Rough Riders #1 - AfterShock Comics

ROUGH RIDERS No. 1, April 2016

“One of the most exciting debuts” from “Aftershock Comics” during their “explosive first year of publications”, Issue One of “Rough Riders” must surely have captivated its 8,711 readers straight from the spinner rack, with its historically-based Nineteenth century roots, intriguing steer “into fictional territory, and wonderfully authentic-looking, Patrick Olliffe-illustrated cover featuring half a dozen straight-backed, bygone characters and some anachronistic steampunk firearms.

Indeed, the publication’s entire premise smacks of the series being alluringly akin to an “American League of Extraordinary Gentleman”, and just like Alan Moore’s Eisner Award-winning mini-series, author Adam Glass doesn’t linger long before hurling his leading protagonist into the fray by pitting Theodore Roosevelt up against a blazing inferno in order to save some seamstresses who, having “traded one tyranny for another”, were “working outrageous hours for pennies on the dollar in unsafe conditions that put their lives in constant danger.” This sense-shattering introduction to the future President, his space-age high-tech weaponry and admirable zest for danger, is incredibly well-penned, and stirringly ends on a poignant, heart-breaking moment as the hero helplessly watches a young girl fall through the unsafe factory roof to her death; “Today, nine women were saved. But for the rest of my life I’ll only remember the one I failed to rescue.”      

Just as engagingly written is the television producer’s piece introducing the eventual first African American world heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson. Initially serious, as Teddy teaches the Hudson River-based pugilist a lesson in fist-fighting and prejudice, this punch-up becomes charmingly reminiscent of Robin Hood’s first encounter with Little John, especially when the fighter pulls his bespectacled antagonizer into the water with him just as soon as the older man grabs his hand in order to pull him ashore.

Described by Glass as having “an old school style” which is “perfect for this kind of book”, Olliffe’s artwork for “The Big Stick” is excellent, and, alongside Gabe Eltaeb’s colours, easily manages to convey both the dramatically dynamic, such as Roosevelt dropping through the skylight of a fiery factory, as well as the more sedentary stretches of this publication. In fact, it’s arguably hard not to disagree with this collaboration’s writer that the penciller is “a great partner for this” comic, and easy to see why Adam has “always been a big fan of Pat’s work.”

Creator & Writer: Adam Glass, Artist: Patrick Olliffe, and Colorist: Gabe Eltaeb