“Birthright” is a story of destiny. About who a child becomes after his life altering journey has occurred, and a loving tribute to eighties classics like The Goonies, The Neverending Story, and The Dark Crystal. It beautifully captures the tone of the eighties and crafts an incredible entry in a genre that’s been dormant for a long time.
WRITTEN BY: Joshua Williamson
ART BY: Andrei Bressan
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: October 8, 2014
I suppose I wasn’t the only kid who spent his youth bombing around in the forest looking for treasure, goblins, and adventure. But, Joshua Williamson made his fiction into a beautiful reality with “Birthright.” He takes the elements of 80’s adventure fuel and injects the idea with a brand new sense of life.
The premise is simple. Mikey is out playing catch with his father on the edge of a forest, when suddenly his disappears. Mikey’s disappearance causes his family to fall apart. His absence has created a void that can’t be filled, until a roided out “Lord of the Rings reject” shows up at the local police station. It’s Mikey and he’s become a fantasy warlord.
What follows is an interrogation scene that proves Mikey is indeed who he says he is despite having aged significantly. He’s gained an incredible mass of muscle and he appears to be an all around badass. Sadly, the interrogation scene was one of the only things that didn’t work for me. It felt like an easy way out for exposition, but saves itself within the final two pages.
Andrei Bressan has brought the world of “Birthright” to live with incredible splendor. I was consistently blown away by his page layouts, as he would often have a dominant panel take up three quarters of the page to communicate something imperative, but the scope of his work is unrivaled. He has so much confidence in his display of the fantasy world of Terrenos that it’s staggering. Seriously, just wait until you see his two page spread when Mikey is introduced to the world, your jaw will drop.
“Birthright” feels like the story Joshua Williamson was destined to tell. It’s a confident 80’s tribute dripping with it’s own personal style, it revives the adventure genre in a beautiful way and comes to define the idealized child hero in a risky but captivating new way.
This is something every 80’s child has dreamed of, but spins it in the most interesting way possible. “Birthright” will make you think about destiny in a whole new way, and show you a fully realized world that rivals the imagination of Jim Henson. With an adventure reminiscent of Labyrinth, and the heart of Stand By Me, Williamson and Bressan will have you captivated from page one.
Buy this comic!