Review by Ian Keogh
In 2035 Hong Kong is a dangerous place to be, but so is much of the rest of the world in this near future. China is at war with the USA, and the latter is no longer the bastion of freedom, but a totalitarian state. You Must Take Part in Revolution opens with a scary chase scene before reeling back to a series of chapters starting with the 2019 protests in Hong Kong and building back toward 2035.
It’s at the 2019 Hong Kong protest that Andy, Maggie and Olivia meet, and their pasts are used to bring readers up to speed on many iniquities of the repressive and state controlled Chinese society. When the following chapter jumps forward to 2030 it explains how state security has tightened even further through the ubiquitous placement of cameras. Infractions seen result in deductions to social credit, and even apply to the elderly not able to cross streets before the lights change.
Writer Melissa Chan is a journalist with considerable experience in reporting from China, at least until her press credentials were revoked with no reason given. Her background means the historical knowledge is accurate, and it gives the springboard necessary to postulate restrictions in the future and to extrapolate the current political realities into a convincing and frightening world.
Badiucao takes an illustrative approach to the art, with panel to panel continuity a secondary concern, and while the pages have both originality and stylistic consistency it’s not always the most effective approach. In very early sequences, so important in ensuring readers want to progress further, it’s often difficult to make out what’s happening, and once Badiucao begins to contrast darkness with light there’s not always enough variety to the pages to sustain the interest during conversations. However, in other places it’s powerful art ideally suited to the grim message, with thoughtful use of red and yellow as spot colours.
You Must Take Part in Revolution eventually becomes a personalised view of war as experienced by three different people in three different places, with conversations between them staking out ideological approaches. It’s a grim succession of predictions, yet seems a world not too far away in 2025 with so many expansionist regimes, yet it’s also a very human story about what people are driven to in extreme times, and how experience chips away at rigid belief.
The inconsistent art prevents unequivocal creative success, but it’s a powerful and thought-provoking statement about where we want our planet to be a decade from now.
