Two giants of modern horror have taken a pretty famous story by Matheson, Duel, and updated it, how could you not get excited about this?
We know the story: Big rig trucker chases and runs down innocent motorists on a long stretch of road in the desert. Where is it different here, you might wonder? Well, it’s about an entire motor cycle gang being chased by the crazed trucker.
Based on both the short story Duel by Matheson and the companion piece Throttle by Stephen King and Joe Hill, we get this pretty solid adaptation by Chris Ryall.
If you’re a fan of Sons of Anarchy and you are familiar with King’s brief cameo in the series, then you’ll be able to see the influence that it played on this story. This feels like companion piece to Sons of Anarchy in many ways, even down to the name of the gang. The story has a slow start, but something like that should be expected with as old school of a story as Duel is.
My only real complaint is that the characters seems to blend together. Only a few of them seem to stand out as their own voice, the rest feel like stock characters just being lambs led to the slaughter. The dynamic between the major two characters is absolute great writing. They both cement their place into the story early and and hold their ground even when things start to get a little…steamy.
Nelson Daniel provided the art for the book and I must say it compliments the tone and violent nature of the book very well. The way he does and doesn’t use regular panels to frame the stories fit into the content of the story that it makes transcends the way comics are typically read. We associate the words and pictures simultaneously, but the way he uses the collage-esque pictures to mesh the story line and the characters thoughts is incredible.
I must also praise Daniel for his use of violence in the piece. He makes it revolting to look at but you can’t help but stare in awe. The detail that he puts into the twisted metallic mayhem on that road is on a different level of art than other books out there now.
One aspect of comics that is so often looked over, but of course an important thing, is the lettering. It takes a lot to notice these things but the text boxes and sound effect balloons are awesome in this comic. The text boxes fit within the style of the characters so well that you really get the feel that its the voice of Vince, on that note big shout out to Robbie Robbins for hitting a home run with the lettering.
Road Rage is a solid first issue. It’s got a great set up and blends a lot of different genre tropes but is on its way to becoming a noteworthy entry in horror comics.
You can follow Spencer on twitter at @ScarySpencer.
