• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Crushing Krisis

The Newest Oldest Blog In New Zealand

  • Archive
  • DC Guides
    • DC New 52
    • DC Events
    • DC Rebirth
    • Batman Guide
  • Marvel Guides
    • Omnibus & Oversize Hardcover DB
    • Marvel Events
  • Star Wars Guide
    • Expanded Universe Comics (2015 – present)
    • Legends Comics (1977 – 2014)
  • Valiant Guides
  • Contact!

Birthright

Haul Around the World: Excalibur, Luke Cage, Monica Rambeau, & Punisher as an avenging angel!

November 4, 2019 by krisis

It’s another Classic Collection version of Haul Around the World, shot BEFORE my big move! This was my order from mid-February 2019.

In this order I get to freak out with excitement over Marvel hitting a number of very different gaps in their color collections coverage – the end of Luke Cage’s original solo title, the post-Claremont pre-Davis gap in Excalibur, Monica Rambeau’s solo stories as Captain Marvel and the deeply weird Punisher: Revelations.

Plus… a tease of the next oversize book to hit my shelf, which might be my most-anticipated omnibus of the decade!

In this haul:

  • from Marvel Comics
    • Captain Marvel – Monica Rambeau – visit the Guide to Captain Marvel
    • Excalibur Epic Collection: Girl’s School from Heck (Epic Vol. 3) – visit the Guide to Excalibur
    • Luke Cage – Power Man, Marvel Masterworks Vol. 3 – visit the Guide to Luke Cage
    • Punisher Epic Collection: Kingpin Rules (Epic Vol. 3) – visit the Guide to Punisher
    • Marvel Knights Punisher: Purgatory – visit the Guide to Punisher
  • other publishers
    • DC/Vertigo: Stardust by Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess
    • First Second: Olympians, Vol. 11: Hephaistos
    • Image: Birthright, Vol. 7

Filed Under: comic books Tagged With: Birthright, Captain Marvel, Excalibur, Haul Around The World, Joshua Williamson, Luke Cage, Monica Rambeau, Neil Gaiman, Olympians, Power Man, Punisher, Video

Review: Birthright, Vol. 1 – Homecoming, by Williamson & Bressan

September 13, 2015 by krisis

Image Comics knows what’s up with finding readers outside of the Direct Market. Valiant, too. Really, everyone except DC and Marvel.

These companies realize that buying the first collection an untested property from an author you may or may not know is a risky proposition, and generally not something you’ll plunk a $20 down for. That’s why nearly every Image first volume trade paperback is a handy $9.99 – which puts it in the five to eight dollar range when you buy it online.

That’s the story of how I wound up with a copy of Birthright, Vol. 1 – a $6 gamble on a book with a beautiful cover that evokes Sword In The Stone with hints of more dire elements along the edges. I was completely unfamiliar with creator Joshua Williamson by virtue of him solely writing for DC after his first pair of creator-owned works, both short-form. That’s changed in the past two years, with Williamson writing a trio of ongoings for Image – Ghosted, Nailbiter, and Birthday (plus Robocop for BOOM!).

When I wrote up Nailbiter in last week’s new comic roundup and decided to grab the first volume (again: $6), I realized I had another Williamson book in my in box (an actual longbox) waiting to be read!

How was it?

Birthright, Vol. 1 – Homecoming 4 stars Amazon Logo

Birthright - Vol01

Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Andrei Bressan and color by Adriano Lucas

#140char review: Birthright is Goonies crossed w/Sword In the Stone plus something sinister, like Harry as an agent of Voldemort. Bressan’s art = perfection.

CK Says: Buy it!

Birthright is a batter of different genre tropes that baked up into something a lot tastier than its individual ingredients.

Birthright is primarily a Chosen One narrative in the Joseph Campbell model, like Star Wars and Harry Potter before it. Where it deviates is that we’re getting the story after the fact, and we see that part of the reason all of those stories end so pat is that the orphan hero tends to make some choices that haunt him after his victory. That’s the case here with young Mikey, who disappeared into the woods on an early birthday without a trace during a game of catch with his dad.

Here’s where creators Joshua Williamson and Andrei Bressen do something a little weird. They spend their start-up issues focusing on the human trauma behind a child who disappears, writing a family drama and a police procedural for a few pages before the fantastic main plot gets underway. It’s a risk. It gets a little too simple at points (random cop dude insists, “He is a security risk.” To what, exactly?). There’s a repeated rubber-band snap as we get yanked out of the fantasy-themed pages we crave and back into a dingy interrogation room. Yet, that tension and genre-hopping is what marks Birthright as not the hero story we’ve come to expect. It’s what makes this book a page-turner even before the biggest twist is unfurled.

