Griffin Franks was a joke in Hollywood. A washed up action-hero. Over the hill. Past it. A has-been. A barely-was. But now he IS The Revenger. He’s a star. His movie’s a hit. His latest wife is hot. He finally has everything he wants. Just in time for someone to take it all away. Forever. Starting with his face.

Revenge #1 feels like a 70s grindhouse film mixed with modern gore/torture porn. I’d think that the series is a brilliant send-up of over the top violence, revenge films, and torture films of today, but I think it takes itself a bit too serious and dwells on the torture too much to be that much of a wink and nod. Instead, we get an over the top comic that I found myself coming close to stop reading, not for the needless violence and blood, there’s lots of that, but for a plot that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. The failure here isn’t the general concept, it’s the execution in a story that’s so complicated and removed from any semblance of reality, it’s just not enjoyable.

There are spoilers ahead, because I just need to, so I can explain why I had so much trouble with the first issue…. you’ve been warned.

Ok, lets actually examine the plot. Griffin Franks is a washed up actor, and decides to have a risky procedure to get his youth back. Instead he’s tortured during the procedure having his face and finger tips removed, while he’s sedated but awake. That could be the plot of an Eli Roth film, it works, and could work really well, and be entertaining. But here is where I lose it. It turns out this is all a plan by his much younger wife. It turns out that Griffin slept with her mother and thus got her parents to divorce. Her mother then had a downward spiral. From there, the now wife grew up, married Griffin, to torture him and use is finger tips and face to fake getting their pre-nup reversed and steal all his money. What. The. Fuck. This is the plot? Talk about needlessly complicated. The fact that so many pieces had to fall into place to make this all happens is ridiculous, but she’d need to be able to see into the future to know all of it would work out. Why not just slowly torture the guy instead and make him spiral like her mother? That’s much more terrifying to me.

That story completely lost me as a reader. It’s so over the top to be nonsensical and takes me out of enjoying it. There’s sex, there’s violence, there’s gore, there’s blood. It’s over the top. But the plot is what kills it and tortured me as a reader. Churchill’s art is gory, and at times gross, and it’s the highlight of the issue. There’s numerous nightmare dreamscapes Griffin goes through while tortured, and they’re drawn in the nightmarish way they deserve. Sadly that artistic talent is wasted on a plot that should be so much more.

I could hope there’ll be some amazing bait and switch and this will in fact be a movie inside the comic and some reveal will happen that’ll surprise the reader, but for some reason, I just don’t see that coming down the pipeline. If you enjoy blood and gore and no plot, then go for it. I myself want a bit of story. All shock and no story does not make a good comic or good entertainment.

Story By: Jonathan Ross Art By: Ian Churchill
Story: 4 Art: 7 Overall: 4 Recommendation: Pass

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review