First Impressions: Road Rage #1

Title: Road Rage #1

Writer: Stephen King, Joe Hill
Illustrator: Nelson Daniel
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Pages: 24

WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS.

One of my favorite comic series is Locke & Key written by Joe Hill. He showed me that when it comes to character writing and depicting horror to a sequential art format that he is among the best in the business. Being the son of renowned author Stephen Kings, (Also no stranger to the comic scene) I wouldn’t expect any less. Now if you put these two minds together on a project you’ll have my attention, but if you have them working on a story paying homage to one of the most iconic thriller films of all time, then the fan boy in me comes out at maximum overdrive. No pun intended. Road Rage is a mini series paying tribute to the classic film Duel, which was Stephen Spielberg’s debut project as a director. It will also adapt to another novella called, “Throttle” which I must admit I never heard of but after reading this, am already hunting it down.

            The story focuses on a band of outlaw bikers who call themselves the Tribe. No fair weather riders or, “Wild Hogs” shenanigans here as these guys are the real deal. They’re rough, violent, and have no qualms killing if you piss them off. We meet them riding through the desert, heading to a place called Show Low to seek retribution for a business deal that went sour, putting them 60k in the negative. Throughout the book we see two of the main characters, Vince and Race are constantly bumping heads as to what the appropriate actions are to take on their current situation with no peaceful agreement looking to show.

            Taking a break at a rest stop the gang prepares to head out again when Vince notices an old vintage tanker truck just looming over them in the lot, but thinks nothing of it after it departs and has everyone get back on the road. Miles rack up and before the gang suspects anything suspicious, the mega rig suddenly attacks them by ruthlessly running over members and grinding both flesh and chrome into the asphalt. It is a high speed fight for survival as one by one the casualties add up and without knowing who the driver is or their reasoning for the carnage unfolding, the men have no clear idea on how to deal with their assailant other then to keep moving.

            The artwork in “Road Rage” is amazing as illustrator Nelson Daniel puts just the right amount of details in the right places. The bike designs are all unique and the character designs all have characteristics that make them stand out from each other. Given the fact that we are dealing with an all male cast wearing their insignia colors riding cruiser style bikes, that couldn’t have been an easy feat. The truck design and scale of it at times really brings out the monster in an otherwise normal mundane machine that we see every day. Just take a look at that mechanical beast towering over the three main characters and you’ll see what I mean. The Exaggerated size is perfect way of depicting the terror you got from watching Duel.

            One of my gripes with the art, (although this could be a story fault) is right from the start we are introduced to nine characters which like that truck on the cover can be intimadating to readers at first. Luckily though by the end of this book that number is cut in half as members become chunks of meat on the roads or stains on the truck's grill, leaving us with a more manageable cast. The other complaint is how the truck is drawn jumping through the air. While some pull off the terror element well, some just look odd as if it’s bucking like a bull. I’m sure was the intention but to me, seeing a truck bend like that, depicts it as crashing not chasing. 

            The dialog and overall story is easy to follow apart from the broken English but given that’s how your average biker talks I wouldn’t have it any other way. The narrator’s dialog always confused me on one aspect because throughout this book, we never learn who he/she is telling the story. It reminded me of the older silver age format of story telling which you don’t see too much today. The revenge plot was a solid enough ground to begin on but since everyone is running for their lives by the end of this first issue, we’ll have to wait and see if it remains the main plot device.

            Overall “Road Rage” was a very satisfying first issue of this mini series. It got a lot of story done in this book and has a cliff hanger that leaves me chomping at the bit for more. It’s clear that this father and son collaboration have a lot of passion for this project and I must say it imitates the atmosphere of Duel well. I can’t wait to read the next issue.

Ryan Pierce

First Impressions: Ferals #1

Title: Ferals

Writer: David Lapham

Illustrator: Gabriel Andrade

Publisher: Avatar Press

Pages: 22

WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS.

I’m always struck with excitement when a new werewolf story comes around so when I saw new release of Ferals at my local comic shop, you can bet your ass that I snatched a copy. The cover on this book just screams for attention for while I was not aware of this new series, out of almost fifty new releases on the wall, this one still managed to catch my eye. It’s easy to suspect that this will be a true horror tale of lycanthropy as we see a poor bloody woman about to meet her demise with the story’s long fanged beast.

