Finally in the mood for this! I really only knew that Rachel Rising has gotten rave reviews, so I had no expectations and knew very little beyond the premise that Rachel claws herself out of the mud and starts to hunt her own killer. Which, let's be honest here, would be enough to get me hooked, but when I got into this properly, the story just dug its claws deeper and deeper.

The simple black and white art gives the story a tone that colors would actually wash away. Linework is simple yet detailed, the characters feel genuine and you immediately get a sense of their personality (not to mention they are drawn realistically), pacing of the plot is perfect, the panels create a sense of mystery in scenes without dialogue, and when there IS dialogue, it's convincing and real. Throw in a little black humor and we have a nice package.

I'm excited to find out where this will lead me. Not surprised that a script for a TV show is currently making rounds around the town, since the comic is actually quite cinematic in nature and would make an incredible show, but I'm hoping Moore can do justice to his own creation and no one will turn it into a murder mystery for teens littered with cardboard actors.

At first I was a bit hesitant to read this because of the Wild West aspect, but I was also curious about the collaboration with Stephen King, and since I didn't mind the cowboy stuff in The Dark Tower I figured I should give this a try. Well, a nice effort of bringing back the vicious vampire. The things I had problems with were the cringeworthy romance (seemed glued on), and the occasionally cheesy dialogue. Sometimes the characters also didn't seem to talk like the people of their era. The artwork was great though, and I appreciated the appearance of the vampires (long fingers and the long jaw coming from inside of their mouths especially were a nice touch). Overall this was like an entertaining but unmemorable action movie. I'm still continuing with the series though, I'm really curious as to how things pan out in the next decades.

I was supposed to finish the whole series, or at least continue a bit further than this, but this is it for me. It's been a while since I read the first volume, and all the fantastic comics I've experienced since then makes this series seem even more flat. I still like the depiction of vampires, but the art is is sloppy and kind of juvenile. I don't know, I'm just not a fan. There's something off about the heavy linework and bulkiness.

The biggest issue I have is that I don't care about any of the characters. I'm not talking about emotional investment, since that's not a necessity for me, but the fact that I don't feel compelled to invest my time in finding more about the characters and following their journey. I don't care about the main vampires, I don't care about whoever they're fighting against. Meh.

Story-wise, the series is a huge dud. Stilted, clichéd. Meh. The whole series is just goddamn meh!

Anyway, I'm now done with the pile of comics I wanted to read within these couple of days. Obviously, there is still some interesting stuff I want to get into someday, but at the moment I feel like I finally have the time and energy to read something other than comics, so let's do that next.