 Hey everybody welcome back to A Week in Geekdom. Gio here and today we're going to be talking about Joshua Williamson's birthright. Stay tuned. Welcome back guys to the channel and yeah I am very excited to talk about this book. It's been out for a while but I never got around to making a video on it and I really like this series. So far there have been eight collected editions for it and the series is not done. It is of course a fantasy series by Joshua Williamson. You might have known him from Nailbiter or Ghosted. I actually did videos for Ghosted on this channel over at DC. He also did the flash title when the rebirth run began and he is joined here on birthright by Andei Bresen and Adriano Lucas. So what is birthright about? It's a very simple premise but very cool in execution. It's a dark fantasy story about the Rhodes family and how one day everything turns upside down when the youngest in the family, Mikey, he gets lost and the family is not able to find him. The family goes into disarray and the father is accused of murdering his son. The family splits apart and it just chaos. The father grieves into alcoholism and stuff like that but what really happened to Mikey is that he gets transported. They were playing catch in a forest park and Mikey gets transported somehow into another world, an alternate reality of sorts. That's very dark fantasy inspired like Game of Thrones type of thing, that kind of world. And now in this world, Terenos, he is set to become the chosen one. As you can see here in the cover of the first trade, he is set to become the chosen one to defeat Lord, the evil, ruler, demon lord thing if you will, and is hailed as a hero or a child of prophecy by the inhabitants of this world who are being oppressed. And it's very clearly inspired by works of fiction like Lord of the Rings, stuff like that, where you have all these heroic tropes. And the title is just fun. I mean, you have two split stories and in the first volume, they joined up for something really cool. You see when they finally get a lead on the real world about Mikey's disappearance, it's been one year later. And it turns out that Mikey is now this supposed grown man who looks like he stepped out of the next Conan book. And he is talking about this prophecy, how he's going to bridge the gap between the two worlds and stop the five evil mages and save the land from the impending doom of lore. So nobody believes him, of course, and his family is dubious as well. And that is sort of how the story kicks off. I like the idea that you have two running stories, you have the present tale of this supposed kid that came back and he's now an adult because time flows differently. Like one year on earth is, I would assume, 20 some years in that other place. And you see flashbacks along with the story of how he got there and meeting all the inhabitants and getting his sword and, you know, growing up in this fantasy world that's very brutal and dark and heavy and filled with magical, horrific beasts. It's a real treat for the eyes because I love the artwork so much. It looks so grim, gritty and beautiful at the same time. The monster designs are top notch. One of my favorite things about this book are the creature designs. They look splendid. And I think Williamson has done an outstanding job of taking a very, what could have been a very boring and safe premise about this kid becoming a King Arthur of sorts in another world and doing a really clever twist that I cannot reveal in this review because I don't like doing spoilers. But let's just say that it is unconventional and, you know, it flips the tropes on its head and gives you a fresh perspective on what it really means to be a prophetic hero. And, man, it's I love it. And the whole premise of this book that I just read, there's something about it that isn't clicking right. And when you find out in the first couple pages, it takes a turn for the interesting and easily a very underrated series in my opinion. It's a shame that birthright is not collected in oversized format because the art really does look amazing. And there are some images here that invoke other series that you might be aware of that just look fantastic. Even the splash pages and the landscapes, they just they're brimming with personality and it feels real. It feels like you could be in that setting with those characters. Actually, this is one of my favorite scenes from the first volume that I'm reviewing here. I'd love the dynamic between the three characters and these winged warriors, if you will. There's a lot of terminology that gets thrown around. But as you keep reading, it doesn't really matter because you understand the premise of this kid and how he's you're learning about this world through his eyes. So that's great. And, you know, you see monsters like this, which look really brutal. And it reminded me of all those Dark Souls games. Just really fantastic stuff. The Earth plot, if you will, in the current timeline, if you will, it looks great. And it's an interesting read having this family reconnect after such a horrific incident with, you know, their son going missing and how this family broke the minute that the father was suspected of murder. And now they have to get back together and work things out and, you know, see if it's really Mikey, who's come back or what is happening. So, yeah. I really love this. I'm not doing a full series review because the series is not over as of this video, but I do have the rest of the volumes with me. So eventually I want to do a full spoiler-ific review of the series for Birthright. But yeah, fantastic elements and wonderful character designs. And it's a bloody trip, man. I mean, you get just gut-wrenching drawings like this, and they really put you in the spot of being in another world that's very different from our own, just really awesome stuff. There are the mages. There are some of my favorite scenes right there. Look at that ugly looking monster. That's awesome. Definitely has a great sense of motion and fluidity with, you know, the characters, especially Mikey there. Older Mikey. Just really badass if you ask me. So the series I do believe is currently in issue around the 40s or maybe the 50s. You might have to correct me on that because I have not kept up with the singles, but eight volumes are out. And I do wholeheartedly recommend it. If you want to read something different from the norm, then Birthright from Joshua Williamson is probably going to be it. It's a fantastic reimagining of dark fantasy elements with what we like to call in the anime manga side, the Isekai trope. I've done pretty damn well if you ask me. So yeah, the characters are interesting and the twist. You won't see it coming. Right now if you've never seen or heard of Birthright, this cover is a little bit misleading. Once you start reading the book, you're going to be hooked because yeah, it alters the perception of what a hero is, and it's going to be interesting to follow the journey of our characters if you will. Again, I want to raise the hype awareness for this book because it would be great to get a library edition or an oversized hardcover or something like that than just the standard trades. In my opinion, this book definitely deserves it. And I do consider it an underrated gem, modern gem from Image Comics. So yeah, Birthright Volume 1, fantastic read. Do check it out if you can. And it's only, I do believe 10 bucks, which means you can get this for cheap on different online retailers and stuff. So yeah, no excuses guys. You can enjoy a quality read for less than $10. So have you read Birthright? Are you up to date? Let me know down below in the comment section. If not, tell me what are some of your favorite dark fantasy comic books that you want me to check out. Be interested in knowing about that as well. Guys, thank you so much for liking, commenting, subscribing, being a part of a We Can Geek them. Thank you so very much. Of course, as always, hit the little bell icon so you know when new videos pop up. If you're not subscribed, consider doing so. So you get more content like this and it helps, you know, grow the channel and stuff. Follow me on social media if you can, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all that fun stuff. I've got to go. I will catch all of you on our next review.