Ragemoor: Review

RAGEMOOR

Writer: Jan Strnad

Artist: Richard Corben

Dark Horse Comics 20 Nov. 2012

Hardcover 112 Pages

An ancient castle, built upon a foundation of terror and human sacrifice.  The building itself a sentient being, bent on imprisoning any soul who dare enter beyond its cold stone walls.

It’s a tale of madness, captivity and sacrifice. A premise that makes for a classic haunted house horror story.

The Story:

Writing a good horror story demands proper pacing. The writer needs to take it slow and build up suspense in layers. Jan Strnad doesn't always succeed at that in this story, mainly because the story it’s too damn short!

The story and writing are good, but the castles immense secrets and horrors are revealed too fast, and too casually. The moments of shock didn't last, and the feeling of unease never really clutched my horror craving mind.

 

When that is said and done, Strnad still does a pretty good job at entertaining. Despite the short and compressed story telling, he presents the madness of Castle Ragemoor in a believable way. 

The characters and dialogues are well written, and the surreal legend of the castle really draws you in.
The story of the current owner of the castle, Herbert, is a lonely and a frightening one. He lives alone with his servant, surrounded by the darkness that dwell within the castle. Guarded by weird creatures who will not tolerate any harm upon the castle.
Should he succumb to its will? Or fight it? Strnad doesn't hide the fact that giving into the castle is to give into madness.
In the end he concludes the story in a manner worthy of any classic horror tale.

But adding a few more pages in the beginning of the story could have made a good story, great.

The Art:

Richard Corben is a master of comic book art. And he proves it, once again, in Ragemoor.

It’s a marvelous piece of work, from the fully colored front cover, to the main characters and the disturbing, weird denizens of castle Ragemoor. It's dark, it's ominous, and it's beautiful.

(If the thought of reading the wrong panel strikes terror in your heart, have no worries. Corben arrange them in the smoothest way possible, giving excellent support to the story.)

Conclusion:

Despite fantastic art, Ragemoor has it flaws, and i wouldn't recommend it to everyone. But if you are i need of something with a classic feel to it, this could be your cup of tea.  I suspect that fans of Robert E. Howard and Lovecraft will eat this one up.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10