Is It Good? To Hell You Ride #5 Review

Lance Henriksen worked on a comic. This is the last issue. Let’s see if it’s any good.

To Hell you Ride #5 (Dark Horse)

This series is written by actor Lance Henriksen, and Joseph Maddrey. The series has been about the white man fucking up life for Native Americans; screwing up the land by pumping chemicals in it to make snow. I hate whitey, don’t get me wrong. Native Americans have had it fucking rough because of the chalky man, and I am never against people trying to remind us of this over, and over, and over. But this writing is just ham-fisted. I think some of the Native American myths and the style of storytelling works better as just that; stories to be told.

The art is okay. The likeness of Henriksen is good, and the colors are really cool. But the Trickster looks kind of ridiculous. And add to that fact he is covered in logos. He’s the weird animal dude on the cover, so see above for proof.

I get what you’re trying to do here, Tom Mandrake. Really, I do. And I’m sure Henriksen and Maddrey wanted this as well. But it’s like many of the other images. In the mind, and in the thoughts, they’re poignant. But the execution leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of the art is just kind of silly. Except for when people melt into puddles. That’s always really gross.

5.0

• Good message.
• Good use of color, and melted people.

• Message is essentially staple-gunned to your forehead.
• Art isn’t great.

Is It Good?

This is a collaborative failure. I’ve avoided covering this comic because it’s so bad, but what kind of reviewer would I be if I didn’t warn you, and tell you about the bad amongst the good?

I love Lance Henriksen. He’s a great actor, and the autobiography he has out, Not Bad for a Human, is one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. He worked on this autobiography with Maddrey, and Henriksen also narrated a documentary Maddrey wrote called Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film which was excellent. Sometimes things just don’t work. Sometimes people you really enjoy are responsible for total crap. It happens. I really wanted to like this comic. It has a great message, yet it comes off like propaganda. Yes, we should take steps to help heal our planet we have devastated and raped. Yes, Native Americans do have really cool myths, and the settlers of this nation did fuck them over. But no, this comic is not very good. It might have worked as a story. It doesn’t do very well as a comic series.