Here is a quick show of the neck rig for Giazelle Veloca. I'm getting a lot of mileage out of just adding a few bones here and there. I think 99% of the effect is:
2 bones for each sternocleidomastoid
2 bones for each trapezius
3 bones for the throat
That's it. 11 total bones, with some basic stretch constraints, and the neck looks pretty good. Not perfect, but way better than just throwing a single bone into the neck and hoping for good deforms!