I first heard about Rachel Rising while randomly stumbling around the Internet one day and reading a review I was immediately intrigued by the spooky premise then I promptly forgot the name and didn't think that googling "woman in shallow grave" was going to come up with any results that wasn't going to end in a swat team kicking down my door at 3am looking for a dead body. I finally came across Rachel Rising about 6 months later and fell in love as soon as I read the first issue.
Rachel Rising is a creepy horror story written and illustrated by Terry Moore, published byAbstract Studio and is one of my absolute favorite comics.
It follows the story of a woman named Rachel Beck who wakes up in a shallow grave in the woods with no memory of how she got there and the only evidence of the crime being her blood shot eyes and scar left around her neck from the rope used to strangle her.
With the help of her odd Aunt Johnny and best friend Jet they work towards unravelling the mystery of Rachel's murder. The story also follows a young girl named Zoe, an 10 year old serial killer (yes you read that correctly) and her mysterious blonde guardian.
The art style is black and white and very well drawn as each panel is treated as an individual piece of artwork giving the book a magnificent polished finish. The imagery is violent and disturbing but never crosses into the territory of vulgar (I'm looking at you Crossed!). To say the writing is spooky and creepy is a pretty big understatement because it can be down right chilling at times.
A minor problem with the black and white art is that some of the characters look very similar and can be confused with each other, this is especially evident with Rachel & Lilith looking incredibly similar. This is a minor problem as the characters rarely wear similar clothes and do not often appear together.
The characters are a huge part of what makes this comic work so well and a fantastic example of Terry Moore's writing style. The characters, although the topics of their conversations are strange, feel very human and talk to each other the way you would really expect family and friends to talk to each other. They make jokes, tease, and comfort each other in a way that feels very human in the midst of extreme circumstances.
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| Many friendships involve at least one pinky swear |
Mama Jane's recommendation: I LOVE Rachel Rising! The characters are interesting, the story is mysterious, spooky, surprising and takes elements from murder mystery, magic and bible stories and blends them together into a wonderful little black and white package.
I give Rachel Rising 4 1/2 out of 5 shallow graves
Go buy Rachel Rising and other comics by Terry Moore here
