Rough Riders Vol. 3: Ride or Die

Rough Rider: Ride or Die #1-4

by Adam Glass, Mike Marts (Editor), Pat Olliffe (Artist)

Volume Three of the hit series!

It's 1906 and Theodore Roosevelt is the sitting president when a familiar face from his past asks him to call upon his team, the ROUGH RIDERS, to save the world once again. But this time, the threat isn't anarchists or aliens, no, it's something from the great beyond, the next world after this one, from Death itself. Something so ancient and evil that the Rough Riders will need to add to their ranks in hope of defeating it.

Enter: A young HP Lovecraft! With Lovecraft riding at their side into danger, the Rough Riders must face a supernatural threat that could lead to the end of everything!

Genres: Comics, Historical Fiction, Horror, Graphic Novels

120 pages, Paperback

First published October 3, 2018

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

The horror storyline was just too much vaguer and shorter than the sci-fi/mistery ones in previous two volumes, and it was just a real shame the author not dared using the Cthulhu Mythos mythology after adding to the Riders' rooster a young, scared, H. P. Lovecraft, but the Solitary of Providence wrote many other tales so that's ok for me.



Besides that, this was a more than decent ending (really?) to this series and I loved the way Glass used his knowledge about Houdini's life as an intense plot twist.



And the ending let me hope to see more stories about this different take on Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen sooner or later.

[Florin Pitea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot is about a zombie invasion, of all things, but the ending is superb.

[The Geeky Viking · Rating 5 out of 5]

The finale to the trilogy created by writer Adam Glass and artist Pat Oliffe. This is a perfect ending to a perfect comic book series. I absolutely love these books and give them my highest recommendation possible. Really hope the Rough Riders live on with another team.

[47Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume is rushed and less fun than the ones before it. Instead of focusing on steampunk and political stuff, it does so on the occult, demons and magic. The dialogue is still good, but the intrigue is crap. At least this explains why there haven't been new releases in the series.

The Rough Riders face the supernatural this time. A staged sceance goes bad and calls forth a demon that threatens the world. The story features the previous cast and HP Lovecraft, which is fitting, since he can see and hear the dead. Was he a geek in real life?

The demon is a Buck Rider, some sort of Dutch thing related to Teddy. Houdini agrees to be pushed to the brink of death to travel into the realm of the dead where he must find one of Teddy's ancestors. The latter betrayed his neighbor, stole his wife and home, then convinced the town that his neighbor was a demon. In turn the neighbor cursed Teddy's ancestor and is now controlling his descendant from beyond the grave. He still wants revenge on the Roosevelt family. He possesses Teddy's daughter Alice, which spells certain death for her. That is, until a last ditch attack that, sadly, makes little sense and feels like a deus ex machina, defeats the demon. All is well again and the team disbands. Oh, until it's needed again. Of course, the writer moved on to greener pastures, like we readers should do.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a series so comfortable in its own ridiculousness that it can actually take its storytelling somewhat seriously, somewhat tongue in cheek--and make it all work. Raising the bar still higher from the previous adventures of this misfit team, Roosevelt and company are stuck fighting for each other and the very survival of humanity as they face a threat unlike any that has come before.

The art is strong--and while there are some imperfections in parts of the storytelling--the creative team delivers and grand adventure and brings their series to an effective close while leaving things open enough for the possibility of further adventures.

[Michael Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rough Riders has been my favorite series published by Aftershock Comics and I hope this third book is not the final. I love the Riders (especially Calamity Jane), but in this story, they are almost overshadowed by two new characters. Fun stuff from Glass, Olliffe, and crew but I’m not crazy about the idea of the team riding into the sunset just yet.

[Steve Bearfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really hope that they eventually do a Volume 4 that follows the ending of this book.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what to do for a third act? Give Teddy Roosevelt a flying robot butler, add HP Lovecraft, and yada yada the ending in hopes people don't notice.

[Anne-Marie Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What? You are going to end with THAT and not publish more volumes? But I want to read the adventures of the new Rough Riders!

Only complaint: it's too short, perhaps even expedited.