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 20th February 07
What's in this issue?
Revere by John Smith and Simon Harrison
What should I expect?
A teen witch hero running around in desolate future London, vomiting on people and mucking about with mysticism.
Where did these stories first appear?
Book I (progs 744-749); Book II (progs 809-814); Book III (progs 867-872)
What did Alex Frith think about it?
Describing the plot of Revere you might think it was a pretty straightforward action piece. Anyone who’s actually read it would tell you that it doesn’t feel like that in the slightest. Basically, an enormous air of pretentiousness shines through the whole thing, which is mostly annoying, but it has its place, too. Sadly it fails to elevate the series to a level of high art, which you feel at times is what the writer (and perhaps more particularly the artist) were hoping for.
Let’s break down that plot to start with. The setting is London, in the not too far future, but far enough that all the global warming doom and gloom has come true. Water is a scarce and precious resource, and going out in the daytime is almost suicidally dangerous because of the high UV levels. An unseen government seems to have control of the situation, and rations out food to the people. With rationing comes a thriving black market, and that’s where we meet Revere. He’s a teen hotshot who happily braves the daytime sun and the police force to go out scavenging. He’s good enough at it that the police are after him, and much of the rest of the series involves Revere’s personal battle with one man in particular, Captain Kneale.
 The pretentiousness of the plot sneaks it’s way in under the premise that Revere is a witchboy. The details of this aren’t spelled out at any point (hey, it’s a John Smith script, of course certain basic details are just assumed), but it seems that Revere’s mother (a floating head) is herself a witch who has presumably passed on a mix of genetic traits and childhood training. Certainly Revere can vomit up acid at will, move exceptionally fast, and can meditate to the point of creating an astral projection. Presumably because of these abilities, Revere finds himself chosen by certain magical forces to be part of something great.
At which point the series becomes a mix of classic Luke Sykwalker-esque training montage sequences and annoying tarot-based psyhcobabble. Along the way, Revere gets a girlfriend, is chased by some kind of psychically manifested harridan, and annoys the police some more. Eventually finding oneness of spirit, Revere realises his destiny and makes his way to the roof building that has long haunted his dreams (or at least, we’re told it has…), pausing briefly to rescue his mother and revenge himself one her captors, and then…
Major spoiler – or at least it would be if by this point anyone cared any more – he jumps off the building, merges with the inner oneness of all tarot (or something), and it starts raining.
It’s actually a pretty neat little plot, one that reads much better in a single magazine than it did in short bursts over a three year period. However, it struggles to satisfy because it never quite finds it feet between being a series of fight scenes as well as one man’s journey towards self-discovery and mystical enlightenment. Or maybe it’s just that I liked the fight scenes – but couldn’t see what was going on because Harrison’s art is too murky – and didn’t like the mystical scenes, which look beautiful but don’t really make any sense or further the story.
 To be honest, the story is never going to win converts alone. Revere is all about the artwork, and I’m afraid that it depends on what you think of Simon Harrison, who is nothing if not distinctive. I happen to like his style, and the weird way he draws humans with skin that looks like it’s been stretched tightly over their muscles and bones. I like the sound effects he paints into his work. I like his attention to background details and mood. In Revere, I particularly like the colours he’s used that really give a sense of how desolate this future London is, with its hot sandy suburbs, and grimy, broken concrete city centre. And the watery blues of the mystical realm are entirely appropriate to the themes, even if those themes are inherently irritating.
The reproduction in this Extreme Edition is, I think, exemplary. I remember finding the painted artwork particularly difficult to decipher back in the Progs. It may be that I’m a more patient reader now, but I think that if you have any interest in reading Revere, this is the place to do it. Looking at the original painted pages would be awesome (if you like Harrison), but that’s not really an option. I understand that the staff at Rebellion spent a very long time putting this edition together, and I praise them for their hard work.
It’s a shame, then, that Revere overall feels a little slight. There are some great sequences along the way, notably the opening episode when Revere takes down a squad of cops, the storming of Revere’s house in Book 2, and his vengeance in Book 3 all spring to mind. All would look fantastic as part of a late 80s action B Movie. The love scenes between Revere and Chloe are also genuinely tender, and it makes me sad that Smith didn’t focus on their relationship a bit more, and worry less about all the mysticism. The panels where Revere appears to be exploring parts of London are on the point of being exciting, but we never find out what is going on, who lives there, and how people live. Ultimately, I found that whilst I did care that Revere got together with Chloe, and rescued his mother, I didn’t care that he sacrificed himself for the sake of a rainfall that this future society desperately needed. I mean, it’s just assumed that the government is evil, when they might have been trying to do their best in an extremely tough situation. Who knows?
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