Revolution review.

[michiru42]

This is a review of the 2004 12-issue maxi-series Authority: Revolution.  I’ve avoided spoilers, so you can read this even if you haven’t picked it up yourself yet.

I should mention I’m a new Authority fan (so far, I’ve read Midnighter, Authority: Prime, Authority: Kev and More Kev, some of the new ongoing, and of course Authority

Comments

[alchemy_hisoka]

I'm a fairly new Authority fan myself. Ironically, I've read most of the series except Authority: Prime. :p I also never finished Midnighter as I dropped it after #17.

(How is The Authority: Prime? I've been meaning to pick it up, especially since I loved Christos Gage's Midnighter issue, but what I've seen of the art has me a bit wary.)

I fully agree with you that the political conflicts at the beginning of Revolution is one of the story's strongest and most interesting sections. I also agree that the ultimate payoff is lacking with the last two (I'd probably say three) issues feeling very rushed with too many things left unresolved. In addition to the Midnighter/Apollo and Swift plotlines you mentioned, I also would have liked at least one scene between Midnighter and Jack to address how sharp their break was earlier in the story.

Nevertheless, Revolution is still my third favourite Authority run. Besides the initial political conundrum, what I like best about this run are the multiple small character moments spread throughout -- Midnighter brushing debris off Apollo's hair after a battle, Apollo taking Jenny Q to the doctor's, Jenny's desire to not be treated like a little kid, Habib's backstory, and so on. And, even though not as much time is spent on it as there should have been, the moment where Apollo realises what's happened is still an emotional punch in the gut for me. I also enjoy Dustin Nguyen's art for the most part, especially his beautiful soft colours on the cover of issue 6.

Even though I became a fan because of Midnighter and Apollo, I like all of the main characters. To learn more about the rest of the cast, it's hard to go wrong with Ellis and Hitch's run. There's also Jenny Sparks: The Secret History of the Authority, which covers the backstories of everyone but Midnighter and Apollo (since they were already written), by Mark Millar; I know some Authority fans don't care for his writing, but I actually liked this miniseries more than his main Authority run. Shen doesn't get as much character development as she deserves, but World's End does more with her than most. Finally, there's The Secret History of The Authority: Jack Hawksmoor, which I haven't read. If you're interested specifically in Jenny Q instead of Jenny S, I think Robbie Morrison's Authority run is probably the best place to go even though I have extremely mixed feelings on it.

(Just in case you're interested, my two favourite Authority runs are Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch's original 12 issues and Abnett, Lanning, and Coleby's World's End. I'd also recommend Stormwatch: A Finer World since it's also by Ellis and Hitch and introduced Apollo and Midnighter.)

Thank you for posting your insightful review and for letting me ramble at you! I'm almost always up for Authority talk, though I should warn you that I'm dreadful at keeping up with comments or responding in a timely fashion -- a mix of RL busyness and my introvert qualities at work.

[michiru42]

Cool, thanks for the ramble! It does my geek heart good to read it. :)

Revolution was great for its character moments. Action is great, but if I don't care about who's punching who, I'm bored. You asked how Prime was, and it was actually quite bad, because of that: nobody got any character development, and it was basically Authority Member A beating on Stormwatch Member B. In Revolution I was on the edge of my seat because WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO ANGIE/JACK/APOLLO/JENNY/EVERYONE? I cared, and that made the story flow.

I can't comment on Ellis yet, but I agree on World's End. It was a great mix of action with world-building and character moments that, again, kept me invested. Jack almost killing Angie and Midnighter having to play hero risking Apollo's life to save her was particularly gut-wrenching; it was a whole new side of everyone that still made sense because of the situation they were in. Everything clicked.

I'm glad the book is still bringing in new fans. I know Authority isn't anywhere near the level it was at a few years ago sales-wise, and it would've sucked to come into a fandom that was on its death bed. We're small, but we're obviously still kicking.