Some pasts haunt for centuries to come.
Creative Staff:
Story: Adam Glass
Art: Pat Olliffe
Colors: Gabe Eltaeb
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
What They Say:
In “Under the Pyramids”, Harry Houdini walks on through to the other side and discovers that the Rough Riders are up against the legendary Dutch “Bokkenrijders “who have returned to this earthly plane to settle a score with one of his teammates! But Harry’s truest challenge may be a visitor from his past who can spell his end…unless he listens to his newest teammate H.P. Lovecraft!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With this series running for four issues there’s a greater sense of urgency about the story but also a compactness that feels right in that it doesn’t feel like it’s overstaying its welcome. Third issues in a six-issue series is when I start to tune out some because it feels drawn out, a lengthy battle or something equally simple that doesn’t change anything. But here, with four issues overall, Adam Glass keeps us moving through story and character to keep us on edge and uncertain about what will come. Naturally, a lot of that is owed to Patrick Olliffe’s great artwork as he moves us through the story with his designs, bringing the quips and dangers to life in a really great earthy way but still avoiding it come across as out of place. This feels as if it’s of the time it comes from and that can be hard to pull off.
Here, more of the reality of events is starting to unfold but it has to move in some dark directions. With the idea that this is tied heavily to Roosevelt, Lovecraft offers up the idea of seeking out his ancestor from the 1600’s to find out why this curse exists and what it’s rooted in. Lovecraft can’t go himself but Harry offers himself up to cross into the land of the dead. This is a great story by itself as we see him looking (and discovering) the rotten truth behind why Roosevelt’s being targeted and it’s completely understandable and somewhat warranted. Seeing Houdini and his father walk backward through time to find the other Roosevelt is a lot of fun but it comes with a great twist as to what Houdini’s father is actually up to here and what kind of danger it puts Houdini in. And just how much it freaks out Jack as he’s the only one that stayed to watch him after Edison electric shocked him to death.
For Roosevelt, he’s attempting to get closer to understanding events himself but is going it solo, as is his personality. While we get an amusing if deadly little sidebar piece regarding some potential new dead army members showing up at a university, the focus turns toward Roosevelt getting himself really intense about what’s happening and trying to figure out how to stop it. Annie’s the one tied to him for this and that works well as she’s less deferential than others at a time when he really does need plain talk, even if he dislikes it. Annie’s been the most grounded for a while but the bit with Lovecraft unnerved her with what he revealed from the dead and it’s now allowed her to think big picture about what’s going on – which sets us up for the finale in a big way with the real target of the buck rider revealed just at the end.
In Summary:
Rough Riders sets us up for the end run pretty damn well here with what it wants to do. The overall ideas are fairly simple but they’re executed very well to make for an engaging storyline with a great cast of characters. Roosevelt’s an interesting presence in this group with how they all react so strongly to him in different ways and that gets me more interested in those characters than Roosevelt himself. Olliffe makes it very easy to get into each of them with their uniqueness even being from the same period as they’re presented here. It’s a neat story with some fun twists and some really great character moments that makes me crave more but remaining glad that it’s a tight four-issue run.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: March 28th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
