Today on the blog, a review and giveaway for THE RUSH by Si Spurrier & Nathan C. Gooden. Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my review below and then enter to win a copy of this beautifully horrific graphic novel. (Sorry, internat(ional) friends, it's US only.)
About The Book:
Author: Si Spurrier, Addison Duke (Colorist), Nathan C.
Gooden (Illustrations), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Letterer), Adrian F. Wassel
(Editor)
Pub. Date: August 9, 2022
Publisher: Vault Comics
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org
Historical horror that chills to the bone, The RUSH. is for fans of Dan Simmons’, The Terror mined with a Northwestern Yukon gold rush edge. Answer the call of the wild north and stampede to the Klondike…
ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD. ALL THAT HUNGERS IS NOT HOLY. ALL THAT LIVE ARE NOT ALIVE.
This Hungry Earth Reddens Under Snowclad Hills.
1899, Yukon Territory. A frozen frontier, bloodied and bruised by the last
great Gold Rush. But in the lawless wastes to the North, something whispers in
the hindbrains of men, drawing them to a blighted valley, where giant
spidertracks mark the snow and impossible guns roar in the night.
To Brokehoof, where gold and blood are mined alike. Now, stumbling towards its
haunted forests comes a woman gripped not by greed -- but the snarling rage of
a mother in search of her child...
From Si Spurrier (Way of X, Hellblazer) and Nathan C. Gooden (Barbaric, Dark
One) comes THE RUSH, a dark, lyrical delve into the horror and madness of the
wild Yukon.
Collects the entire series. For fans of The Terror, Fortitude, Coda, and Moonshine.
Reviews:
"The
book strikes a wealthy mixed vein of sophisticated psychological chills and
monstrous horror."― Publishers Weekly
"Gritty historical drama meets supernatural horror in this sumptuously
drawn tale set during the Yukon Gold Rush." ― PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"The Rush is a chilling bit of historical horror.
Rugged and raw and thoroughly researched. It's got such a wonderfully creepy
sense of menace but most of all it's the moving story of a mother searching for
her child, that's its beating heart. Wonderful work." -- Victor
Lavalle (best-selling and award-winning author of he anthology, Slapboxing
with Jesus and four novels, The Ecstatic, Big Machine, The
Devil in Silver, and The Changeling, the fantasy-horror novella The
Ballad of Black Tom, and the comics series Destroyer and Eve)
"The Rush is a splendidly savage tale of frontier scum
and the doom they’ve brought down upon themselves, and the innocents cursed to
suffer alongside them. I for one can’t wait to see more." -- Garth
Ennis (best-selling and award-winning writer, Preacher, and
writer/co-creator of The Boys)
My Review: For men seeking fortune, there lies a town called Brokehoof deep in the wilds of the Yukon, where blood and gold run like rivers beneath the snowclad hills. For Nettie Bridger, the town's gold is worthless, merely a means to track down her missing son, who may have been carried through Brokehoof by the same greedy impulse that drove so many men up through the frozen frontier. Along with her hired bodyguard M.P., Nettie dives straight into the town's convoluted history and finds herself facing the devils that lurk both outside and within the town's borders. But Hell's fury ain't got nothing on a mother's rage...
The Rush compiles Spurrier and Gooden's six issue graphic novel series into a single book that tackles the horrors within -- from obsession to madness -- against the isolationist backdrop of the Yukon during one of the last gold rushes. The book captures a mysterious and gripping atmosphere that helps propel readers through its slow opening. The beginning's slower pacing helps set the stage for the town of Brokehoof and its mysterious curse, the culture and fanaticism of the gold rush, as well as introduce and build terror towards the monsters that metaphorically represent the darker parts of the human soul. Nettie's emotional turmoil as she struggles to gather any information on her son steadily raises the tension over the first several chapters. This not only hooks readers into the story's stakes before the mystery surrounding the town's monsters is really set in motion, but also ties into the overall themes of the story -- that true monsters are born from human emotion, whether rage or greed or passion.
