Rough Riders: Ride or Die #1 is the the start of a new tale in AfterShock’s Rough Riders series, which is about a group of American legends who team up to save America from some of its greatest and otherworldly threats. The group consists of Teddy Roosevelt, Annie Oakley, Thomas Edison, Jack Johnson, Harry Houdini, and Monk Eastman. Ride or Die is like a twisted combination of The League of Extraordinary Gentleman and Constantine, pitting these iconic individuals against the darkest of supernatural elements.
Issue 1 of Ride or Die takes place several years after the groups last adventure. They have been disbanded for some time and have not really been in contact with each other since then. Houdini discovers a supernatural entity unleashed into this world during a seance, with the only thing known about this being is that it is named “The Master.” Houdini calls the rest of the group back together to investigate and stop what is being unleashed on America. Each character is paired up into two as they travel to different cities to investigate various aspects of what is occurring. The conclusion of the first issue is a major cliffhanger that introduces us to a new major character and leaves many of the group in great danger, which should leave readers anxious to read issue 2.
The art from Patrick Olliffe is superb and embodies the gothic look of the era, as well as the look of gothic horror movies from studios such as Hammer Films. It is full of heavy black shading, intricate details, linework and hatching. I particularly liked some of Olliffe’s faces that he drew of some of the characters, whose likenesses are accurate and exact. The colors from Gabe Eltaeb perfectly compliment the time period and embodies what you would typically expect to see in a horror comic.
This will appeal to fans of the Rough Riders series, historical fiction, and the horror genre. With a fun group of characters, a mystical horror entity, and terrific Gothic horror visuals, Ride or Die is worth of checking out.
-RV