I hope you’re along for the ride on this one. Williamson is feeding “Birthright” in pieces, not so small you get bored, but not big enough that you can really taste what’s coming.

WRITTEN BY: Joshua Williamson

ART BY: Andrei Bressan

PUBLISHER: Image Comics

PRICE: $2.99

RELEASE: January 7, 2015

Reviewed By Katy Rex

Joshua Williamson is a great storyteller, and the pieces that have been woven together, little by little, are finally starting to shape something tangible. The lead up has been intriguing if not fast-paced, but I promise, this is the issue where your focus will finally pay off. That said, if it’s been a minute since you read #1-3, you’ll thank yourself for rereading them so you can jump right back in without all the “oh yeah” and “wait, when did that happen” stuff.

The previous issues, while taking place in the present, have been very focused on catching the reader up on Mikey’s journey and his family’s heartache. This is the first issue that looks forward at what will really happen; not what Mikey or Brennan or their parents want to happen, not what Mikey was sent back for, but what will actually really happen in this narrative. Mikey, Brennan, and their dad Aaron are still on the run, their poor mom Wendy is still trying to be a rational and mature adult who belongs firmly in the only world that can reasonably exist, and Mikey’s still trying to adjust to his multidimensional/speed-aging supernatural PTSD. But the more we get accustomed to this story, the less surreal it seems, and the more we become aware of how drastic the stakes are. Aaron’s in a similar boat; now that he’s on the run, he’s realizing how big this is. He’s realizing that, in his surreal-feeling hasty dash, he’s forgotten logical things like to ditch his cell phone. He’s coming to the realization that even though he’s accepted that Mikey’s the same kid that went missing, a lot has changed, and not just physically; this kid might require a lot more help than he was aware.

The art is, as always, a great mixture between realistic and cartoonish. Which is a great way to visually span the modern and the fairy-tale worlds that both occur in this book. The lines and character designs are consistent, and the palette shifts slightly to reflect supernatural and otherworldly elements, a synergy between Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas that fleshes out the book and makes it great. The first page was a little iffy, and Wendy very briefly looked cross-eyed in the bottom panel, but by the end the art has regained its feeling of movement and transformation. And the last page– I don’t want to spoil it, but it’s the coolest splash that has happened yet in this series, and the most exciting and suspenseful moment.

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Katy Rex writes comics analysis at endoftheuniversecomics.com, comicsbulletin.com, and bloody-disgusting.com. She also writes scholarly articles for various academic journals. She really likes butt jokes, dinosaurs, and killing psychos and midgets in Borderlands 2. She has a great sense of humor if you’re not an asshole.