D-Riders #2 is a comic written by Chris Moses with art by Pablo Verdugo Munoz and colors by Ryan Best. Anaya begins the second leg of this race next to Eris’ nemesis! This is a supernatural racing comic that takes place in Hell (Dante’s Inferno-style), with a lot of drama, mystery, and violence, and confusion. The leading lady here is Anaya, she is a woman with elderly (one sick) parents and a lot of debt who has been whisked to Hell by Eris to drive her motorcycle in a multi-stage race against other humans with powerful patrons. Eris is the goddess of chaos and she wants to win the race so her greatest desire can be granted. There is a golden apple that Eris lets Anaya take bites from that grants her special abilities but will kill her if she eats it all before they win the race. This story begins Anaya being woken up by Eris to get to the starting line as the next leg of the race is about to start. As she lines up to race in the second ring of Hell (lust) the man in the lane next to her tells to not trust Eris. This conversation is cut short as Eris quickly moves her away from him before the checkered flag is waved. This takes place in a modern world but in Hell. Violence here is of the racing variety with crashes, slams, and explosions with no blood or gore. This moves at overall faster pace as there isn’t a lot of talking during the race. This has a Death Race-like tone and has a dangerous atmosphere with mysteriously dramatic undertones. The dialogue is conversational, aggressive, and loud with some irritation as well. There aren’t any word-heavy pages here. This is an entertaining and enigmatic second issue that will leave you with more questions than answers as Anaya tries to survive by any means.
The art here is drawn in a smoothishly detailed late 90s-early 2000’s semi cartoonish art style with well done realistic lighting and shading. Though there is a decently wide range of colors most of them are faded or darker in tone. The main location and the scenery are one and the same; this takes place on a jagged cave-like track that at some points goes about a lake of fire. Backgrounds usually show the actual surroundings which is primarily the stone interior of the cave. The expression level here is high as Anaya and Eris have a new look nearly every panel. Shock, fear, and irritation are the main emotions with anger and confusion being notable. Faces have a varied amount of detail from simplistic and slightly animated to the wrinkle and crease-filled mugs; most expressions here come across clear. When powers are used they tend to have a fire-like look and consistency to them. The violence is mainly vehicle-based with some characters attacking each other on and off the track. There isn’t any blood or gore. The race serves as one long action scene but there are a mix of very different sequences that have unique vibes and a flow that shouldn’t confuse you.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes, if this is up your alley.
“Would I like this?”
If you like supernatural racing stories that star two women and feature violence, mystery, drama, and confusion then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Violence, lewdness, nudity.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“How fortunate for you that you did awaken.”
Purchase Link: https://redseacomics.com/products/d-riders-2
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chrismoses/d-riders-2/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 22
Violent Pages: 11, for 50% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 2, for 9% of the comic
**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**
Violence Level – 4
“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”
“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”
“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”
“This was a tournament arc.”
“All my life I had to fight.”
Gore Level – 1
“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”
“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”
“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”
“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”
“This is a slaughterhouse.”
Death Level – 1
“And everybody lived happily ever after.”
“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”
“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”
“Yeah this was a tragedy.”
“Think Gettysburg.”
Porn Level – 3
“Everybody kept their clothes on.”
“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”
“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”
“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”
“Oh. This is porn.”
