After The Gold Rush 1-4# by Miles Greb, Issac La Russa, Micheal Shepard & Adrian Geller (Comicbook Review)

Here's some full disclosure before we dive into this latest review: I am not unbiased toward this one. I have spoken with the writer on a number of occasions, followed his work, and was convinced to back this comic. As such, I did read this with a more positive than neutral disposition. With that being said, it was the content of the comic which drew my attention, and I will not be pulling my punches with its flaws despite this. However, it was fair to let you all know this before diving into this review.

Genres are not perfect structures by any sense of the imagination. Rather than set rules they are like guidelines, which adapt, alter and shift depending upon a work. It's how we end up with comedy-adventure films or action RPGs after all. However, to define a work purely through those elements or ideas is disingenuous. While After The Gold Rush could be described simply as a post-apocalyptic story of a human astronaut returning to a Luddite dominated Earth, it might sound oddly generic. However, the best kind of stories are those which are better than the sum of their parts, and this is one of those tales.

The Synopsis

The essential story of After The Gold Rush follows Scout, a young woman returning to her ancestral home of Earth for the first time. Rather than the technological marvel she might have imagined, Earth itself has regressed into a primitive state of feudalism and iron age sciences. It is now up to her to survive this wilderness, and to survive as a scientist in a world which has abandoned science itself.

The Good

The easiest way to describe the strengths of After The Gold Rush would simply be to say "Think Mike Mignola". However, that might well leave a few of you very confused, given that Hellboy is as far from this sort of thing as it is possible to get. However, the world building and storytelling elements have a few surprising similarities which benefit the style of writing.

The world itself is presented and structured in an off-hand sort of way. It expects you to accept certain details and just move on, presenting you with enough to keep you interested but never letting info-dumps get in the way of the story. While often this would spell disaster for a work, the correct direction behind this works in the story's favour. 

The first thing the reader follows is Scout herself learning of the world and adjusting to her odd surroundings. Combined with brief images of what she left behind to arrive on Earth, it establishes hints and basic information that the reader can easily follow by making one thing clear - The story isn't going to force feed the reader details and events will gradually unfold over time. This allows the reader to settle into the impression of knowing that there is a much bigger world out there, and to accept that new established elements or ideas might arise on an issue by issue basis.

The fact that the opening focuses on Scout herself exploring the world further assists with the comic's pace. It allows the reader to learn a great deal about Scout herself through her actions, and without pausing for info dumps or dragging the narrative to a screeching halt. While it might lack some of the more detailed points of a full conversation, it nevertheless quickly impresses upon the reader just who she is. This works as a better introduction than some of the more heavy-handed examples which often require detailed exposition and narration. This continues throughout the comic, and any challenge is used to highlight the character's qualities or express her personal quirks.

Another definite - and quite pressing - benefit stems from the conflict of the story itself. This isn't your typical "good vs. evil" outing or anything with a direct antagonist. It works by telling a journey, and by having only a very general direction behind events. While the style of the storytelling and gradual exploration of the world offsets this, the other element is its pro-science stance. To quote the comic's website page - "After the Gold Rush is a comic about the conflict between religion and science. It is also a return to optimistic Sci Fiction; a genre where we see the benefits of the scientific method. " This could have easily resulted in open bashing of religion or dogmatic priests as antagonists. You know the sort, like those who populated Netflix's Castlevania. Instead, it avoids more than a few of the usual cliches.

While the story itself is fairly blatant when it comes to favouring science over faith, it more often than not directly opposes a lack of thinking. Those who have an unquestioning will to follow a nonsensical solution or refuse to serve as the comic's early villains. Even then, such individuals are not part of a wider cult, and it helps to keep things on a much more individual level. By adding in a wider cult in the opening stories it could have been written off as corruption born of a large organisation, but this instead helps it to make the comic's message convey more impact. It also offers a far more nuanced take as a result, with enough side or supporting characters brought up with primitive values to avoid an "us vs. them" atmosphere of the work.

Finally, and most pressingly, the comic's tone and visual style is a welcome break from more than a few officially published works. Compared with the likes of Marvel or (sometimes) DC, it never veers into "lol ironic lol" humour which seems to be trying to laugh off embarrassment at being associated with anything fantastical, or the uber-serious grittiness which robs joy from a story. Instead, the sincerity and bright tones of the work prove to be extremely refreshing, and it maintains a very hopeful sense of optimism even in its darkest moments. 

So, what does it do wrong?

The Bad

The odd thing about After The Gold Rush, is that its key appeal is both a strength and a barrier. There's an obvious path before Scout, a clear challenge and a group of side-characters are quickly established (well, one with hints of others from there on). However, the threat is not nearly so tangible as one would expect from most narratives, and the lack of a direct antagonist can seem toothless at first. It's akin to entering a story promising a hostile wilderness, only to find the character is not facing pursuit by wild animals or struggling to find food. It might sound odd, but short of a moment with a few arrows, there isn't the usual instant threat to kick-start an ongoing story.

Between the limited inclusion of a major over-arching antagonist at first and its more gradual pace, the story is something of a slow burner. This benefits it in regards to a trade paperback, and even after reading just the first three issues it becomes clearer that this is definitely going somewhere. However, it nevertheless lacks the immediate punch it needed to really make things engaging. While I personally leveled a few criticisms against The Wild Storm, that story started with an assassination attempt and an ongoing Illuminati cold war. This one certainly did not meander nearly so much as that story, but it did suffer from a typical inciting incident to fully hook the reader in.

Another problem within the story is that it is slow to flesh out its supporting characters. Scout herself benefits the most from the early issues due to being the focal character, but almost anyone else is defined by their relationship to her at many points. It's more justifiable here as it's not a team book or the like, but it does hinder their development. The comics which do focus on single characters typically pack far more into each issue to keep things going. While it is a problem which disappears as the narrative progresses it once again contributes to a weaker start to the tale.

Finally, the artistic styles used in the book are far from conventional. While far from bad, and actually utilising a number of techniques I wish comics would use more often, it can take some getting used to. This is particularly true of the sketchy visuals or extremely subtle shades of each artist's style respectively. It's not a negative point in of itself, but it is worth warning readers that they might need to adjust to something which is less than typical of most comics.

The Verdict

Despite some teething issues, After The Gold Rush is nevertheless an engaging and very entertaining story. Its themes are bold, but they are never beaten into your head. The story lacks a hero vs. villain dynamic, but that does not mean it lacks direction or drive. The visuals are different to the hyper-realistic norm or smoother edges of many comics, but once you get used to it, these become strengths which works in its favour.

As superheroes, fantasy sagas or disaster events tend to dominate comics, this is one I would definitely recommend as a great alternative to the more common story stylings. You still need to give it a chance for a good three or so issues, but it's well worth allowing it that opportunity to show you where it might be going.


As a final note as well, the fifth issue of the comic is currently being crowd-funded on Kickstarter. If you are interested in reading this comic, and want to see it continue to reach another issue, then backing it on that page would be a great way to fulfill both goals at once. Plus, if that doesn't convince you, this latest issue will be wrapping up the first story arc. So, I'd strongly suggest taking a look at this one.