No publisher does horror quite like Dark Horse does, so you know when they announce a new series written by cult favorite actor Lance Henriksen and you’re sure to have a hit, right?
…well, maybe not.
Written by Lance Henriksen and Joseph Maddrey
Illustrated by Tom MandrakeA deadly curse plagues a small town, melting the flesh from its victims–the violent revenge four warriors set in motion when their sacred burial grounds were disturbed for the sake of gold miners’ greed!
A new horror series written by Lance Henriksen (Millennium, Aliens, Near Dark) and Joseph Maddrey (Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film), with art by Tom Mandrake.
Lance Henriksen and Joseph Maddrey’s story shows promise, and… well, that’s where it ends with this issue. The first third of the comic is devoted to folkloric storytelling that builds the foundation for the story, but from there on out, the comic doesn’t really go anywhere. Looking at the solicit, this comic series is about the reincarnated forms of the four warriors introduced in the prologue, but this first issue only deals with one of the four. As such, you’d expect that we would get a thorough introduction to “Two-Dogs” George, but by the issue’s end the character is still just Some Dude to readers. The only thing that makes Two-Dogs seem special are his heritage and his newfound treasure — which means nothing about him seems special at all. We are told by the captions — more on those later — that because he is half white and half Native American, he leads a conflicted life, but all that is actually shown through George’s actions is that he is a surly drunk. Perhaps in text our first protagonist is a complex character, but on the comic page, there’s nothing special about him. Sure, this is only the first issue, but if there is enough trouble communicating the essence of this single character already when there are three more main protagonists on the way… well, the odds aren’t looking too good for the human aspect of this book.
This comic is caption-laden. That’s not necessarily an inherently bad thing — take a look at the Chris Claremont X-Men comics. Sure, they may be a bit dated, but there still good comics. The problem is that the captions in “To Hell You Ride” distract from what’s going on on the page. It makes a thematic sense for the opening folklore scene, but as a whole the comic seems to be almost two parts caption to one part dialogue (only two of the twenty-two pages lack narrative captions of any kind). I am unsure how Lance Henriksen and Joseph Maddrey’s collaboration works, but it seems like we have two voices at play here: one is legitimately interested in telling a story with images, while the other is doing this only as an alternative to writing a “real” story. The narration matches what is going on on-panel, but in ways that are more redundant or superfluous than complementary. The three panels regarding the final arrow in the story’s opening are an example of how to do it right; in the rest of the issue, though, the captions cause the comic to be a terribly dull and plodding read — not because they are in third-person, but because they are not handled with any grace.
In terms of his drawing ability, Tom Mandrake is hardly a bad artist. His figure drawing is very solid, and his style evokes the EC horror comics of the 70s without seeming derivative. However, while Mandrake is talented at drawing in a general sense, this issue is a bit hard to follow visually. Perhaps it has to do with the horror and otherwise supernatural stylings of this comic, but this issue does not flow in any sense. It isn’t that Mandrake’s artwork isn’t clear — it is heavily stylized, sure, but not so much that it obscures what is occuring on panel. Perhaps the problem has to do with his layouts; maybe Mandrake just doesn’t place his actors where they lead into the next panel. Whatever the matter, Mandrake’s panels are difficult to follow, and further compound the problem caused by Henriksen and Maddrey’s captions. Maybe it’s a lettering choice, as the sequences with minimal text are pretty effective, but even getting through the pages while mentally ignoring the text is a chore. Mandrake has been working in the industry for a while, so it could just be a fluke issue, but this is not the way to make a good first impression to those who might not have experienced your art before.
At its heart, “To Hell You Ride” has a story that seems like it could be quite enthralling, but we see none of that potential actualized in this first issue. It is far too dense for the sparse amount of story content it has, and plods along at a snail’s pace. Perhaps it could have at least looked good, but the massive captions overshadow Mandrake’s aesthetically pleasing, if not ideal for storytelling, panels. As I started this review, no publisher does horror quite like Dark Horse does, which means we have come to expect much more from the publisher than what this comic offers.
Final Verdict: 3.0 – No thanks.