The story is very plot-driven. The first pages set us within Brokehoof, where readers get a glimpse of the madness and magic that haunts the isolated town. From there, we meet Nettie, and join her on the trail of her son, Caleb, that leads her away from civilization and into the frigid north. The mystery twists and turns, building in a roundabout way that doesn't give its secrets away until the finale, where the bigger picture is finally revealed. This roundabout way of adding pieces to the puzzle may frustrate readers who want a more linear progression to the mystery, but Nettie's character, full of flaws and an in-your-face attitude, gives the narrative a foundation that readers can hold onto until the bigger plot elements are revealed. And what a satisfying payoff! The final chapter pulls all the pieces together into an intricate web that flips reader expectations on their head and pushes them to question what's truly monstrous. The thematic and plot elements also very closely mirror Nettie's own internal struggle as a mother, tying everything into a satisfying bow that pleases my analytical brain.
The characters are all distinct, with their own set of flaws that influence the story's progression. I particularly loved how clear Nettie's opinion of other characters was based on her dialogue and behaviour. Her personality popped off the page and she made some dumb choices based on her flaws that ultimately made the story more interesting. The villain is presented with a fascinating balance of evil and principles, which brought some freshness to the overdone archetype. It would just have been nice if he got a bit more page space in order to flush out his characterization further.
Finally, the art. I'm not a skilled art critic by any means, but the beautiful intricacies of the pages are eye catching and draws readers into the horror atmosphere. The style is reminiscent of western superhero comics that don't flinch away from depicting the uglier sides of human expression. The sepia-toned colouring with emphasis on reds is not just a subtle nod to the time period, but the reds and browns subtly reinforce the thematic connections between blood and dirt, or internal and external corruption. The panels are thoughtfully used -- wavy borders to signify dreams or fantasies, larger than life characters popping out of panels, birds or landscapes seeping beyond borders to give scale to the natural world, etc. These elements bait re-reads as they add significance to every page and panel.
All in all, a deliciously dark psychological horror comic that utilizes its northern setting to its full advantage. Full of vivid art that thematically reinforces the narrative, The Rush balances both an internal and external horror as the darker parts of the human soul take monstrous form to seek vengeance. The art will will leave you jumping at leggy shadows and the narrative will leave readers pondering for many nights to come.
TL;DR: 4/5 stars. Within the greed and vice of a goldrush town, The Rush provides a deliciously dark glimpse into what makes a monster.
About Si Spurrier:
His work in the latter field stretches from award winning
creator-owned books such as Numbercruncher, Six-Gun
Gorilla and The Spire to projects in the
U.S. mainstream like Hellblazer, The
Dreaming, and X-Men. It all began with a series
of twist-in-the-tail stories for the UK’s beloved 2000AD, which
ignited an enduring love for genre fiction. His latest book, Coda,
is being published by Boom! Studios at present.
His prose works range from the beatnik neurosis-noir of Contract to the occult whodunnit A Serpent Uncoiled via various franchise and genre-transgressing titles. In 2016 he took a foray into experimental fiction with the e-novella Unusual Concentrations: a tale of coffee, crime and overhead conversations.
He lives in Margate, regards sushi as part of the plotting process, and
has the fluffiest of cats.
Website | Twitter |
Instagram | Goodreads
An
award-winning illustrator and sequential artist, Nathan C. Gooden is
Art Director at Vault Comics. Nathan studied animation at the Pratt Institute
in Brooklyn, and worked in film production, before co-founding Vault Comics.
Nathan’s previous works include Brandon Sanderson’s Dark One (Vault), Barbaric
(Vault), Zojaqan (Vault), and Killbox (from
American Gothic Press). He lives in Southern California, where he plays a lot
of basketball and hikes constantly with his wife.
Website | Instagram | Goodreads
Giveaway Details:
2 winners
will receive a finished copy of THE RUSH, US Only.
Ends August 23rd, midnight EST.
a Rafflecopter giveawayTour Schedule:
Week One:
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7/25/2022 |
Guest Post |
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7/26/2022 |
Guest Post/IG Post |
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7/27/2022 |
Excerpt |
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7/28/2022 |
Guest Post |
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7/29/2022 |
IG Post |
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7/30/2022 |
Review/IG Post/TikTok Post |
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7/31/2022 |
Guest Post/IG Post |
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8/1/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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8/2/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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8/3/2022 |
Review |
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8/4/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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8/5/2022 |
IG Post |
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8/6/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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8/7/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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8/8/2022 |
Review |
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8/9/2022 |
Review |
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8/10/2022 |
Tik Tok Review/IG Post |
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8/11/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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8/12/2022 |
Review |
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8/13/2022 |
IG Review |
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8/14/2022 |
Review |
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8/15/2022 |
IG Review |
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8/16/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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8/17/2022 |
Spotlight |
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8/18/2022 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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8/19/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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