Rachel Rising Volume 1 Review: Black, White, and Weird All Over
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘Rachel Rising’ by Terry Moore is a wild horror tale about its titular protagonist, Rachel, rising from her death, with bloodshot eyes, dried lacerations on her throat, and no memory of what really transpired. She hitches a ride home, meets her friends, and tries to come to terms with what’s happening to her. So she’s like a walking-dead person, but a lot more sentient than a zombie, and much less scary than a ghostly spirit. If anything, people seem to think she might’ve gotten hotter!
I absolutely loved the opening panels of ‘Rachel Rising’ volume one, which collects the first six issues of the comic book series by Terry Moore. The artwork looks like gorgeous ink-on-paper, and the opening pages have no dialogue – eerily carrying the story through pictures: a young woman walks through a forest path while a body slowly emerges from the ground, like a scene from a horror film. Think ‘Night of the Living Dead’, ‘The Dead Don’t Die’, or even ‘Evil Dead Rise’.
One of the first people Rachel meets is her aunt Johnny (yes, a very weird name for an aunt), a mortician who hilariously assumes Rachel is a figment of her imagination. After all, Rachel shows up at her workplace late at night, and it seems years of working with corpses may have made Johnny a little cuckoo. And honestly, nobody’s blaming her. Aunt Johnny is instantly likable, so it’s no surprise that the confused and disoriented Rachel turns to her for advice and support.
A panel from “Rachel Rising”A subplot in ‘Rachel Rising’ also follows a creepy little girl doing dastardly things, while a mysterious older woman keeps an eye on her. How Rachel and this child’s stories intertwine remains an enigma in the first volume of the series. On the other hand, there are plenty of deaths and bizarre events to keep the reader turning the page, combined with the big puzzle of Rachel not dying despite her vital signs indicating she shouldn’t be alive. Interestingly, Rachel has a supportive best friend, Jet, who doesn’t freak out over the possibility that Rachel might be dead, instead, she promises to stick by her and help figure out what the hell is going on.
The story reminded me of the Japanese drama ‘Eien no Kinou‘, which follows a young boy who is killed in a road accident but rises as if nothing happened and continues his life, while others help him figure out what went wrong. But while ‘Eien no Kinou‘ was an eccentric romance about a walking, talking, loving corpse, ‘Rachel Rising’ is more sinister in nature. And while the characters don’t yet address the elephant in the room, it’s clear by throughout Volume One that someone murdered her.
Who wanted Rachel dead? The answers are clearly reserved for later issues. Until then, we know somebody is out killing people, though their motive is unclear. Issue #5 in Rachel Rising also introduces a wacky old doctor who examines Rachel and confirms she is indeed dead, but calls her an “angel” and seems weirdly happy to see her unnatural existence. Terry Moore throws in a wicked twist with this new character, and again, the follow-up is saved for later issues.
Well, so far, ‘Rachel Rising’ is fast-paced, mysterious, with the right amount of creepy thrown in for a horror book, along with some mild comedic moments too. The black-and-white artwork by Terry Moore is detailed, and terrifically complements the tale, never making the readers miss color. If anything, the stark black-and-white strokes lend more authenticity to the tale.
Rating: 4 on 5 stars. ‘Rachel Rising’ is also on Kindle Unlimited.
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