign maybe to

put it down. But if you are, I think it's you

know, it's a solid read and I think it's to one

that doesn't probably get talked about as much

as it should because so much as I feel like it's

happened since then but it's It's quite good.

I mean but yeah, and I like Tim Seely's work

for the most part and I Really only meant read

his more Big two stuff. So it was kind of good

to read some of his more. Yeah, because I mean

this from 2012. So it's got and it's still going.

It's still an ongoing series from what I from

what I read, I think going on. So it's still

got six years of issues behind it, which is really

nice. All right. Well, Matt, if more people wanted

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All right. Well, that'll be it for this week.

Remember that comics are for everyone. The key

is finding the right one. Until next time, thanks

for listening.