Terry Moore on Rachel Rising #22's Big Reveal, the TV Series and #SaveRachelRising

In the six or so weeks since the last time we talked to Terry Moore about his critically-acclaimed [...]

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In the six or so weeks since the last time we talked to Terry Moore about his critically-acclaimed horror series Rachel Rising, the writer/artist has found himself and the title the subject of quite a bit of conversation. After a comment made on social media that discouraging sales might cause him to end the series at its original endpoint rather than expanding it into additional stories, as he had been hoping to do, there was an outpouring of support from fans and professionals who went to bat for the series and got #SaveRachelRising going on Twitter. So how does Moore feel about the "Save Rachel Rising" movement? And what is going on with this month's huge reveal in the series? He joined us to talk about it. Remember that these conversations are spoiler-heavy. If you haven't already read the issue, go buy it, come back and read along with us!

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ComicBook.com: First of all, you've got the SiP 20th anniversary print in there. Now that 2013 is officially over, how did the curtain call go? Terry Moore: Pretty good. It was great to have the softcover Omnibus at last. ComicBook.com: Any luck getting some momentum going on the novel? Moore: Shut up. Oh, I mean, yes. I still have to get the Treasury done first, then back at it. I'm like that, one at a time kind of thing. ComicBook.com: What's the status of the Treasury Edition? Moore: I'm starting it this week. The goal is San Diego for that book. ComicBook.com: Obviously, you've been in the news a bit since the last time we talked. How has the #SaveRachelRising campaign helped with sales? I imagine you have only a very rough sense at this point? Moore: I have no idea. I won't know until orders come in for issue 25. ComicBook.com:It can't hurt, either, that #SaveRachelRising came out right around the same time as everyone's year-end best lists. I feel like I saw the title on a handful of those. Moore: I saw a few. ComicBook.com: Do you feel like you're kind of between a rock and a hard place there? I mean, the TV pilot has to still be at least months, and likely at least a year, off. So you'd be crazy to end the book in case the TV show turns out to be a hit, but at the same time the status of the show seems to be pretty up in the air at the moment. Moore: I have no control over the TV thing, and no control over whether it happens or not. All I could do was make the story available. The rest is up to others, obviously. So I have to just focus on my publishing. That's all I can do, you know? Hope for the best. ComicBook.com: I did see you talking on Twitter to Scott Kurtz about webcomics/digital comics, and saying that you wanted to check out what Jeff Smith is doing. Is that a path that you think you might be interested in going down? Moore: If it works, I would be interested.

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ComicBook.com: What can fans do to support Rachel, beyond just preorders? I feel like people who already love the book and who already support it may be at a loss when you hear doom-and-gloom about a great series. Moore: You know, I can only make my books. What happens to them after that is up to the rest of the world. After 20 years, I still have the hope that if I make comics too good to be ignored, the orders will come. That's all I can do. ComicBook.com: Have you fallen more in love with his book as it goes? I remember last year at Comic Con you said something along the lines of being eager to end the series and get to something less dark and dreadful and more light and comedic. All your recent comments, both to me and online, have been in the vein of "there's a lot more I can do in Manson." Moore: The story is a rich mine. I could write about Rachel and the denizens of Manson for quite some time and have a lot of fun with it. I set it up that way. If retail will allow me to that, I'd be happy to run with Rachel as a series for awhile. ComicBook.com: This month, we get a very different look at how James/Jet's mind works. It seems as though his experience is very different from Rachel's, in that Rachel has retained all of her modern memories throughout. Is that just part of what makes Rachel special? Moore: Yes, they got here via two different methods. James' disconnect illustrates how traumatic his transition has been and how tenuous it is. Wouldn't take much to disconnect James from Jet. ComicBook.com: There's an interesting homoerotic tension that's created kind of...all around...in this group now. Rachel/Bryn's one true love is stuck in the body of Jet, meaning that suddenly you've got Bryn/James and Jet/Earl all kind of...jumbled up. Is that something you're planning on having a little fun with? Moore: It plays with the syndrome of just exactly what part of somebody do you love? Strangers in Paradise ran with that theme. In Rachel it's a more shocking context but the salient point remains. What do you like or love about that person? What if we switch that out? How much of Jet or James or Rachel is interchangeable before they're somebody else? It's all a bit Jung, isn't it?

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ComicBook.com: The fact that the box--the spell chest--has been identified makes me really happy. Are we to assume, then, that Julie Martin also had a spell chest? (Yes, I'm going to keep going back to that. It feels important!) Moore: Spoilers, Doctor. Spoilers. ComicBook.com: I love James's line "You didn't save my life--you stole my afterlife." In all the stories I've read where there's been some variation on this type of situation (saved from death's clutches by magic), I don't think I've ever heard it said quite that way. But if he wants to be gone, and they can't figure out what happened to Jet, that seems like a conundrum. Moore: Yeah, and we tend to steer not "towards" something, but by what we "reject". If James keeps rejecting everything about this, he's going to get his wish. ComicBook.com: It's been a while since we had a bombshell like this in the book. For the last little bit, it's seemed like Rachel had a pretty good handle on what was going on. Was she just misremembering the timeline or is that part of Lilith's or Malus's design? Moore: Sometimes clear vision and traumatic memories come back a bit at a time, as you can handle it. It's a process.

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