The remainder of that success comes from artist Bressen and a remarkable set of colors from Adriano Lucas. Many indie comics are well-executed but don’t achieve the right color palette or gradient shading, but here Lucas breathes three-dimensional life into Bressen’s characters. They nearly leap off the page when they are in motion.

It’s difficult to say more without completely spoiling the super-punch surprises of the plot here. It turns out that the fantasy world has an ongoing relationship with Earth, as represented by several unusual visitors who have crossed over. They are working at cross purposes to each other, and it’s hard to know who to trust – especially if you are a family that has been shattered by grief for the past year. Would you believe anyone who told you what you wanted to hear and offered you a means of putting your life back together? Or, would you be skeptical of everything offered to you after such a tragic loss? How Mikey’s family answers these questions divides them down the middle.

Ultimately, the heroic tale and the familial drama are one and the same, and to enjoy them both you might need to forgive the police procedural portion of its weaker spots. What shines through each element is that the whole Chosen One business is unfair. It picks on kids who don’t know who they are or want to be and it tears families apart by necessity. Every one of the four family members has been damaged in the process, and with so much book ahead of us it’s unknowable whether they can help each other heal or if the wounds will just fester.

The dual-worlds narrative plus a last page reveal might leave you a little cynical that this is very much a post-Saga derivative. I’m optimistic. I believe in Williamson’s easy scripting and the consistently gorgeous visuals from Bressan and Lucas enough that I’m signing on for a full-priced second volume. Birthright has the potential to be a lasting epic if it can keep up the momentum of this first five-issue sprint.

Filed Under: comic books, reviews Tagged With: Adriano Lucas, Andrei Bressan, Birthright, Image, Joshua Williamson

Primary Sidebar


Support Crushing Krisis on Patreon
Support CK
on Patreon


Follow me on Twitter Contact me Watch me on Youtube Subscribe to the CK RSS Feed

About CK

About Crushing Krisis
About My Music
About Your Author
Blog Archive
Comics Blogs Only
Contact Krisis
Terms & Conditions

Crushing Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Events Guide

Marvel Omnibus Guide

Spider-Man Guide

DC Comics

  • Crushing Comics – Guide to Publishers and Indie & Licensed Characters
    You shouldn’t have to be a comic book expert to […]
  • RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2, Episode 1 – Cagey Queens: Review & Power Ranking
    In "Cagey Queens," The queens of RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under are challenged to find the humor in a particularly bad script for a prison show. […]
  • Drag Race France Season 1 Episode 7 – Sororité makeover challenge: Review & Power Ranking
    It's a Drag Race France makeover challenge! The final four queens proved so up to the task that they were forced into a sudden-death lip sync. […]
  • Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 Episode 4 – Bitch Stole My Look: Review & Power Ranking
    Every Canada's Drag Race queen received an identical box of materials for the "Bitch Stole My Look" design challenge - but who stole the show? […]
  • Guide to DC Comics Lucifer – now available to the public!
    Is DC Comics' Lucifer more of a Tom Ellis or a Gwendoline Christie? Find out for yourself with my comprehensive Guide to Lucifer comics! […]
  • Updated: Guide to The Sandman Universe
    Want to read the source material for Netflix's adaptation of The Sandman by Neil Gaiman? My Guide to The Sandman Universe covers it all! […]
  • D&D 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Round-Up: ZineQuest 2022, Cute Creatures Compendium, US National Park maps, & more!
    There are a monstrous 24 new D&D 5e-Compatible projects on Kickstarter this week thanks to ZineQuest 2022! I dig into 8 of the best (& silliest) of them. […]
  • RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2, Episode 1 – Grand Opening: Review & Power Ranking
    It's the RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under Grand Opening as our 10 Aussie & Kiwi queens compete in one of the toughest design challenges, ever! […]
  • RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 7 – Every All-Winners Lip Sync Ranked!
    We've reached the end of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars All-Winners, which gave us *17* lip syncs. But, were the 6 in the final tournament the best? […]
  • Drag Race France Season 1 Episode 6 – Un Parfum de Drag: Review & Power Ranking
    The five five queens of Drag Race France take on RuPaul's Drag Race Season 5's classic perfume branding challenge and a haute couture runway. […]

Layout copyright © 2017 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

Links from Crushing Krisis to retailer websites may be in the form of affiliate links. If you purchase through an affiliate link I will receive a minor credit as your referrer. My credit does not affect your purchase price. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program (in the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain), eBay Partner Network, and iTunes Affiliate Program.