Review: Birthright #4
Previously, “Issue #3”
Birthright #4 gives us a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Some character development and a little movement down the storyline trail. All in all, a decent book with a few things I did not particularly care for—but I will wait until the end to get on my soapbox. Can I also say I love the cover! Kind of looks like one of my dad’s old Boy’s Life covers. What can be more wholesome than a father-son camping trip in the woods with toasted marshmallows, an unidentified animal on a stick and evil faced bad guy in the campfire overlooking the scene. Oh and lets not forget the faces in the trees! Wholesome goodness.
The issue starts with the police giving chase to our heroes Aaron, Brennan, and Mikey after their break out in search of the first mage, Ward. Wendy joins the police as they search Aaron’s house speculating that this is where the escapees would go. They are not found. Wendy takes the chance to tell the readers how she will have to clean up Aaron’s mess, yet again. It appears to be something she has always done, serving as the responsible parent while Aaron gets to be the “cool dad.” She is not happy with the police when they tell her that they will find her family. She is not so sure.
Next, we find Aaron, Brennan, and Mikey on the road discussing how they will find the first mage when we get a flash back of one of Mikey’s first adventures where he faces off against a Razorbeast. In this adventure, two of his companions, Rya and Shavo get hurt, and Mikey seems to be stepping up onto the hero mantel with his sword raised high! Not sure how that is going to work out with a 40 foot Razorbeast barring down on you. Stay tuned.
We flip back to the boys who have stopped at a gas station to get gas and some food before they head out again. Mikey finds a clue that the mage Ward is near. He runs off into the woods with Aaron and Brennan on his heels. As they get into the woods they are attacked by magic trees. Yes I said magic trees…with faces! Mikey breaks everyone free and they confront an old man who Mikey believes is Ward. The old man tells them that the trees would not have attacked regular old campers and he tells Mikey, “You reek of Terrenos!” As Mikey comes towards the old man, Mikey tells the old man that he must come back to Terrenos with him. Mikey tells Ward that he is the hero that was foretold, but Ward is not buying what Mikey is selling. And tells him, “I know what you are!” And with that, Ward shows that he is not some old man to be taken against his will and I am thinking a fight is about to begin. I can’t wait!
This was a good issue. Not great but very good. I had a few problems with one of the reveals being in a character’s progression, which has changed the way I see Aaron and Wendy. I was really liking the fresh take of the father figure being the trusting and protective parent and the mother having trust issues and had given up on the family. Now we have Wendy being the responsible parent always cleaning up Aaron’s messes and Aaron being the irresponsible “cool” parent. I think this takes something away from Aaron’s character and portrays him not as the parent who trusts his heart and wants to protect his kids at all costs but instead, just wants to be seen as being “cool” by his kids. I do hope I am wrong and that this is just Wendy’s perspective on the relationship. OK, so enough of that, again all in all this issue was still on point. The pacing of the story is nice and I love the illustration of the characters by artist Andrei Bressan. Ward looks freaking killer! Can’t wait for issue #5 were I suspect we are in for our first Terrenos warrior level tussle.
