Spike Spiegel
Member
With Volume 01 collecting issues one through five out now, and this week's issue number six beginning a new story arc, I thought this might be a good time to introduce people to a series which ended up being one of my favorite unexpected pleasures of 2014: Birthright by Joshua Williamson, Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas, published monthly by Image Comics.
The first issue of Birthright opens like any great fantasy epic should: with a father and son playing catch. Wait, what?
Things soon take an unexpected turn, however, as young Mikey Rhodes never comes back with that ball.
What follows is a story ripped from the headlines, as minutes become hours and hours become days and days become weeks since Mikey Rhodes disappeared in the woods. Police and eventually the FBI are brought in to take charge of the search. A family continues to hold out hope against the awful and increasing likelihood that their son is gone for good.
With no leads, no evidence, and no other credible suspects, suspicion falls upon the last person to see Mikey: his father, Aaron.
Over the next year, the Rhodes family falls apart. Aaron becomes the FBI's lead suspect in his son's disappearance, and is crucified by the media and the public for his supposed involvement. Unable to cope anymore and giving in to the suspicion that her husband killed their son, Wendy leaves Aaron and files for divorce.
Mikey's older brother Brennan is left to defend his fallen father, and still clings doggedly to hope that Mikey will be found so that his father will be vindicated and things can go back to the way they were.
Aaron Rhodes drowns himself in alcohol and sleeps the drunk off on the floor of his missing son's room. He is a broken man, wasting away in the ruins of a once-happy home shattered by tragedy.
Then one day, the FBI comes calling. Against their wills, the Rhodes family is reunited once more by the agent assigned to their missing son's case. It seems they have a potential lead, in the form of a drifter brought in for questioning.
This drifter... could he be Mikey's killer?
Now, if you're able to guess what happens next then congratulations: you've been paying attention.
What you won't see coming, what I didn't see coming, is what happens at the end of the first issue; it's something that for me turned this series from an interesting enough concept to an utterly captivating one. I won't say anything more about it, because frankly I'm hoping that I've piqued your curiosity enough that you'll want to check Birthright out for yourself to see what happens next. If you do decide to read Birthright because of this post, and want to come back here to discuss it, please please PLEASE USE SPOILER TAGS for everyone else's sakes.
So far I'm really enjoying this series. It's still early, but what's there has tons of potential based on premise alone.
Birthright #6 comes out tomorrow.
