ROUGAROU, from Uncharted Wilderness Studios on September 28th, 2022, follows U.S. Marshall Ira Sedgwick as he tracks down a voracious creature with a taste for human flesh.
The Details
- Written by: Giles Clarke
- Art by: Jose Rondon
- Colors by: Felipe Obando
- Letters by: AndWorld Design
- Cover art by: Jose Rondon
- Cover price: $3.99
- Release date: September 28, 2022
Is It Good?
ROUGAROU is an effective little creature feature with a semi-twist ending that will make you question what you believe about monsters and the consequences of humanity’s greed.
Clarke’s script focuses on a family living on the planes of Colorado a few years after the American Civil War. After the daughter is attacked by a vicious monster, a Marshall arrives to tell the tale of the monster’s origins and his long trek to hunt the beast down.
Clarke’s take on the Rougarou legend commendably mixes Creole folklore and Algonquin mysticism to create a monster that’s both terrifying and believable. There’s an authenticity to the language, culture, and visual style of the book that helps bring the situation to life. Better still, Clarke brings in the history and lore through a tight mix of art and words to provide enough exposition that grounds you in the situation without walls of narration or excess dialog. The setup is clean, thorough, and reads well.
The down point of the story is the uneven semi-twist ending. The twist reveal makes sense and is well-executed, but the book ends on the twist without properly resolving the story. What happens to the Rougarou? What happens to the family? You can tell the conclusion was left open to make it easy to transition into a potential sequel, but the door was left too wide open, so the ending isn’t satisfying.
Rondon and Obando’s art is excellent in this issue. The line work is textured, detailed, and polished. Rondon’s creature design is terrifying but with a human quality that makes the monster believable. And Obando’s color application and shading are gorgeous.
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What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We begin with a family living quietly in the Colorado plains a few years after the end of the American Civil War. When the family’s daughter, Emily, goes out alone at night to fetch a pail of water, she’s attacked by a monster. Hearing Emily’s screams, the father charges out into the night and chases the monster off with his shotgun. Unfortunately, Emily sustains life-threatening injuries.
The father orders a farm hand to race into town to fetch the Sheriff and Doctor. The family watches over their daughter through the night. In the morning, a US Marshall named Ira Sedgwick arrives, explaining he’s hunted the Rougarou for hundreds of miles because the monster was once his friend, Ezekiel Wilkens. We conclude the issue with a monster origin rooted in greed, the consequences of not making hard choices, and death.
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Final Thoughts
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ROUGAROU is an interesting creature feature from a smaller publisher that’s worth your attention. The monster is creepy, the Old West setup is well-done, and the twist ending keeps you guessing. However, the twist leaves the conclusion too open-ended, reducing the satisfaction level.
Related Information
What is the Rougarou in Louisiana?
In Louisiana, the Rougarou originates from Cajun and Creole folklore as a creature with the body of a man and a canine head. Sometimes, the Rougarou is linked to the legend of the werewolf. The Rougarou stalks the Louisiana swamplands, eager to satisfy its hunger for human flesh.
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