Publisher: Image Comics (Shadowline)
Writer: Riley Rossmo & Alex Link
Artist: Riley Rossmo
Release Date: 30th July 2014

Welcome back to the self-induced hallucinatory world of Drum and his ghost partner Harold. If you are keeping up with this series then you know by now what you’re in store for with each issue; crazy visions and something wicked stirring. This issue doesn’t stray far from that basic blueprint. However, even by acknowledging that there’s something of a template for every issue, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it gets old. Here, Drum has just come off saving a town from stampeding ghost dinosaurs and has found out that he is a wanted man. After a rather interesting vision with two of his exes – one of whom is a werewolf – Drum is led to a house from his vision. And it seems that something terrible has happened there, that’s for sure.

I have probably said it before but it doesn’t hurt to mention it again; for a creator to be both the writer and the artist on a series and have it become successful is not easy task. Not only is the pressure there for engaging story but the artwork has to be there to visually tell the story as well. In this case Riley Rossmo does fantastically, albeit ably assisted by Alex Link’s strong dialogue. While the characters and stories seem to be of a darker nature, the humor and the style of artwork along with the brighter colors does well to avoid making the reader feel uneasy  with what is happening in the story. Personally speaking, I find that now that I know what to expect from this series, the artwork fits it a lot better than I initially thought. At first I was turned off by the art – I tend to perfer high realism and clean lines – but the style Rossmo has really couldn’t fit this series any better. I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m knocking his artistic ability because I truly think him to be a superb artist and perfect fit for his own story telling. Besides, who better to draw a writer’s ideas than himself?

Now that I may have dug myself a bit of a hole with that, let me get into his writing skills. To take such a unique story – a man who hallucinates visions that lead him to unnatural events so he and his ghost partner can help – and make it so engaging and immersive with each issue is fantastic. I mean, if I were to have just read a synopsis of this story I probably would’ve passed on it, but that’s the beauty of Drumhellar, it’s not your typical story. The characters have their flaws, yet they are believable and you can picture them actually existing – who’s to say that Harold isn’t just a constant hallucination that Drum has? This is a character that is probably high more than he is straight, but he’s out there doing good deeds. I’m not trying to promote reality-altering drugs in any way, but for this story it works.

If you are in the market for something different from the norm, do yourself a solid and go pick up Drumhellar. Heck, go out and get the first volume trade and get caught up with me. It won’t disappoint.

Rating: 4/5.

---

The writer of this piece was: Shane Hoffman (aka “Hoff”)
You can also find Hoff on Twitter.