Comic Review: Revere.  Publisher: Alias, Issue: 4/4, Writer: Ed Lavallee, Artist: Grant Bond

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The famous patriot and silversmith takes on a new persona in this comic and faces off against supernatural enemies while still fighting for liberty and freedom. His dual-role is reflected in his membership of both the Sons of Liberty and the Order of the Silver Star, a secret brotherhood sworn to defend the colonies from monsters.

In addition to Revere, the narrow cast of characters includes:

- Rev. Hodge, a battle-cleric who fights alongside Revere
- Gen. Bloodsword, a vicious and ruthless British Dragoon
- Pvt. Rags, a hapless British conscript

The plot also includes a short love story between Rebecca Middleton and Elijah Hawthorne, who are set to be married in an arranged wedding. However, the brewing colonial rebellion and increasing attacks by supernatural monsters interrupt their plans.

The most interesting character is Rev. Hodge, who is hounded by demons and his dark past. Like Revere, he also functions as a courier for the Sons of Liberty, but soon finds himself caught up in a two-front war battling harpies as well as the British. Hodge is a deeply conflicted character and has the most developed personality.

Revere wades into combat swathed in black, including his cape, tricorne and mask. He cuts a mysterious image on the page, but neither the Redcoats nor werewolves are intimidated.

The overall tone of the book is gloomy and sinister. Most of the scenes are cast under a continuous sheet of fog or rain. The background is drawn in a dark, abstract and foreboding manner that adds to the overall sense of gloom. The only flashes of color come from grainy yellow gunpowder explosions or dark red sprays of blood.

Generous use of light and shadow helps avoid creating scenes that are flat. However, because there isn’t much detail in the background, unfortunately most of the attention falls on the characters. The monsters are the only visually appealing characters, most others are non-descript.

The dialogue is fairly bland, and includes several anachronistic clichés and spelling errors! The only interesting lettering comes from the ghoulish and bloodthirsty sounds associated with monsters like the harpies and werewolves. The decision to slightly rewrite and update several poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Ralph Waldo Emerson and use them as narrative tools is an interesting gimmick.

The 4-part book comes to a terrifying conclusion and ends with an orgy of violence as Redcoats, rebels and monsters all clash in the graveyard of the Old North Church. However, the end result creates an opening for a sequel or continuing series.

In addition to fighting Redcoats, Paul Revere also battles harpies and werewolves in Revere: Revolution in Silver.

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