Revival (comics)

Early development

Seeley and Norton first met in 2001 when they were both hired by Devil's Due Publishing to work on a GI JOE comic book. The two became friends and have collaborated on other works, including some released through the Double Feature app in 2011. They now share work space at Four Star Studios in Chicago, Illinois.

Following the success of Seeley's series Hack/Slash through Image Comics, publisher Eric Stephenson suggested Seeley write another monthly book. Seeley knew he wanted to work with Norton again, and the two discussed ideas for "a few months," mostly during lunch breaks. Seeley was interested setting a story in a small town so he could write about the kind of crimes that happen in a place where people prefer to live far away from each other. Norton was interested in telling a new kind of zombie story, since he felt The Walking Dead had perfected the zombie survival story. They combined the two ideas to create the premise for Revival. They pitched the series as Fargo meets The Walking Dead and created the term "Rural Noir" to describe a hardboiled detective story set in a small town.

The series was formally announced March 31, 2012 at Emerald City Comic Con. In the week leading up to the series announcement, Image teased the release in the form of fake newspaper articles and ads.

Production

Seeley and Norton both had heavy workloads when they began Revival, and the complexity of the story meant they needed to cut back on other projects. Seeley spends about a week writing the script for each issue.

Because Seeley was excited to write about "real people" instead of typical heroes or archetypes, Revival is set in Seeley's boyhood home of Wausau, Wisconsin. Several of the unusual crimes in the first arc are based on actual events from the town, including the killing of the zebra-horse in the first issue. This setting meant religion would need to play a significant role in the plot because Wausau is a "very religious ... predominately Christian" place. Seeley deliberately references Biblical events throughout the comic, but tries to do so with subtley because it's "easy to do it way overdone." In addition to photos provided by Seeley, Norton looked at lots of references to make sure he drew Wausau properly.

Both Seeley and Norton are writers as well as artists, so each of them contributed to character designs and plot ideas. When promoting the series prior to release, Norton described Revival as the most collaborative project he had ever worked on. As the series progressed, they gave less feedback to each other due to time constraints and because the broadstrokes of the plot and look of the book were already established.

Each creator worked on character designs, but Norton always had the final say. One character in particular, Em Cypress, had been a work in progress for nearly 20 years. She began as a sketch Seeley did in 1996 and was heavily influenced by The Crow. He continued to tweak the character over the years, and a version of her was pitched to TokyoPop for an Original English Language manga in 2005. He also considered using her in Hack/Slash, but that version eventually became Acid Angel.

The conclusion of the series was determined from the outset, but the path to the finale was adaptable and they had enough ideas to keep the comic going for as long as sales would support it. Only a few of the characters had predetermined storylines, and the supporting cast could provided additional subplots along the way. When issue 17 was published, the plot was "loosely" planned through 55 or 60 issues. By late 2015, they had decided to end Revival at issue 48.

Although most modern comics are told in three to six issue "arcs" that form a nearly complete story, Seeley feels that when several plot points climax at once, it provides readers an easy opportunity to quit reading without feeling unsatisfied about missing the true end. For Revival, he and Norton decided to have new mysteries develop constantly. They had several discussions on the right point to begin the story. Early drafts of the first issue included scenes showing the worldwide response to Revival Day, but they were cut to focus on the people of Wausau. The creators decided to start the story after "Revival Day" partly because they wanted readers to relate to the cast's confusion, and partly as an homage to old superhero comics that told origin stories as quickly as possible to get to the action. They were inspired by Don DeLillo's novel White Noise, which follows people trying to escape an approaching cloud, but no one knows what it actually is.

During the series, they worked with colorist Mark Englert, letterer Crank!, and cover artist and fellow studio partner Jenny Frison. Although Frison was planned to create the covers from the beginning, Norton provided the design for the cover of the first issue. At Seeley's suggestion, Norton draws the covers for the collected paperback editions. When the script for issue twelve called for a young character to draw his own comic within the story, five of the pages featured art by Art Baltazar and the cover was drawn by Skottie Young. Both artists are known for their cartoon-like style.

A one-shot crossover between Revival and Chew was announced February 12, 2014 and released May 2014. The idea was proposed by Chew writer John Layman, but was initially opposed by all the other creators. Layman continued to push the concept, and eventually wrote the story anyway. He emailed it to Seeley, Norton, and Chew artist Rob Guillory, and after reading it they all agreed to participate. It was constructed as a double sided book with two stories, one by each creative team.

