Comics Spotlight: Birthright – Issue #1

Now here is a book that takes the comic book superhero into a different direction from what we are used to – especially when it comes to the origin story of the main protagonist. It’s a new, fantastic story created and written by Joshua Williamson and co-created and drawn by Andrei Bressan called Birthright, and published by Image Comics. It begins with a father and son having a day out in the park, enjoying a game of catch,  while mom and older brother decorate the home for a surprise birthday party. Unfortunately for the family, the game of catch turns into an all out search and rescue when the son (Mikey) disappears – nowhere to be found. Minutes turn into hours, then into days. Days turn into months and then eventually into a year, with no trace of the little boy to be found.

To make matters even worse, the father (Aaron) gets accused of murdering his son, and wife and husband eventually separate, leaving older brother (Brennan) caught in between. Despite these subsequent catastrophic events, that his destroyed his family, Brennan doesn’t give up hope and still pins up missing posters of Mikey, even getting teased by his peers for continuing his quest to search for his lost brother. Unexpectedly, the lead detective on this year long case, who suspected the father of murdering his child, appears and has an odd break-thru in the case.

Hours later at the police station, father mother and brother are behind a two way mirror, witnessing an interrogation of a man who is a new suspect in the disappearance of the boy. Now at this point, father is giving this man behind the glass a cold hard stare and realizes something astonishing, the man in the room is his lost son! Father and mother have not seen each other in months, and she dismisses the father’s notion as nonsense and a fight starts between the two. The older brother tries to defuse the situation.

Meanwhile, the kid’s (or rather…man’s) story is that he got lost and couldn’t make his way back. He enters a world called Terrenos and meets some strange people called the Gideons, claiming that they have been waiting for him and that they will train him to be this great hero that will destroy their greatest enemy, The God King Lore. As soon as he’s fulfilled this goal, they will return him home. Miraculously, he does this task, but time moves faster in this alternate realm and returns, much older. The arguments among the family and police continue and the end of issue #1 reveals an interesting twist that will leave you hooked to read the next chapter.

I love how this starts – getting straight into the story, somewhat like a Twilight Zone episode with a Goonies/Peter Pan twist. This is only the first book and I’m so hooked on this story, I can’t wait to see what issue #2 will bring. Image Comics has brought us many great titles and this one will be no exception. Check out Imagecomics.com for more info and check out other comic book titles from their universe.