Don't Fear The Revere

The founding father's have long since been elevated from real-life, flesh and blood human beings to legendary figures in the American imagination, sort of like the superheroes of constitutional democracy. So when writer Ed Lavallee and artist Grant Bond's first issue of Revere: Revolution in Silver dropped from Alias Comics, they were really only taking things one step farther. Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow turned Revere's midnight ride into an epic, terror-filled night ride, kick starting the American Revolution and seemingly saving the States from the British redcoats. That's the version of the story that's entered into our textbooks and been ingrained in our understanding of Revere anyway.

 

Lavallee and Bond are just adding some monsters. Their Revere is still a silversmith and a patriot, but he moonlights as the colonies' foremost monster killer. Their first planned Revere story has reached the half-way point, with the second issue hitting comic shops last Wednesday. We checked in with Lavallee to ask how many lanterns signals ‘the werewolves are coming’.

 

Bam!Kapow!: How big a part did Longfellow's "Midnight Ride" poem play in the creative process behind this book? Did you start with the poem and extrapolate the story out of it, or did you start with the monster fighting angle, and then look to the poem?

 

Ed Lavallee: The poem was just something that I felt would add a little more realism and mystique to the story. It didn’t play a huge role in the overall creative process. I started Revere with the intention of creating a monster hunting character with a different slant, hence the time period. Once I did some research on Revere, I looked at the poem.

 

BK!: I really liked how you used the poem as narration and how dramatic it seemed when you changed the context slightly. When you changed words slightly (I think "pigeons" becomes "crows" in the first issue), you note the changes…was that to avoid messing up kids' school reports…?

 

Lavallee: When I changed the context in the poem it was mainly to add to the eeriness of the story. Crows are a bit more menacing visually then pigeons. I noted the changes in the poem mainly to give credit to Longfellow and to keep the poem intact.

 

BK!: So what do you think Longfellow would have to say of your take on Paul Revere?

 

Lavallee: I'm not really sure what Longfellow would think of my take on Revere. I think it would all depend on whether or not he liked monsters and the macabre.

 

BK!: The silversmith/werewolf connection is cool in that it seems completely out of leftfield at first, but when  you stop and think about it, it almost becomes obvious. Do you consider Revere a werewolf fighting specialist, or more of a monster fighter in general?

 

Lavallee: From the beginning, Revere has been an all-purpose monster hunter. I wanted to tell a werewolf story first to establish the silversmith angle and to give some insight into the world of Revere.  We have harpies and werewolves in this first story. We think it will make for a pretty interesting finale. We're plotting the second series right now and it will have witches and vampires in Salem.

 

BK!: How much research goes into the book? Are you very concerned with making it realistic or believable, passing muster with, say, history professors, or are you more concerned with the action and horror side of things?

 

Lavallee: I've tried to incorporate as much as I can as far as realism goes. I don't think history teachers would agree with most of it. I'm not out to teach a history lesson, as much as to tell an entertaining story that has some basis in reality.  We try to hit on things that most people are somewhat familiar with and then put a little twist on it.

 

BK!: Can you walk us through the creative process a bit, in terms of how much input you have on the art? I really liked how the werewolves didn't look like generic Universal Studios wolf-men or the more popular hairy-guys-with-the-heads-of-wolves, but more like something that hasn't been seen before.

 

Lavallee: When I approached Grant to do the art on Revere, I had already been working with a friend to come up with some of the looks for Revere and Hodge. I also sent Grant a ton of reference material on costumes and weapons from the period. I like to be involved as much as possible in the creative process. I usually have a very clear vision of what I want to see and I try to incorporate as much of that into the script as I can. The werewolves were a mix of different things that I wanted to see. Grant did a great job of bringing them to life for me.

 

BK!: You mentioned a second series, so will you guys be making a it a series of mini-series? Does the Revolutionary War period or Paul Revere's biography put restrictions on how long a story of a monster-fighting Paul Revere can go?

 

Lavallee: I've always planned Revere to be a series of mini series with overlapping themes and content. I think with this first series we've done a good job of establishing the world, so I don’t think we are really limited by Paul Revere's biography or the war. "Revolution in Silver" is a self contained story, but certain elements and characters will carry over into the next series.

 

BK!: Any other founding father you think could easily be turned into action star or monster fighter?

 

Lavallee: I'm sure most of the founding fathers could be easily turned into heroes. They were some of the greatest men in history. I think Ben Franklin would make a great action hero. I was originally planning on using him until I did some research and found that Paul Revere was a silversmith. The rest, so to speak, "is history".

 

BK!: Will there be a werewolf wearing a powdered wig  at any point? That's something I've been looking forward to seeing since I first heard about the series.

 

Lavallee: No plans for a powdered wig wearing werewolf, but I will keep it in mind for future stories.

 

For more on Revere, click to reverecomic.com