Imagine my surprise when I discovered The Ride: Burning Desire was a celebration of a comic that come out 15 years ago, a comic I had never heard of. I spend a lot of time in comic book stores, and I think I have a passing knowledge of most books from the Big Three. Guess not.
As explained in this issue's backnotes, The Ride is a shared pulp/noir world where comic creators were given free rein to tell their stories. A 1968 Camaro--the titular Ride--would serve as a connection between stories.
Being a fan of crime stories, be it Elmore Leonard, Brubaker's Criminal, Rucka's Stumptown or Hard Case Crime novels, I thought I'd give this a try. Even without having read the previous stories, The Ride: Burning Desire was still an enjoyable read that pulled me in the way good crime stories do.
The comic is divided into two stories. The first story deals with ex-con/ex-cop Samantha Vega. Fresh out of prison, she's working security at an exotic dance bar when some assholes decide to step out of line. This results in Vega getting arrested by a police force with a long memory that features a lot of Vega, and why she ended up in prison. Things are made clear to her in a small room, and we know that things are about to get worse. So, joyful.
The second story is entitled Sparkles, with gorgeous art by Adam Hughes. It deals with Kiri, a woman whose brother in law covets her a bit too much. This ends in his meeting with a rather unexpected unhappy ending, and Kiri having to take it on the lam. It also seems to allow Hughes to draw a very Power Girl looking Kiri in the nude, and make a head wound look a lot like a vagina. Free rein, remember!
The Ride is a cool idea, and the writer and artists here make it even cooler. I look forward to the next issue.
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