By: Terry Moore (script, art, letters, everything)
The Story: Rachel tries to get her life back in order and the creepy little girl might be headed to a foster home.
Three Things:
1. The detail in Terry Moore’s art is really impressive. - Of course, everyone knows that Terry Moore is great at drawing expressions. But, that’s to be expected from a dude who sells a book called, “Terry Moore’s How to Draw Expressions”. But the level of detail in his art always amazes me too. It’s never excessive and it never distracts from the storytelling elements on the page, but he always seems to know what to add to a panel to make it seem more real. A lot of this is unglamorous work: a garden hose and charcoal grill in a back yard or a bunch of detailed bark on a tree trunk. I mean, I don’t think many artists enjoy drawing garden hoses, but these scenes need something to fill in some dead space. It’s just nice to see an accomplished artist like Moore who is still doing the heavy lifting required to draw ~10 distinct outfits of clothes hanging in a closet (instead of just drawing a bunch of squiggly lines and calling it “clothes”)
2. Depressurized storytelling done right. - This certainly isn’t a fast-paced story and if you read my reviews of superhero comics, you might think that I HATE depressurized storytelling. But that isn’t true at all. I DO hate it when there’s no point and I DO hate it when we all know that Captain America is going to win at the end of the 6-issue arc. But, what Moore is doing here is depressurized and beautiful. Each panel has a point to it whether it just shows Rachel looking out the window or her interacting with her kinda butch aunt. Even the quiet pages have a lot of thought behind them.
3. Mysteries abound… - Why does the dog not like Rachel? Is it because she smells dead? Or is it because she’s possessed or something? Weird. What the hell is up with the bull’s head hanging over the bed that Rachel is sleeping in at the beginning? Does that have something to do with weird skull that was superimposed over Rachel’s face on the issue #4 cover? That bull’s head has to mean something, right? And sheesh, what was going on with that twisted foster family who shows up to take the little girl. I LOVE how the little girl gets out of it, but surely there is something to the nasty family. Or would the same outcome have occurred with a nice family? And how did the creepy “big sister” show up? Is she magic or what? It is going to be so much fun seeing these puzzle pieces start to fit together over the next few years.
Conclusion: This is another very good issue in a wonderful new series. Enjoy the creepy and deep storytelling and the wonderful art.
Grade: A-
-Dean Stell
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Filed under: Other Tagged: | Abstract Studios, Dean Stell, Rachel Rising, Rachel Rising #5, Rachel Rising #5 review, review, Terry Moore
I want to check this out, looks awesome … but it’s not digital yet!? Do you have any word when Moore’s stuff will be on comixology? I read an article somewhere that he struck a deal with them but no dates.
I’m sure it’ll be coming along soon. It seem like you follow this, but the Comixology announcement came shortly after Moore posted on his blog that he didn’t see the point of digital comics because they weren’t producing enough money for him to justify dealing with the hassle of formatting them. It seems pretty obvious that the Comixology folks emailed him pretty fast and said, “Work? What work? Just email us the digital files and we’ll format them, sell them and send you checks.”
Digital is going to be SUCH a boon (eventually) for comics like Rachel Rising. I like to get series like this in paper because I enjoy binding comics like this (that I know will be of a certain quality) into hardcovers. But, comic shops don’t even begin to support series like this. Sure….they’ll preorder it for you if you have a pull list and good shops might order 2-3 copies for the shelf. But, most shops aren’t going to have them on the shelf on a random Saturday afternoon. Digital fixes that!
I just bought all 5 issues on comixology. I’m hooked. what a great mystery so far. I think they are both somesort of demon. it’s like Rachel and the other girl are possessed and they are convincing people to do evil deeds. Sounds kind of demon like to me. Can’t wait for issue 6.
Welcome aboard. One of my other hopes with digital comics is that it lessens the need for “jumping on points” because they comics are all sitting right there. Fables doesn’t need to create a new jumping on point…..it’s all right there digitally and the early issues are just as cool now as they were 10 years ago.
Like the idea about a demon. It’s better than any theories I have.