Publication

Previews of the first issue were included in The Walking Dead #99 and alongside five other upcoming comics in Image's 2012 Free Comic Book Day sampler before the first issue was released on July 11, 2012. It had an initial print run of about 18,000 copies and was available with two covers: the standard version by Frison and an alternate cover by Craig Thompson. As an added incentive to retailers who normally order on a non-returnable basis, unsold copies of qualifying orders could be returned to Image in exchange for a credit to their account. It quickly sold out at the distributor level and went through at least four printings by December 2012, including one as part of the "Image Firsts" line of $1 reprints in November. By the end of the year, the first issue had sold an estimated 29,100 copies.

Subsequent issues also performed well. The third issue sold out the day of release, and a reprint of the fourth issue was announced five days after it went on sale. The series took a planned one-month hiatus after the fifth issue, which also needed an additional printing, to release the first paperback collection. During the break, Image offered an extra 10% discount to retailers who increased their orders by 125% in an effort to bring orders in line with demand and eliminate the costs associated with additional printings. When asked about the book's success in a January 2014 interview, Seeley said "We live and die by word-of-mouth, and so far, the readers and the comic press have been great about spreading the word about our very unusual and unique comic book."

Sales had fallen to just under 14,000 by issue 12, and continued to fall during the series' second year until the 24th issue sold just over 9,000 copies. In December 2015, the 35th issue sold an estimated 6,500 copies. According to Dave Carter, a writer for Comics Beat, this is a typical sales pattern for a modern comic. The series concluded with issue 47 in February 2017.

The series has been collected into eight paperback volumes. Three larger-sized hardcover editions collect the first 35 issues. Revival has been translated to French. A digital German edition translated by Frank Neubauer became available from Cross Cult in 2016.

Critical reception

According to review aggregation website Comic Book Roundup, critics have given the series an average score of 8.1/10 based on 199 reviews. It has been included as part of a resurgence in genre comics and highlighted for standing out among the large number of zombie comics being published at the time. During publication, it appeared on numerous "best of" lists on comic websites.

Rich Johnston said Revival distinguishes itself from traditional horror with "compelling psychological themes, undercurrents of religious fervour, and a slick medical detective veneer ." Seeley was often praised for his strong characterization, and reviewer Ginnis Tonic liked how the series has a specific focus on non-whites, such as the Hmong and Native Americans who live in the area. Slate columnist Dan Kois described the series as "grounded in the economic and familial realities of small-town life."

Writing for Newsarama, Ernie Estrella said Norton's artwork set Revival apart from other horror comics because he didn't rely on distressed visuals or lots of shadow to set the atmosphere. Kois described Norton's art as "wonderfully specific and evocative of the rural Midwest" Comic Book Resources' Doug Zawisza liked the way Norton used a variety of body shapes and sizes for the cast and thought Englert's colors added an "edginess" to the story. Tonic found the subtle background detail added to her understanding of the characters.

As the series progressed, some critics began to express frustration with the comic. Writing for Inside Pulse, James Fulton said that while the series is entertaining, it sometimes feels directionless. In his review of the 24th issue for Infinite Comix, Johnathan Bryant said it can be "difficult to recall the many relevant characters."

Awards

Revival was nominated for multiple Harvey Awards in 2013, including Best New Series, Best Writer, and Best Artist. Jenny Frison, who has been called the underappreciated star of the series, was nominated for Best Cover Artist in 2013 and 2015 in part because of her work on Revival.

Television adaptation

In October 2012, Seeley and Norton said in an interview that major networks had approached them about developing a Revival television series. Around this same time, ABC Studios was involved in a bidding war for the rights to The Returned, an unpublished novel by Jason Mott that dealt with similar themes. ABC announced they were moving forward with The Returned in January 2013, although it was later retitled Resurrection. Although some fans suspected their idea had been stolen, Seeley said "these things just happen sometimes." He said the announcement was "unfortunate" because they had been working with talented people to adapt Revival.

In September 2013, A&E bought the rights for an American remake of the French television series Les Revenants (The Returned), which is also about dead people coming back to life as they were before. Les Revenants, in turn, was inspired by a 2004 film of the same name directed by Robin Campillo and translated into English as They Came Back. When Seeley started working on Revival, a friend recommended he watch They Came Back to avoid similarities. Since The Returned is inspired by the film, he and Norton watched it and became fans of the show.

Merchandise

Screen Panel released four prints based on Revival October 25, 2014. They were created by Angela An, Randy Ortiz, and Jenny Frison.

An Em Cypress minimate figure was included in the first wave of Comic Book Heroes minimates from Diamond Select Toys. The figure was available in a two pack with Cassie Hack, another Tim Seeley creation, and went on sale in November 2015.