Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Wood
Art: Mack Chater
Colors: Lee Roughridge
Letterer: Nate Piekos of Blambot
What They Say:
The outside muscle brought in to secure Caleb’s business deal rapidly spirals out of control. Word has spread through the secessionist community that the Briggs family is weak, and Grace needs to act quickly and decisively or lose everything.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Briggs Land has moved through a lot in its first six issues, though at times things felt like they were moving at a bit of a slower pace. Everything is moving in the direction of those working the situation but we continue to see how they’re not aware of everything that’s going on, which gives it some welcome flavor. Wood knows how to write these stories and mack them engaging, even disturbing as we’ve seen, and Mack Chater continues to simply elevate it to another level with rawness that’s very appealing to watch play out. There’s a good sense of these characters through their designs and expressions that wouldn’t work anywhere near as well in more “traditional” comics storytelling designs.
The Hillson storyline has certainly been interesting to watch unfold as we see how Grace has managed to secure the place so they have the connections and cover that they need to continue to operate. Caleb’s taking on the ownership and running of it isn’t exactly going off without a hitch as we see it’s not exactly opening on time, but it’s all part of a bigger series of movements that he has coming down the road. This is something that Ellie doesn’t quite grasp at first as she’s frustrated that he didn’t take power within the family overall, keeping them living in someone else’s house and out of the position she believes they should be in. It’s an interesting fracture point but we also see how Caleb believes he has the upper hand in the long run here with what Hillsons offers him as a financial base of power as that’s what really controls things.
Grace’s arc continues to show how well she’s handling the power changes that are going on, especially in dealing with the agents that have been watching her. She manages quite the feat in getting Daniel to do her bidding and make him realize that she pulled one over on him when it comes to the guys they called in to rough up Hillson. That she then sets things in motion to use her tipoff to get them to leave after they decided they were going to be better off sitting tight in town is only sweeter to see because it’s plainly clear she knows exactly what needs to be done in order to further cement her power here. Each little piece furthers it and while it may not all be crystal clear in some ways, she’s making some serious progress and is advancing her goals, including in dealing with her husband in a way that will further set him off.
In Summary:
Briggs Land continues to tackle several different areas to do what’s needed in getting all the players into their positions now that Grace has firmly taken control. There’s a lot to be seen about how she actually manages Briggs Land as what we’ve mostly seen is her consolidating things as needed while keeping it low on the violence side compared to what it could be. This is a quieter installment overall as we get more of a character focus in some ways, especially with Caleb, but Mack Chater definitely delivers in making it exciting through the layouts, the progression of movement across the streets in some scenes with Grace, and just the expressiveness and almost oppressive feelings of the various situations. It’s a really engaging work with some great detail that makes it a treat each month to check out.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: January 25th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99