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Bitter Root #6
Publisher: Image
Writer(s): Chuck Brown & David Walker
Artist: Sanford Greene
Color Artist: Sofie Dodgson
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Cover: Sanford Greene

It’s been a while but worth the wait as the monster hunting Sangerye family returns in Bitter Root. Since it’s been some time the creative team kicks things off with a thorough character list as well as a brief synopsis of the first arc. This was perfect for new readers who want a comfortable jumping on point and nice refresher for those who already read the first arc.

This issue picks up with the reunited Sangerye family members and a city still reeling from the recent monster attack. This is where Brown and Walker peel back some layers with the introduction of more characters that touch on something that was hinted at in the Bitter Root: Red Summer Special. And it’s that this business of monster hunting isn’t just a burden the Sangeryes have taken on but others around the city have as well. The creative team doesn’t hold back on the fact that cultural differences and mistrust has divided these individuals and probably stopped them from winning the collective fight against a common enemy. But for what it’s worth, O’Reilly is just plain disrespectful and I’m surprised he didn’t catch hands from Cullen at the table. Brown and Walker also keep the theme of family strong here whether it’s Ma Etta’s concern about the darkness growing in Cullen to Blink asserting herself and becoming the woman she wants to be with the support of her cousins are just a great thing to see while they rip through hordes of unnatural beasts. There’s also a face put to the big bad here and as you see the crafty manipulations of those in pain and what can come of that you can only imagine how much worse things are going to be for the Sangerye family.

This is still one of the most visually stunning books on comic shelves today thanks to Sanford Greene and color artist Sofie Dodgson. The color palette used for realm of Barzakh gives it a otherworldly feel from the rest of the book and we see how scarred Cullen has become but not just his physical ones. Greene just kills it with the emotion and detail of the characters that puts over every moment as we experience a cascade of feelings here. The action sequences are superb and flow quite well as we see Blink’s power and fluid combat skills do most of the heavy hand to hand while Ford unleashes his “cure” to the monsters via his special weapons..

There’s a reason Bitter Root dominated in various categories of our 2019 fan polls and it’s good to see the creative team hasn’t lost one single step during the title’s hiatus. Bitter Root continues its unique look at social issues and puts an entire family of color in a genre that rarely sees such excellence represented. So if you haven’t done so already, go ahead and add this one to your pull list.

Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net