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Revere: Revolution in Silver
When a supernatural killer stalks the townspeople of Boston, renowned silversmith and monster hunter Paul Revere is called in to fight the evil. While tracking down clues to the killer's identity, the first shots of the Revolution are fired, and Revere finds himself fighting a war on two fronts in a struggle to save his family. Revere battles a marauding band of outlaw Redcoats led by a bloodthirsty general, rescues a damsel in distress, and saves a lost soul from demons of the past. All of this sets the stage for a climactic battle at the Old North Church, where enemies become allies in an effort to save the land from this unspeakable terror. And in the end, Revere finds the fate of his beloved wife lies in the hands of the only werewolf he couldn't bring himself to kill...
128 pages, Hardcover
First published October 10, 2007
32 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 27, 2010
Having never seen the original 4-issue miniseries, I am glad Archaia Studios put out this deluxe collection because Revere: Revolution in Silver is a tale that demands to be read by all. The simple premise -- Paul Revere fights off Werewolves during the early days of the American Revolution -- grabs you by the throat; it's amazing more tales like this, combining the early history of our nation and the supernatural, have not been done (and those that want more like this, should immediately go and buy Colonial Gothic: Rulebook). The tale has a nice pace, the writing is superb and the art both unique in style and evocative of the era and tone. The only flaw I find is that it is only the beginning of the tale and we are left in a very nail-biting cliffhanger! I want more!
March 14, 2011
Mash-ups are all the rage; whether it be Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, or any number of lesser-known works, putting two seemingly unlikely things together has become a literary obsession recently. Revere: Revolution in Silver carries on this growing tradition, positing that, in his spare time, Paul Revere was actually a werewolf hunter and member of an occult organization dedicated to defending the world against supernatural threats.
With the early days of the American Revolution as the backdrop, Revere: Revolution in Silver takes this premise and runs with it. Doing an interesting bit of world-building, writer Lavallee and artist Bond create a whole new mythology around the famous American revolutionary.
The art style is reminiscent of the Hellboy comics from Dark Horse: spare and cartoonish, and occasionally appearing a bit rough. I find the style perfectly serviceable for the medium, and have no quarrel with it. I like the subtle, effective shading done to achieve different lighting effects – from overcast to torchlit night and full daylight – it caught even caught my artistically untrained eye.
Without giving too much away, it seems apparent that Revere and the chief villain know each other and have history together. Their animosity towards each other is clear, though an explanation is not forthcoming – at least in this first volume. The dialogue is clear and fairly concise, with use of period speech used sparsely for effect rather than overwhelmingly so. A few cliches pop up from time to time, but nothing to really draw one’s attention.
The storyline is solid and eventful, the characters have depth and sensible motivations, and the world-building at work is intriguing; there are more than just werewolves prowling around Colonial New England, and wandering around at night – whether alone or in a group – is clearly a chancy and potentially dangerous proposition. While I wouldn’t view this as a major complaint in any way, I would like to have seen a slightly less heavy hand in portraying the villains – the British are totally insufferable bastards in the story, and while we know that this was true from time to time, there were also less than pleasant people on the other side as well.
At $19.95 for a print copy, or about $10 for a download, the pricing is fairly standard and pretty reasonable. I bought a download copy on spec – just because it sounded interesting – and I wasn’t disappointed. I look forward to future issues and continuation of the current plot arc; I’m eager to see where Lavallee and Bond take this story.
This review first appeared at FlamesRising.com.
With the early days of the American Revolution as the backdrop, Revere: Revolution in Silver takes this premise and runs with it. Doing an interesting bit of world-building, writer Lavallee and artist Bond create a whole new mythology around the famous American revolutionary.
The art style is reminiscent of the Hellboy comics from Dark Horse: spare and cartoonish, and occasionally appearing a bit rough. I find the style perfectly serviceable for the medium, and have no quarrel with it. I like the subtle, effective shading done to achieve different lighting effects – from overcast to torchlit night and full daylight – it caught even caught my artistically untrained eye.
Without giving too much away, it seems apparent that Revere and the chief villain know each other and have history together. Their animosity towards each other is clear, though an explanation is not forthcoming – at least in this first volume. The dialogue is clear and fairly concise, with use of period speech used sparsely for effect rather than overwhelmingly so. A few cliches pop up from time to time, but nothing to really draw one’s attention.
The storyline is solid and eventful, the characters have depth and sensible motivations, and the world-building at work is intriguing; there are more than just werewolves prowling around Colonial New England, and wandering around at night – whether alone or in a group – is clearly a chancy and potentially dangerous proposition. While I wouldn’t view this as a major complaint in any way, I would like to have seen a slightly less heavy hand in portraying the villains – the British are totally insufferable bastards in the story, and while we know that this was true from time to time, there were also less than pleasant people on the other side as well.
At $19.95 for a print copy, or about $10 for a download, the pricing is fairly standard and pretty reasonable. I bought a download copy on spec – just because it sounded interesting – and I wasn’t disappointed. I look forward to future issues and continuation of the current plot arc; I’m eager to see where Lavallee and Bond take this story.
This review first appeared at FlamesRising.com.
December 5, 2010
I liked the premise of this comic: Paul Revere (famed silver smith of the American Revolution immortalized in Longfellow's poem) is not only a patriot to the colonies but a werewolf hunter. Although the secret of werewolves (and other scary creatures) is hidden, in the aftermath of Lexington and Concord, Revere feels he needs to let his fellow patriots in the Sons of Liberty know about their existence. (Better that they know what they are fighting fully in the coming months and years.) Much like the disappearance of the Roanoke Colony is blamed on vampires in Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, in this comic it is blamed on werewolves - the curse of the colonies.
