ROUGH RIDERS VOL.3 – “RIDE OR DIE”
Writer – Adam Glass
Artist – Patrick Olliffe
Colors – Gabe Eltaeb
Lettering – Sal Cipriano
Cover Work – Patrick Olliffe
The setting for Rough Riders is one of my favorite historical periods – the very early part of the 20th Century.
This is one of the most exciting time periods for me anyway, because of the massive changes in society, politics, technology and the larger than life people that made that time such an hopeful and inspiring era, just before the Great War.
As a younger comic book reader, of course I was drawn to the super-hero genre for the most part.
However now I get older, it’s tales of mystery, suspense, great characters and more refined plot developments that really interests me these days.
Rough Riders presents just such a series to us.
As you can see from one of the books opening panels, the art is well researched and done in a style that is not overly flashy but is very thorough in it’s details and accurate representations.
I really enjoy this style of art overall and for this particular subject the artist and his colorist are very well chosen.
Just look at the detail the artist put into just this one section of a page. Marvelous!!!
This staggering amount of detail gives us a sense of grounding in reality that helps the reader to immerse themselves pretty quickly in the time period but also makes the story that much more believable.
The costumes, the manner of speaking – all of it is faithfully rendered here.
Even the bunting and garlands set against a winter sky is accurate for the date of the actual wedding which was February 1906.
The story itself takes dramatic liberties with some larger than life and important historical figures.
The author weaves us tales of mystery and superstitious happenings during a time when “Spiritualism”, Mysticism” and “Seance Culture” was a very prevailing social trend.
The main protagonists and their followers use their influence and skills to attempt to piece together various clues to help solve very unusual events in the style of a mystery/thriller.
I don’t want to spoil any of the story, but the writing is compelling, polished and is set up in such a way over the course of this release that it transitions between various personalities and circumstances.
This is a good way to keep the tension high and to keep our eyes and our thoughts moving along with our characters.
The style and pace this group of creators has brought, envelops us in the mystery quite effortlessly. In fact, once I had finished; I counted and noticed that there were only 24 pages.
It really felt like there were more while I was reading and so I must say that an awful lot of detail was placed into the issue without giving the reader a feeling of being bombarded. Quite the opposite actually.
I thought the writing in this regard was masterfully accomplished.
If you like a mature read that is historically faithful but twisted, very well drawn and promises many more interesting and thought provoking stories, then make sure to add Rough Riders from Aftershock Comics to your pulls and grab the previous volumes while you are at it.
You won’t be disappointed.
Rough Riders is brought to you by the innovative and talented folks @
****PICTURE CREDITS
ROUGH RIDERS COVER AND INSERTS – https://www.comixology.com/Rough-Riders-Vol-3-Ride-Or-Die/digital-comic/718538
PREVIOUS COVERS & ARTWORKS VOL.1 and VOL.2 – http://aftershockcomics.com/roughriders/
ROUGH RIDERS VOL.1 COVER – https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/ce490ee410642be0896fa2ce002569e0e23f325e/c=0-790-1982-1910/local/-/media/2016/04/06/USATODAY/USATODAY/635955743336417153-RoughRiders.jpg?width=3200&height=1680&fit=crop
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