Anghus Houvouras reviews Revolution #1…
THE REVOLUTION BEGINS! Explosions rip across the Earth—and all signs of blame point to OPTIMUS PRIME and the TRANSFORMERS! G.I. JOE refuses to go quietly—and they assemble heroes big enough to stop the invaders! ACTION MAN and M.A.S.K. fight for humanity—but where do ROM and the MICRONAUTS stand? Celebrating more than a decade of stories by IDW and HASBRO, this unprecedented bi-weekly event draws everything together—and leaves nothing standing. The REVOLUTION is here—TAKE A STAND!
SEE ALSO: Check out a preview of Revolution #1 here
It’s funny how things fall into place sometimes. Having just finished a column called “Are we drowning in nostalgia”, I open up a review copy of Revolution: the new crossover event from IDW comics featuring a story that includes Transformers, G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Action Man, Rom, and M.A.S.K.
The ‘Shared Universe’ is a trend that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, it seems to be growing exponentially. At a molecular level, I don’t have any issue with the shared universe concept. There are times when it works incredibly well, like Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. And there are times when it goes horribly wrong and sullies the very concept, like Stephen Norrington’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie.
Still, the idea of a shared universe combined with an event comic didn’t have me brimming with excitement. However, IDW’s Revolution was quickly defying expectations and proving that with the right properties the crossover event/shared universe concept can work really well.
As a kid who grew up in the 1980’s, it’s difficult not to enjoy a comic that combines the action figures of my youth. I lost count of the number of times my Transformers and my G.I. Joes were doing battle with help from He-Man and my Super Powers action figure collection. The entire shared universe concept stems from our childhood toy boxes when the concept of intellectual property was less important than the limit of your imagination.
Revolution captures that ‘anything can happen’ toy box feeling with the characters from Hasbro. It’s a grand spectacle containing some great properties that naturally blend together. It’s an action packed spectacle that captures everything fun about comic books. However, none of it is every played strictly for visceral thrillers. Writers Cullen Bunn and John Barber take the story very seriously. Lines are drawn and alliances will be formed. The stakes start out high and feel like they’ve got nowhere to go but up.
Fico Ossio’s art pops from every panel with an eye for kinetic action and he does these characters justice. His style seems perfectly suited to captures the larger than life feel of characters like Optimus Prime, Action Man, Roadblock, and Rom.
Unlike so many other event comics, the first issue doesn’t feel like a primer. Instead it launches right into an epic conflict. Revolution has quickly established itself as a must read event for comic fans and feels like it has the potential to be one of the best crossover events of the year.
Anghus Houvouras
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Originally published September 21, 2016. Updated November 14, 2019.
