Kill the Revisionist! (Graphic Novel) – Review

By Chad Lambert (writer) and Chris Steininger (art)

You’ve seen all this before. Take the Highlander, dress him up like Devo, add bits of Wolverine and Daredevil, then have it drawn by a guy who wants to be Matt Wagner so much it hurts, and you have the Revisionist.

Fortunately, in comics originality isn’t as important as style, and Kill the Revisionist! has that in spades. The art is cool, the action fast-paced, the dialogue irreverent, and the plot twisty in several ways I didn’t see coming. It begins at the dawn of time, on a molten and lifeless Earth, to which a tattooed super-criminal has been banished for attempted genocide back in his own dimension. It then jumps to the present day, with the Revisionist stomping on a couple of would-be museum tomb raiders. You see, there’s a crime cartel known as the Cross causing mayhem throughout the city and the Revisionist is the only man standing between them and… whatever it is they’re trying to accomplish. That part’s a bit fuzzy. The Revisionist continues to cross paths with them, sometimes thwarting their evil schemes, but mostly getting his ass kicked. During the day he tries to get a date with Sara, a co-worker at his white collar day job, and making excuses for the bruises on his face. As the novel progresses, the stakes keep getting higher and — wouldn’t you know it — the leader of the Cross turns out to be that ancient, extra-dimensional, super-powered mass murderer.

The Revisionist previously appeared in Digital Webbing Presents, which I haven’t read. A recap at the beginning of the book would have been nice. As it is, the story seems to skate over more than a few details that might have given the story more depth: What exactly is the Revisionist’s day job? Why does he fight crime? And why, with three billion years to craft his revenge, couldn’t the villain come up with a master plan that was a little more sophisticated?

Despite these shortcomings, Kill the Revisionist! is a fast, fun ride. (Grade: B)

– Andrew C. Murphy