Big Rig #3 slams the brakes on subtlety and throws everything at the reader in a double-length barrage of demons, blood, and fire. The Rig is stuck, Minos’ army is swarming, and Trucker, Edda, and Batu are forced into an all-night war that feels more brutal and desperate with every page. And that’s just part one of a two-parter.
This series has always thrived on spectacle, but what makes this chapter hit harder is the cost of survival. The action is relentless in the first half, but it’s the toll it takes on the characters that lingers in the second half. It’s a surprising turn that completely upends the entire series.
Big Rig #3 opens with the truck stuck and the survivors digging in, holding out long enough to maybe survive the night. It’s a bit quiet, but the horde is coming, with most everyone knowing their numbers will thin out shortly. Edda and Batu man some serious modern weaponry, like a mounted machine gun and chainsaw, while Trucker gets into some familiar garb: chainmail with a sword to match. It’s Trucker’s weaponry, and look, that points this issue in a different direction, revealing details about him by the end that makes you look at him in a new light.
He’s also really good at cutting limbs off demon-infested humans.
The action is fierce in the first half, with Gooden leaning into crazy chainsaw close-ups and blood splatter, even if the blood is black and white like most of this issue. What takes the cake is one of the biggy demons, this time looking like a giant bull. Gooden’s design sneaks up on you as its belly has a freakish surprise. From explosions to crow attacks, to 15-foot-tall baddies, there’s a lot to take in. Gooden makes the action feel relentless and the cost the heroes take heartfelt.
The second chapter is a bit of a jarring smash cut, with the rig in possession of some holier-than-thou types. Fear not, as all will be explained eventually. Frankly, the quick shift from action to calmer times helps keep the book interesting, while also focusing your attention on quieter dangers.
With action quiet in the second half, the real meat is with Trucker. We get a better sense of his past and what he’s about. He also has a new lease on pushing forward to help his friends. Throw in a wicked cliffhanger page with a gruesome sight from Hell itself, and it’s a great send-off until the next issue.
Post Malone, Adrian Wassel, and Nathan Gooden push the grindhouse energy to its peak here, making the battle feel like the kind of midnight comic you’d have sworn was too wild to exist until it did. Big Rig #3 is the series’ most ambitious entry in a few different ways, balancing grindhouse excess with surprising depth. The first half drenches readers in chainsaw-swinging carnage and demon mayhem, while the second half slows things down to reveal unexpected truths about Trucker and set up a haunting cliffhanger. It’s bold, bloody, and impossible to look away from – a midnight comic fever dream with real emotional weight.
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