Like me you probably haven’t heard of The Revisionist, but after reading this collection of stories I wish I had. The collection contains the short stories that appeared in Digital Webbing Presents circa 2004-2008. They’re all written by Chad Lambert, but there’s a rotation of artists on the series that give it a lot of visual pep. Right off the bat I got a Major Bummer vibe about the series. There was just something about it that transported me back ten years and I really enjoyed that. Being that the stories were originally for an anthology they’re all pretty short and quick, but thankfully so. Because they’re short the narrative doesn’t have time to mess around and so the story always gets to the point quick. Where Lambert succeeds is that he doesn’t repeat the formula from one story to the next, but rather approaches each mini differently.

The first story is an introduction to our hero… well anti-hero. He tells us himself that he kills bad guys and while he takes no joy from it, you’ll soon begin to wonder if he is in fact a psycho. His first mission involves saving his half-brother who’s been kidnapped for a ransom. He takes an educated guess and ends up finding where his half-brother is being kept, but hey wouldn’t you know it… that’s not his half-brother tied to a chain with a bomb strapped on. He ends up finding his half-brother who has staged his own kidnapping and kills him. Like I said, he’s a killer.

In fact there isn’t a single story in which someone doesn’t die and it’s actually quite funny because of it. If that’s not commentary on how desensitized we are to character deaths and deaths in general, then I don’t know what is.

There’s also this very quaint feeling of the real world. Our main character works an office job and it’s nothing glamorous. In fact he’s not even liked. At one point he runs into someone he knows that’s trying to kill him and their conversation reminded me of The Tick or even The Venture Bros. to an extent. Let me tell you, those are great comparisons.

The art varies in quality, but none of the art is bad. Sure there are styles that seem to fit the setting better and others that fit the story better in general, but they’re all very solid. They’re also consistent within their own tale which I think is important. You don’t’ want there to be a dip in the art with stories this short.

I would actually like to read more The Revisionist. Lambert really had something going here and honestly the short format doesn’t allow it to fall into the pitfalls of other superhero titles. The best part is that this holds up today so if you feel like having a chuckle and reading some stories that are ripe with commentary about the superhero genre then check out The Revisionist.

Score: 4/5

Writer: Chad Lambert Artists: Various Publisher: Old School Comics Price: $6.95 Website