Is It Good? Revival #16 Review

It’s been quite a while since we checked in on Revival, hasn’t it? Lots of things have happened, many of which are rather freaky and creepy as hell. How does it go with this issue?

Revival #16 (Image Comics)

Officer Dan Cypress thinks she has a suspect on who killed her sister, Em. It may be Em’s college professor, Aaron Weimar, who was having an affair with her; so she and her ex-boyfriend, Derrick Hinch, investigate the lead outside of the law. Meanwhile, May Tao, the reporter who broke the Reviver news to the world, is getting a bit too close to the truth about what happened to the Check brothers.

Oh yeah, I remember her! Good times.

I stated in my last review that Revival is like a TV drama in how the story and its subplots progress and unfold. That continues to be true here with this new issue (and pretty much every issue). It’s a slow burn, methodical in how it progresses each subplot and character. In a way, it is similar to Satellite Sam, which many characters and storylines that may appear to be a lot to take in. However, the difference between this series and Sam is that Revival gained this many elements over time and didn’t cram them all in during the first arc. It took its time with creating its world, the players, and the horrors that lie within it. So when you get to an issue like this, with so many events going on in it, it all feels very and natural.

But back to the writing and this issue in particular. It is perfectly fine and up to the usual level of quality we would expect from the series. It continues moving forward, pushing all its old and new plots forward decently enough (though I personally would have like to see a follow-up with what is happening now with the little girl). There characters, like stated in the previous review, feel real due to the amount of development they have gotten and how much time we have spent with them. Their interactions and personal moments are great and help add to making them feel free, especially seeing how Dana and Derrick interact with one another. The dialogue is good and everyone sounds different from one another in a way.

The secret McDonalds doesn’t want you to know about.

The artwork by Mike Norton is as good as always, though seeing his work with other books now, he tends to draw similar looking characters and faces. Regardless, everyone here in this book looks different and unique from one another. His layouts and backgrounds are fine, along with the coloring and shading. Nothing too amazing overall, outside of two pages (one creepy and one gory as hell), but good regardless.

8.0

• Characters are strong.
• Very elaborate, but strong narrative.
• Artwork is decent overall.

• It’s very slow going and often does not seem like it advances much.

Is It Good?

Revival #16 is another solid issue of the series overall, with its usual strong characters and engaging plot. It’s a slow burn without a doubt, but highly recommended regardless.