While the premise of this story is good, it was too disparate and, therefore, none of the stories were very well developed. The artwork was very dark, but it did not help to clarify the storyline. There were multiple stories that connected together, but not well in terms of artwork and dialogue. Understanding that by its nature the dialogue in comics is not as developed as in books, the artwork needs to strongly convey connections, plots, and characters. I found myself often times confused by what was going on and who was who.
This may be nit-picky but I also had a hard time reading the text. When entire words did not fit in the bubbles they were hyphenated, which did not help with the flow of the story. In addition, sometimes there was too much text in any one bubble. Plus the font was often times very, very small. The epilogue at the end was also written in a cursive font (meant to emulate the writing of the 18th century) but it was difficult to read. I, therefore, had a hard time following the flow and pattern of this story with graphics and text.
As a new comic reader, I know that I have a lot to learn and explore. While I loved the incorporation of historical elements and Longfellow's poem into this story, it was overall lacking in content and character development.
While the premise of this story is good, it was too disparate and, therefore, none of the stories were very well developed. The artwork was very dark, but it did not help to clarify the storyline. There were multiple stories that connected together, but not well in terms of artwork and dialogue. Understanding that by its nature the dialogue in comics is not as developed as in books, the artwork needs to strongly convey connections, plots, and characters. I found myself often times confused by what was going on and who was who.
This may be nit-picky but I also had a hard time reading the text. When entire words did not fit in the bubbles they were hyphenated, which did not help with the flow of the story. In addition, sometimes there was too much text in any one bubble. Plus the font was often times very, very small. The epilogue at the end was also written in a cursive font (meant to emulate the writing of the 18th century) but it was difficult to read. I, therefore, had a hard time following the flow and pattern of this story with graphics and text.
As a new comic reader, I know that I have a lot to learn and explore. While I loved the incorporation of historical elements and Longfellow's poem into this story, it was overall lacking in content and character development.
September 19, 2012
This takes a fairly interesting premise, that Paul Revere's career as a silversmith was more than meets the eye, and blends it into a story of intrigue and werewolves during the American Revolution. This graphic novel is good, but could have been better.
Unfortunately, the random demons [harpies?] are never really explained, even though the werewolves make sense. References are made to the Roanoke colony's disappearance, but that doesn't match the rest of the story, and like the demons, is never explained.
By tying the story to a modified version of Longfellow's poem about Paul Revere, there are some clever twists, but some not clever enough. For instance, he uses crows in place of the pigeons in the original poem, even though ravens would have made more sense [and better scansion].
Continuing the poetic ties, the book also uses excerpts from poetry by Poe and Emerson to fairly good effect, and the story makes a good comparison between the evil that men can do on their own and that of the supernatural.
Unfortunately, the random demons [harpies?] are never really explained, even though the werewolves make sense. References are made to the Roanoke colony's disappearance, but that doesn't match the rest of the story, and like the demons, is never explained.
By tying the story to a modified version of Longfellow's poem about Paul Revere, there are some clever twists, but some not clever enough. For instance, he uses crows in place of the pigeons in the original poem, even though ravens would have made more sense [and better scansion].
Continuing the poetic ties, the book also uses excerpts from poetry by Poe and Emerson to fairly good effect, and the story makes a good comparison between the evil that men can do on their own and that of the supernatural.
March 4, 2010
This graphic novel was a really fun "What would happen if we took history and inserted vampires/zombies/werewolves?" in the recent vein of horror/history mash-ups. Paul Revere's profession as a silversmith takes on a whole new level of meaning as a werewolf-slaying hero. The graphics are nice, although the plot, for all of its fun, is a little sub-par, trading in gore for story. Nonetheless, it was short, fun, and definitely a worthwhile quick read.
August 3, 2010
The art is good, but the story pacing is hurried, and the hero is the stereo-typical brutalizing Punisher/Van Helsing archetype. Its a good start, a base to build on, but Revere needs a healthy dose of humanity to really sale this series. Gritty is fine, good horror writing is gritty, but to get the impact of the brutality, you need to feel for the victims or protagonists, or you just have monsters and gore.
August 7, 2011
This volume takes history and inserts horror in the form of werewolves, zombies and vampires. Skilfully weaving both historical and horror together, the story was atmospheric and the slightly altered poetry used well. It may not stand up on its own as a single volume with the larger story unfinished, but I have some interest for the subsequent volumes, especially to see how the horror interacts with known history.
April 3, 2008
Ever wonder why Paul Revere was a silversmith? Well, to have a legit front for the whole werewolf (and other silver-fearing monster) hunting he does 'round Boston! The visuals are bathed in greys and many characters appear having a sickly green pallor, as if the scourge of darkness inhabiting the colonies isn't limited to the werewolves (or the British soldiers for that matter).
May 5, 2010
All right- a bit too heavy on the fantastic vs. historical. It's one thing to introduce mystical elements to history in a fictional setting. It's completely another to be sloppy in your history in the process. It weakens the fictional elements. I like the idea; not so much the execution.
July 23, 2012
Mildly entertaining, but not much more. The story was okay, but the characters didn't have any depth. Simply using famous historical characters isn't enough to make them interesting. Some of the artwork looked blurry, as if it had been badly scanned.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews