Post Malone’s Big Rig brings together big ideas, but it’s not nearly as good as the badass premise suggests.
Diamond-certified musician Post Malone is trying his hand at comics! Published by Vault Comics, his all-new series Big Rig is written alongside long-time comics scribe Adrien Wassel (Dixie Vixens: A Lit Cigarette, The Gifted). The comic is illustrated by Nathan Gooden, lettered by Jim Campbell and coloured by Der-shing Helmer.
So what is Big Rig all about? The story takes place in the Dark Ages, where droves of demons descend from Hell to invade Earth, starting in Europe. A sect of the Knight’s Templar, known as Six Petals, plead for help out of desperation. Their prayers are answered, in the form of a ‘Big Rig’ that crashes to Earth. A big, red, rigged-out truck, armed with innumerable weapons capable of taking out demon hordes. The responsibility to wield the truck falls to a priest, who dons a cap, calls himself the ‘Trucker,’ and takes the war to the demons with his new holy weapon.
The concept of this comic is totally off-the-wall badass. The execution, however, leaves plenty to be desired. Perhaps the only thing that truly stands out about Big Rig (so far) is Nathan Gooden’s gorgeous black-and-white artwork — which bursts with colour when necessary. The illustrations are truly magnificent throughout, as well is the fast-paced page layouts. When the big rig itself arrives, plowing through myriad denizens of hell, it’s hard not to be impressed.
As for the story, it’s frankly nowhere near as exciting as it could be. It’s hard to feel much empathy towards characters when most of them are just pawns around the titular truck. It moves at a breakneck pace, and when it does slow down to focus on its one interesting character, Edda, a Viking girl, it improves slightly, but that’s still not enough to have me gripped to the narrative.
Big Rig is a whole lot of action-packed fun, without much heart. If you want to turn off your mind and engulf yourself in some thrilling comic book, demon-slaying action, look no further. Writers Post Malone & Adrian Wassel haven’t created a gem here, but if you’re a fan of Post Malone’s music and personality, and you want to dive into his work as a comic creator, you’ll doubtless have some fun.
It’s like Doom. Lots of running and gunning and shooting demons with badass weapons. There’s not much else to it. But you’re still having a great time.
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
