Open Books Chicago discussion

When the deceased residents of a small town in central Wisconsin return to life, what follows is not crossbow-wielding, baby-nurturing, half-shirted redneck hotties or panic-driven militias fleeing from and firing at flesh-stripped husks of former human beings. Instead, Revival is a patiently paced small-town noir tale filled with donut-eating cops, imaginative and lonely children who play with toys in the snow, and independent journalists who want to get to the bottom of the strangeness of the phenomenon that is thrust upon them.

The undead in Revival are not ambling hulks, but rather, the same family members, friends, and neighbors that those who survived them knew and loved. Even creepier than being stalked by rotting flesh, is the thought of spending time with your sister who was murdered only weeks ago or feeding your sick old father who is - once again - moments from death.

Local Officer Dana Cypress needs to deal with a lot of things after Revival Day. Things like solving her sister’s murder (with the help of her sister, of course), keeping tabs on the media’s response to her town’s unique situation, a government quarantine, religious zealotry gone even more zealous, and disturbing behavior from some of the recently revived deceased.

There’s a lot happening in Revival, but Tim Seely makes sure not to put plot over people. The characters and locale are believable, carefully written, and fully rendered through patient dialogue that is familiar to this Wisconsin native. Mike Norton’s art couldn’t be a better match. The mixture of bold line work, faded backgrounds reminiscent of the rural Midwest, and attention to the residential detail of everything from storefronts to garages sets the tone of Revival as much as the writing.

With many questions raised and deep psychological fears addressed, the first 5 issues of this new comic series represented in this trade lay a solid foundation. I can’t wait to see what future volumes reveal… or what other questions they raise.