Revelations is a 168 page trade paperback from Dark Horse comics that collects the complete, six issue mini-series. Revelations is decidedly Da Vinci Code inspsired with its conspiracies and Catholic hierarchy cover-ups although it ends up being decidedly darker in tone than Dan Brown’s blockbuster.
As the story opens a Vatican Cardinal falls, or is thrown from a window and impaled on the gates below. Obviously dead, that doesn’t stop a Latin-chanting assailant from still attempting to stab the Cardinal with an odd looking dagger. Cut to London and the apartment of Detective Charlie Northern who receives a late visitor one evening, an old friend Marcel LeClair, himself now a Cardinal at the Vatican. LeClair brings Northen to Vatican City to investigate the death of Cardinal Richleau who many considered the next in line to become Pope.
His investigation is hindered by the powerful Cardinal Toscianni who is covering up the events of Richleau’s death and the mysterious, dagger-wielding assailant. The Italian police are little help and come off as rank amateur bumblers. The facts don’t add up as various guards report hearing different things. Northern finds an ally in Lucille Pelliccia who heads up the accounting firm that handles the Vatican’s finances. A mysterious coin leads Northen to a secret society called the Palladian Fathers and rumors of black masses and devil worshipping.
Soon, a coroner friend of Northern’s who performed an autopsy on the Cardinal’s body is found brutally murdered and someone tries to run down Charlie in the streets. Northern is getting close to something but the question is what? And who is the mysterious man feeding Northern tips about the investigation?
Revelations is a darkly painted mystery horror and surprisingly sinister. I was expecting Northern to be a typical downtrodden police detective but writer Paul Jenkins truly breathes life into the character. Northern is part John Constantine and part Sherlock Holmes, or perhaps Columbo might be the better comparison. Humberto Ramos’ art isn’t t he typed you’d expect to find in a book of this tone as it is quirky, and slightly cartoony, but ends up working quite well. The climax is starkly horrifying as Jenkins throws readers a big curveball.
My only nitpick about the book would be the somewhat rambling, paranoid introduction by Bob Harris written from a trench somewhere deep on the left. That aside, Revelations is one outstanding book.
– Tim Janson
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
