Comics
Review: ‘Revival Volume 1: You’re Among Friends’
The opening pages of Revival, by writer Tim Seeley and artist Mike Norton, are some of the creepiest in comics and they serve as a powerful beginning for the series. The first volume collects issues one through six and Seeley’s story is so masterfully paced that you’ll have to talk yourself out of reading it all in one sitting. Or do. This tale of the risen dead and the living who have to deal with them in a small Wisconsin town is just that good.
WRITTEN BY: Tim Seeley
ART BY: Mike Norton
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $12.99
RELEASE: December 12th, 2012
The opening of Revival, Volume 1: You’re Among Friends is charmingly twisted and it’s almost disgusting how much glee Seeley and Norton take in setting up the most horrifying circumstance in which one can rise from the dead – a crematorium right as the fires are lit. It’s bone-chilling and sets the tone perfectly. We soon meet Officer Cypress, a young cop and single mother who not only has to balance her family life and career, but also a mysterious event known as “Revival Day,” when the recently deceased began to rise again.
The issues of this first collected edition provide more questions than answers but Seeley manages to keep you guessing while also leaving you strangely satisfied. The story of “Revival” is like a delicious chocolate cake. There are so many complex layers and rich textures that it’s best when one has the time to savor them at a leisurely pace. Seeley is in no rush to answer the mysteries presented in the first issue – most significantly, why and how are the dead reanimating? – and his patience is infectious. I’m usually a very impatient reader, always eager to get to the bottom of things as quickly as possible, but “Revival” is a slow-burning mystery. It’s a testament to Seeley’s skill as a writer that I found myself uncharacteristically at peace with that.
Seeley has created a cast of characters that feel like real people and the nuances of their actions and motivations are come across as genuine and complex. Norton’s art adds to the sense of realism without verging into “gritty” territory, proving that the two are not as inextricably intertwined as some would have you think. An expert combination of restrained expression and page-busting violence creates a book that’s as lovingly rendered visually as it is written.
Together, Seeley and Norton have crafted a mystery that manages to find the tricky balance between the real and the surreal. If you haven’t been following “Revival” on a monthly basis, consider this the perfect time to catch up with a series that is absolutely not to be missed.
Rating: 4.5/5
Reviewed by MelissaGrey
Comics
‘You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive’ – IDW Dark’s Next Horror Comic Will Make You Question Reality
Five friends. Four houses. One perfect life. Bloody Disgusting is excited to exclusively announce You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive, a brand new horror comic from IDW Dark.
From Eisner-Nominated writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, and rising horror artist Heather Vaughan, You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is described as a “paranoia-laced, socially-conscious, horror mystery that will leave you questioning reality, and reveal that this crafted world is more of a nightmare than the idealistic dream they were expecting.”
Phoebe Joplin has never questioned the world her parents built: a secluded community where she and her friends were raised to be smarter, stronger, and better than anyone else. No distractions. No dangers. No secrets. Until the night of their graduation.
When one of them dies under impossible circumstances, Phee starts to pull at the edges of her perfect life—and what she finds is something far more terrifying than she ever imagined.
Because this place isn’t a sanctuary. It’s a cage. And no one who discovers the truth ever leaves it alive.
Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing (Batman – One Bad Day: Clayface, Star Trek: The Last Starship) co-write the upcoming IDW Dark horror comic, featuring art by Heather Vaughan.
Jackson Lanzing said in a statement to Bloody Disgusting, “You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is in many ways a spiritual successor to our last creator-owned horror, The Principles of Necromancy – a dive into the promise and consequence of playing god with the blood of innocents. But the Hivemind book this reminds me of most is Clayface: One Bad Day. This is a deeply human story with intensely raw emotions – five best friends and their five mysterious parents, tearing one another apart for the promise of some impossible glory that’s waiting just beyond their darkest actions. We’re thrilled to be bringing this story to life with our long-time partner in crime, editor Heather Antos, at IDW Dark – and we’re particularly excited to give our Clayface fans a new, brutal and emotional horror made just for them.”
Adds Collin Kelly, “We’re deconstructing a feeling that seems universal these days; our elders have a death grip on their power, without any intention of giving it up to the generations that come next. YNLTPA is about growing up with the limitless potential of the future… and realizing how much it’s a lie we’ve been fed to keep us under the yoke of the past. Bringing this brutal experience to life is our artist and co-creator, Heather Vaughan, who brings an incredible amount of humanity to our cast. But it’s in our youthful leads that Heather’s art really shines – you are going to fall in love with these young people, even as they go through the worst experience of their lives. What we’ve all crafted together is going to be tragic, painful, but above all else, sincere – with a future so uncertain, there’s only one thing we can trust: you’ll never leave this place alive.”
“Some horror stories are about monsters in the dark. YNLTPA is about realizing the monsters raised you,” previews Senior Group Editor Heather Antos. “Working with Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly on this series has been a dream in the darkest possible way. They’ve built a story that’s layered, brutal, and deeply emotional, and every issue gives artist Heather Vaughan opportunities to push the art into places that feel both haunting and deeply personal. Some horror comics will keep you up at night…this is one that will stick with you for years to come.”
The first issue of You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive goes on sale October 14, 2026! Make sure to pre-order at your local comic shop by September to guarantee a copy.
Exclusively check out the various covers for Issue #1 down below.
IDW Publishing’s horror imprint IDW DARK features comics like A Quiet Place: Storm Warning, Smile: For the Camera, The Exorcism at 1600 Penn, Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees, The Twilight Zone, Event Horizon: Dark Descent & Event Horizon: Inferno, and more.
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