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The Rush Review: There's Gold In These Here Hills

Published Sat, 13 Aug 2022 14:28:11 -0500

My greatest complaint with The Rush is that it is too wordy. Aside from that, The Rush serves as a perfectly good monster story with the obvious themes of delusion and obsession in a setting that seems underutilized in comics. The plot: In 1899, Nettie Bridger, a mother, goes to the Yukon to find her missing son, who is lost in the gold rush. Along the way, we meet desperate or bitter men with their hearts set on mirages. Writer Si Spurrier enjoys Nettie's letters to her son (or monologues), and twice it led me to roll my eyes.

The cover to The Rush, courtesy of Vault Comics

Artist Nathan Gooden and colorist Addison Duke do an admirable job, though the reviewer must admit it was a little difficult keeping track of which bearded desperate white man was which. Whenever the monsters appeared, though, the art team was in their element. Letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou does a strange lettering effect where in the case of the monster on the cover, the tail of the word balloon breaks into the "face" and into where the skull would be. It looks eerie, though it didn't sound different in my mind. While it'll take Vault Comics a long time to catch up to Dark Horse Comics in terms of horror and monsters, between The Rush and These Savage Shores, Vault's commissioned two strong entries that are easy to recommend to traditional comics readers and non-traditional readers alike.

This Hungry Earth Reddens Under Snowclad Hills.

1899, Yukon Territory. A frozen frontier, bloodied and bruised by the last great Gold Rush. But in the lawless wastes to the North, something whispers in the hindbrains of men, drawing them to a blighted valley, where giant spidertracks mark the snow and impossible guns roar in the night. To Brokehoof, where gold and blood are mined alike. Now, stumbling towards its haunted forests comes a woman gripped not by greed, but the snarling rage of a mother in search of her child…

From Si Spurrier (Way of X, Hellblazer) and Nathan C. Gooden (Barbaric, Dark One) comes The Rush, a dark, lyrical delve into the horror and madness of the wild Yukon. Collects the entire series. For fans of The Terror, Fortitude, Coda, and Moonshine.