Bitter Root, Volume 1: Family Business

by David F. Walker, Chuck Brown, Sanford Greene (Artist)

Overview

2019 Will Eisner Award Nominee for Best New Series

Once known as the greatest monster hunters of all time, the Sangerye family specialized in curing the souls of those infected by hate, but those days are fading. A terrible tragedy has claimed most of the family, leaving the surviving cousins split between curing monsters and killing them. Now, with a new breed of monster loose on the streets of Harlem, the Sangerye family must come together, or watch the human race fall to untold evil.

Collects BITTER ROOT #1-5

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534312128
Publisher:	Image Comics
Publication date:	05/21/2019
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	314,363
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	16 Years

Editorial Reviews

05/13/2019

“Since the dawn of civilization, a Great Evil has plagued humanity” begins the not particularly original opening to this fast-paced horror series. Fortunately, Walker (The Life of Frederick Douglass) and Brown pump life into a familiar good vs. evil formula with a well-crafted, vividly illustrated setting. In 1920s Harlem, the Sangerye family carries on its generations-old work of fighting jinoo, evil spirits that periodically erupt into the mortal world. When humans start turning into jinoo, the Sangeryes’ mission becomes more complicated, as rival demonologists and possessed humans present new obstacles. Historical fiction mixes with supernatural horror, producing a hybrid fantasy world of voodoo spells, mad science, monster Klansmen, and Jazz Age demon hunters wielding steampunk versions of Ghostbusters proton packs. The dynamic, richly colored art, with its expressive characters and imaginative monster designs, elevates the predictable plot. Above all, it’s the background details that sing, from meticulously drawn Harlem streets to cluttered rooms filled with period detail. Comics fans will look forward to future volumes of this energetic dark fantasy that effectively mixes thrills and scares. (May)

Publishers Weekly

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY — Since the dawn of civilization, a
Great Evil has plagued humanity" begins the not particularly original opening to this fast-paced horror series. Fortunately, Walker (The Life of Frederick
Douglass) and Brown pump life into a familiar good vs. evil formula with a well-crafted, vividly illustrated setting. In 1920s Harlem, the Sangerye family carries on its generations-old work of fighting jinoo, evil spirits that periodically erupt into the mortal world. When humans start turning into jinoo,
the Sangeryes' mission becomes more complicated, as rival demonologists and possessed humans present new obstacles. Historical fiction mixes with supernatural horror, producing a hybrid fantasy world of voodoo spells, mad science, monster Klansmen, and Jazz Age demon hunters wielding steampunk versions of Ghostbusters proton packs. The dynamic, richly colored art, with its expressive characters and imaginative monster designs, elevates the predictable plot. Above all, it's the background details that sing, from meticulously drawn
Harlem streets to cluttered rooms filled with period detail. Comics fans will look forward to future volumes of this energetic dark fantasy that effectively mixes thrills and scares.

LIBRARY JOURNAL — Relentless action...a kinetic style that makes good use of 1920s period details to anchor the story, which develops slowly before kicking into high gear halfway through and concluding on a legitimately exciting cliff-hanger.

From the Publisher

08/01/2019

For years, the Sangerye family has defended Harlem from supernatural monsters created when greed, jealousy, or racism infects the souls of their fellow humans. Following a mysterious tragedy that sees many of their kin lost or killed, the surviving members of the clan suffer an ideological split as to how to proceed, with some cousins remaining in Harlem, continuing to brew herbal remedies in the apothecary shop they use as a headquarters to cure their enemies, and others wandering through the American South, gladly destroying their foes wherever they find them. When a terrible new enemy emerges, they're forced to reunite in a battle for the souls of every man, woman, and child on the planet. VERDICT Walker (The Life of Frederick Douglass), Greene (Black Comix Returns), and Renzi (FBP) present the relentless action that takes place across Issues 1–5 gathered in this volume in a kinetic style that makes good use of 1920s period details to anchor the story, which develops slowly before kicking into high gear halfway through and concluding on a legitimately exciting cliff-hanger.

Library Journal

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