Spanning across twenty two pages, this book does manage to create a solid foundation as we learn a little bit about the town involved, and the main character Dale who’s a cop patrolling an area of less then five hundred residents. Brutality shows up on the first page forcing Dale to investigate and soon our hero runs into a female character who I suspect is the main werewolf though it’s not spelled out for us yet. Later on Dale is caught off guard by the murderous animal escaping with his life but not before getting injured foreshadowing the curse falling on him.

At this point and time while the story is interesting, I must say that I have yet to find any of the characters likable. So far all we have going on for the good guys is a coroner who bitches about being called out to a crime scene and Dale, who gets drunk off his ass and uses his badge to prey on skirts in the local tavern managing to score tail twice in one night. That’s a lot of sex for just twenty two pages and makes me ponder if its going to be a constant reoccurring theme in future installments. I know werewolves and sex go hand and hand but when dealing in this medium I hope more actual story takes precedence. Dale even goes as far as to flat out punch a woman when she says something that pisses him off bringing my respect for this guy down to almost zilch.  

The artwork, like the cover remained impressive throughout. Graphically it is not for the faint of heart as gore and genitals on corpses occur here. This is going to be a gritty series holding nothing back which hopefully will drive the horror element up to eleven. The werewolf design here is awesome looking. It walks on two legs but still manages to look more beast than human with a unique muscle structure and intimadating facial features.

           Overall this first issue does a good job of establishing an origin story of the main character. The dialog is easy to follow and understand keeping conversations short and sweet for the most part but sometimes comes off a little forced. It does show right off the line though that this is going to be an adult gore fest and so far seems to be staying close to the classic lycanthropy mythos. I will be giving this one another shot.


Ryan Pierce

COMICS REVIEW: Off Road

Title: Off-Road

Arthur: Sean Murphy

Artist: Sean Murphy

Publisher: IDW

Release Date: February 2011

I have a theory about human intellect. The more friends you get together, the lower their IQ’s drop. However, at the same time, the positives of friendship so outweigh the negatives. Off Road is a charming tale by Sean Murphy, (Writer of Joe the Barbarian and Hellblazer) about three friends putting their friendships to the test. The main character Trent is an emo artsy type who has no luck with women and can’t let old relationships go. Greg is a cocky jock who comes from a wealthy family with no real worries in the world, while Brad is rough around the edges tough guy who comes from a broken home. Reuniting after high school, the three get together after Greg picks up his brand new Jeep to get ready for a party later that night. But thanks to a hyper salesman planting bad ideas in Trent’s head, the three decide it would be a great idea to take the new ride off road beforehand. What’s the worse that can happen?

First of all it should be noted that not only is Murphy the author of this graphic novel, but he’s also the illustrator. Done in a black and white clean yet sketchy style, every scene is easy on the eyes with foregrounds and backgrounds always in a perfect balance. Exposition and regular dialog bubbles never get in the way of the art and are placed well for the eyes to follow and let the story progress without mishaps.

The story in this graphic novel is a real treat. The three main characters are all likable yet still have their problems and personality faults. Trent learns that a girl he still likes, but has no hopes of ever getting is holding the party that they are about to attend. Yet when Greg and Brad try to help him move on, he won’t have any of it. Brad has no qualms speaking his mind, which tends to make him unpopular at times with some, but turns out that’s just what they need. Greg is used to living the high life and not having to take any risks of his own and doesn’t realize that it’s an important part of life. After getting their Jeep stuck in a bog, the three are forced to confront these issues causing tensions to fly, but later on resulting in them building memories of a lifetime, and making their friendship grow even stronger.

The dialog between characters is natural sounding and never seems forced. They talk like all best buds would. They bust each others balls with snarky remarks yet get serious and sometimes grow attitudes when the times get tough. Comedic timing flows well in places you wouldn’t normally expect, but when looking back in retrospect one, could quickly relate those scenes with someone they know in real life. My only gripe with the story, and it’s a minor one, is every female character turns out a bit too bitchy and cold as they go out of their way to step on hearts, but it’s never done on an unbelievable level. Obviously women can be manipulative and insensitive when they want to. It’s just always on full throttle here.

Overall, Off Road is a fun buddy’s tale that I think everyone should take a look at. The characters are well developed, the art is easy to look at, and the dialog keeps you wanting to turn the page. In the end the story resolves nicely not leaving the reader hanging or wondering what happened to anybody. It leaves the reader feeling good and happy that they could tag along with the guys and their little adventure. Sean Murphy is a talented artist and writer which is most of the time a hard find. This one is definitely worth a read.

Ryan Pierce