It's hard to really explain Revisionary and give it the same punch that it has when you actually read it, which may be why the book flew under my radar when it was first solicited. At any rate, though, this is a really good first issue, introducing a thoroughly compelling lead character, presenting a twist in the middle of the story and another twist at the end and keeping the reader guessing throughout. Storrie does a pretty believable rendition of the world of fake psychics before introducing the real thing, and writes a compelling "regular guy" narrative to start off before dropping the character (and the readers) into a suspenseful murder mystery that takes place before the actual murder, thanks to the vagaries of psychic powers. Eric J is not quite as stunning in black and white as he was with Jeromy Cox's colors, but his solid storytelling and character designs (first seen on Rex Mundi) are fully in force here as well, and those with a fondness for black and white comic book art will find plenty to appreciate.
Revisionary begins as the story of Randall Gordon, a psych major who decides to engage in some fake psychic abilities to win a talent contest. It's an unusual story, but it's something that could easily happen in real life, and the acceleration from one-time bit of fun to outright career is an exceptionally fun and believable ride that Storrie takes the reader along for. Gordon's willingness to sucker others is a bit reprehensible, but because we're viewing it through his thought process, it's more sympathetic and understandable, and it's very believable. I was all set for this to be a story about a con job gone wrong, leading up to the violent scenes that open the book, when Storrie threw the first curveball.
Midway through the book, something happens that changes Gordon's approach to psychic powers, and it's a fascinating little switch. The realistic characterization and first person narration remains, but suddenly the story is different, and what I had thought was coming had changed into something a little more uncertain. The introduction of a Vegas mobster near the end is another nice twist, tying in to the sequence that opens the book and starting up a fascinating murder mystery that has me chomping at the bit to see what comes next.
I was a fan of Eric J.'s artwork on Rex Mundi, and so his name was the one that drew me to the book, but his artwork is actually a bit rougher than I would have expected. Some of it has a sketchy quality, and his pitch-perfect staging and clean work on Rex Mundi gives way to an occasionally cluttered and occasionally kind of drab narrative in Revisionary. Which is not to say that the art is bad, because J. is still a very solid storyteller, and I really enjoyed the gray-wash technique used to differentiate the psychic flashes from the rest of the story, just that when I look at the art, I definitely notice that it's in black and white and would probably work better in color. For whatever reasons, the expressions of the characters in general seem a bit more exaggerated and unreal in black and white than they did in color, and in a story that is more grounded like this one, it stands out.
At any rate, Revisionary has a concept and characters that wouldn't be out of place in a Vertigo miniseries, taking a mystery format and giving it a twist with the psychic angle. Storrie has built up a fascinating protagonist in the first issue of Revisionary, and I'm curious to see where the story goes from here.
