Rachel Rising vol. 1: The Shadow of Death

Even if it didn’t stick its landing, I still enjoyed Terry Moore’s “Echo” a great deal and that made picking up the first volume of his newest series an easy choice.  Where “Echo” was a clear departure from his signature work, the grounded relationship drama “Strangers in Paradise,” “Rachel Rising” is another sharp right turn in what you’d expect from the man.  This is a supernatural horror series that begins with the title character crawling her way out of a shallow grave in the woods and shambling out to the highway and back home.  She’s not a zombie, but Rachel can’t remember how she got to this point in the first place, and why there are strangulation scars around her neck.  By the end of the volume, though, we’ll find out that not only is there a whole lot more to her condition, but it isn’t unique…

I’ve mentioned before that horror is a genre that doesn’t often work for me in comics form.  Moore gets closer than most here as his natural, character-driven style makes scenes such as the ones involving tween Zoe, who gets sucked right into all the killing, really get under your skin in how such horrific acts are depicted so calmly.  It’s not all doom-and-gloom as there are plenty of scenes where the lighter side of Rachel’s condition are played up and we even get to relax around her friends and family.  Jet, her significant other, acts as a good counter to all of the craziness going on around her significant other while “Aunt Johnny’s” quirkiness is almost taken too far, especially when you consider the stereotypes associated with undertakers.

There is the beginning of a larger plot in this volume with the events here being masterminded or at least overseen by a mysterious woman who has had a very long-term connection with Rachel.  I am intrigued by this, though I am wary that similar elements in “Echo” regarding the homeless man who might’ve been Cain went unresolved.  Of course, it could be that after that subplot didn’t pan out Moore decided to do this series where he’d have the luxury of addressing such things without derailing the story.  We shall see.  Overall the book has me intrigued but not passionate about it yet.  It’s most impressive aspect is how it shows Moore to be a creator who can tackle just about every genre he wants, though the jury is still out on whether he’ll be able to do it successfully here.