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Ryder on the Storm #1
What happens when you combine a crime noir story with
a supernatural story? Well, you get something like Ryder On The Storm
the latest mini-series from Radical Publishing. With some impressive
books does Ryder meet the high standards Radical have set
themselves?
While the story shows its hand as early as the front
cover it’s still a thoroughly interesting and slightly twisted one.
Ryder is a private investigator in a near future city that has a keen
taste for nostalgia. He gets a call from a nightclub singer Katrina
Petruska, her playboy boyfriend has killed himself and he told her to
call Ryder if anything was happened to him. Ryder takes the case and it
turns out to be more than he bargained for. It appears that (SPOILER
ALERT) daemons are real living things and Katrina’s boyfriend was trying
to expose them. Now Ryder is being pulled into that world and he’s not
sure he’s going to like what he finds.
If you’ve ever read or seen a noir story you’ll
recognize all the familiar beats. Katrina as the possible femme fatale,
Ryder as the private eye (although he has none of your typical vices
something else makes him a grey character), the tense relationship
between PI and local law and the family that seems to run everything and
in almost conspiracy fashion is tied to the PI’s case. There are also
the shots of the city itself that almost make it a character in the
book, an oppressive force taking its toll on everyone. As you’re reading
through you notice these things and you think ‘alright, it’s a pretty
decent noir story but what’s new?’ Well, the whole daemon aspect throws
a whole new light on everything and actually almost warrants a second
reading of the book. All these little things click in your head ‘that’s
why he did that or that person acted that way’ and it gives you a fresh
way to look at the noir aspects of the story. To me, that is a sign of
good writing. It was just a shame that the front cover kind of gave away
that aspect and the true nature of Ryder wasn’t hidden that well to be a
jaw dropping reveal, which it could have been.
Once again the book features Radical’s high quality
artwork that has an almost painted feel. If you’ve heard anything about
Ryder then you’ve probably heard about the big two-page splash page
where we see Katrina’s boyfriend dead, from drilling holes in his head.
It’s a powerful and impressive spread that sets the serious tone of the
book. The art and panel composition continues to play on that noir theme
with characters half in shadow half out and there’s a lot of doubling
going on with faces spliced together through two panels. There’s good
use of expression in the faces and also the sparse use of sound fx
actually makes you feel more in the story. Instead of having a BAM and
POW for every punch there’s a careful selection to signify broken bones,
gun shots and the almost haunting RRRRing of the drill. The only thing I
wasn’t a fan of was the design of the daemon and that’s mostly because
the document Ryder looks at makes them appear rather epic and gothic but
then when we actually meet one he’s kind of lame and almost
unimaginative in comparison. My expectations had been set pretty high
through that document and they just weren’t met. I was also under the
impression that Ryder managed to graze Monk when he shot at him but he
shows no signs of being shot after the event. Minor concerns in an
otherwise well drawn and colored book from the Gothic yet futuristic
city to the bizarre old and modern technology.
Ryder on the Storm #1
marks the beginning of what looks to be another impressive mini-series
for Radical. The painted artwork is of the highest quality and I can’t
even begin to explain the fantastic use of color and shading while the
mixture of the two genres provides a fresh reading experience for what
could have been a standard noir tale. Sure the end lost some of its
impact through earlier actions but it was still a thoroughly enjoyable
and engaging read. |
