Bitter Root #1
Image Comics
Written by David F Walker and Chuck Brown
Art by Sanford Greene
Colors by Rico Renzi and Sanford Greene
Letters by Clayton Cowles
Amidst the music and atmosphere of Harlem in the 1920’s, the Sangreye family continues their mission of destroying evil. As a new evil rises in the park, Cullen is being taught how to more effectively contribute to the family business. As he learns how to fight, his cousin Blink has decided that she has had enough of being relegated to research and decides to get into the action by showing the men how to take down a demon.
Unbeknownst to the family, someone is watching them with plans of their own for their technology. When Cullen and Berg take a couple of recently cured people to the park, they are interrupted by two police officers who don’t know the relationship the Sangreye’s have with the police. In the ensuing melee, a creature emerges that they haven’t faced before.
There is a lot going on in this first issue and Walker and Brown do a great job of creating the atmosphere and world these characters inhabit. The story is very dense and the characters are compelling. It’s going to be interesting to learn more about who these characters are and what they are fighting. There are some moments that a prescient to events in the present and those moments are handled with reverence. There’s even a moment of wish-fulfillment in the issue that it satisfying and well done.
The art is great. Both the style of the characters and the panel composition are well done. Every page builds on the growing tension in the story and each one is visually beautiful.