The Ride

(Image, 2004, 2005)
™ and © Image Comics, Inc.

Although The Ride is ostensibly about a 1968 Camaro, the convertible car takes a back seat to the nicely realized Sergeant Frank Simms, a tough, chain–smoking cop who shoots first and thinks later. Simms is partnered with Samantha Vega, a rookie detective who, predictably, freezes at the wrong moment, putting both characters in jeopardy. The resultant concoction is a sometimes typical, sometimes bizarre buddy–cop movie drawn with rugged, action–packed flair by Cully Hamner and Brian Stelfreeze.

Doug Wagner’s script is wildly uneven but it’s wildly entertaining, as well. Vega’s brother is apparently in peril but he has little connection with the story. The Camaro is supposed to be a significant plot device but it doesn’t even appear until halfway through the issue, and the story could have been written about as effectively using a Ford Tempo or a Chevrolet Cavalier. Most jarringly, the scenes with the sexually disturbed girl who pleasures herself while wreaking highway havoc are at once powerful and pointless.

The Ride is bumpy but fun.

— Brett Weiss

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