The
third issue of Dark Horse’s horror comic–book series from Lance Henriksen,
Joseph Maddrey, and Tom Mandrake, To Hell You Ride, premieres
tomorrow, on February 13th, and it’s a pleasure to report that the
story continues to intrigue, and to escalate in intensity and vivid imagery.
The
third issue commences with the execution of a man -- a father -- in 1939. It’s a particularly empty and useless death,
and that is likely the thematic point. An act of officially-sanctioned murder
always destroys more than one life, and can satisfy blood-lust but rarely bring
true justice. In this instance, capital
punishment actually sets the path for another life (and perhaps another and
another…). The unnecessary and unjust
nature of this death also points to the fact that even in America, some
citizens are considered more “equal” than others. Others are merely…disposable.
To
Hell You Ride’s
story then shifts to present day as the catastrophic, biological “curse” we saw
rear its head in Issue Two returns to gorily claim several drunken revelers in
a hot tub. I loved this out-and-out
horror scene because it deals with several genre tropes (like “the breast part
of the movie” convention) in very direct fashion, and then ends in visceral,
sickening fashion. This is a scene you
could easily imagine on the silver screen, and it is really wicked fun.
Later
in the issue, the same flesh-melting force rises again, destroying the
corpulent Mayor Boyer immediately after he declares that his town is absolutely,
100% safe. It’s an ironic moment, of
course, and Boyer’s death reveals the authors’ effective sense of gallows or
black humor. Long-time horror comic fans
will love this moment for another reason.
The idea of the unjust and avaricious getting their (supernatural?) comeuppance
plays like a narrative element from a 1960s E.C. Comic.
As
the story continues, the military swoops in with black helicopters, and attempts
to quarantine the contaminated town. The
military captures and tests denizens… and even picks-off with snipers those who
attempt to flee. Leading this violent
initiative is a malevolent force of darkness named “Blackwash.”
Before
the issue is done, Blackwash gets to utter the famous George W. Bush-ian line:
“either you’re with me or against me. I
have to protect the nation.”
In
(effective) response, kindly Jim Shipps -- the Lance Henriksen surrogate in
appearance and nature -- responds that the people under fire by Blackwash are the nation. How can violence perpetrated against the
spirit and body of the nation be misconstrued as national security or
protection?
This
third issue of To Hell You Ride contains much more action and horror imagery than did the previous entries combined, yet it continues to develop several cerebral themes. Specifically, the narrative features several
parallel tracks of time. The notion explored
is that time doesn’t have a beginning or an ending, but rather a non-linear
structure. Here Two-Dogs, a character
who speaks to his dead ancestors, notes that the idea of “changing fate” is one of white, or western culture. Fate can’t be changed. Time doesn’t work that
way.
The
crucial word or idea of last issue, I felt, was “contamination.” The land was contaminated by the greedy, by
the oblivious, by the entitled and the indulged. In this issue, it looks like the term contamination
has been superseded by the word “empathy.”
Empathy,
of course, is the action of
understanding; of being aware of or sensitive to someone or something
else. Empathy might also be described as
the vicarious experiencing of
the feelings and thoughts of another person
of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and
experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.”
I
highlighted the words in that definition I found most pertinent.
If
we couple the authors’ focus on Mother Nature sending man “messages” with the idea
of parallel time tracks, plus empathy -- the experience of another, either in
the past or the present -- we begin to excavate the secret, beating heart of To
Hell You Ride. As as the
definition makes clear, empathy is the quality of understanding without
explicit explanation or enunciation.
That definition is, actually, the mode of communication of this
comic-book. Through powerful narrative
voice and striking, spiky imagery, the comic tells its tale, but it doesn’t make
obvious all the connections for the readers.
That’s
our job. To pull all the threads together.
So
far, this is how I see things. Regarding
the curse: those who have caused suffering…suffer themselves. They are not immune to the pain they
introduce to the world, and eventually it strikes them too. You can’t unloose evil in the world without
it boomeranging back on you.
I
feel the story will develop significantly from this point in issue #4 and #5.
Right now we are seeing a curse played out, but without all the details of what it is, or if it can be stopped. This curse causes the suffering of those who
don’t listen, don’t care, and don’t empathize with others. But mostly, it afflicts those who have
shunned, slighted, and mocked Mother Nature. Those folks aren't listening to the messages.
I
suspect this conceit will evolve and grow, and become even more pronounced as
the comic winds to its shattering conclusion. What I feel we will soon start to understand
better here is how nature connects all of us (and thus the fabric in this tapestry), and how, through empathy, that “connection” can be something greater or
better than mere “contamination.”
Of
course, I could be wrong. I’m just reading the breadcrumbs as they drop, as these master
storytellers lead us towards the horizon of understanding. We'll all have a chance to review these analyses after the last issue, and the story is over.
To
Hell You Ride
Issue # 3 goes on sale tomorrow, so
check it out!
As
before, I wholeheartedly recommend reading
all the issues back-to-back so one can glean a full sense of the story’s
epic flow. The story is building in
momentum with each passing page, and to get the full effect of that momentum,
it’s best to start at the beginning.
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