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Jun 03, 2022
Bitter Root, by David F. Walker, Chuck Brown, and Sanford Greene (Image)
The critics absolutely adore this book. The series has been nominated for six Eisner awards (including winning for “Best Continuing Series†in 2020). However, I lost appreciation for the book in issue #3 when the concept of the “Jinoo†monsters is explained in narrative to the reader. The “Jinoo†are people (specifically white people) corrupted into monsters after being infected/tainted by hate (racism). It is further explained, “Black folks…we don’t turn into Jinoo. It just isn’t in us.†I get this a book about confronting racism but then (conversely) we are introduced to the concept of the black infected monsters known as “Inzondo†reserv
ed for “a soul ravaged by great sorrow and painâ€.
Racism - the belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities, or qualities, especially so as to distinguish them as inferior or superior to one another.
Creatively, it’s hypocritical to confront racism while resorting to racist innuendoes. The added distinction was unnecessary for the protagonists’ struggle to be both morally and allegorically just.
I’m not prepared to “throw the baby out with the bath waterâ€. The one concept I confronted above doesn’t diminish the characters, the art, or the adventure. There are certainly great concepts within to enjoy. This book had a similar feel, excitement, and quality of Rick Remender’s “Black Scienceâ€.
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Mar 12, 2023
The book succeed in showing white folks how it is when reading racist comics etc.
If this was intended then congratulations, but still it was absolutely awful expirience. I read all three tomes only because I bought in pack and it gets only worst
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Oct 03, 2025
Volume 1 of Bitter Root was an absolute delight to read, with many different aspects of the comic helping it. In terms of art, the style is slightly gritty and not in a bad way. It lends to its setting of a dark time in American history. Also, the art features many dynamic panels, which are simply awesome to look at and improves the action of scenes. In terms of story, Bitter Root absolutely does not hide any of its influences and actively puts it at the forefront, with many story events happening in the real world and holding importance in the narrative. Something I personally think is lacking is the characters; we don't get to know much besides obvious goals and basic personality. Only some characters have bits of their history shown, and
not really given time to be delved into. Which leads to a second bit of complaint from me about the paceing. The pace of volume 1, I think, is really fast. We jump from 1 event to another without any time to think on them. This is probably just me, I read more books than comics so I can definitely be biased here. And these 2 points of complaint can definitely be better in the later issues, so don't think too much about what I've said. Overall I very much enjoyed Bitter Root's art and themes and would very much recommend it for people searching for these kinds of themes in their story's. more
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Jan 24, 2022
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Sep 12, 2022
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Nov 15, 2020
