Briar #1 is published by BOOM! Studios, written by Christopher Cantwell, art by Germán Garcia, colors by Matheus Lopes, and letters by AndWorld Design. We all know the story of Sleeping Beauty. About how a princess pricks her finger on a spinning wheel and must sleep till she is awakened by Prince Charming’s kiss. But what if something went awry? What if her Prince Charming never gave her that kiss?
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Right from the get-go, this book makes its unique approach to the classic fairy tale it seeks to twist for the reader known, with the introduction of its narrator. Or rather, with its lead character explaining how the narrator has been brutally slain and she, Briar Rose, will be narrating her own adventure. From here, Rose guides readers through Briar #1 as it lays out the past, what changed to make the story go so wrong, and finally, where things are when Rose finally awakens from her slumber. I must say, Cantwell’s alteration to the classic tale is quite genius. It is a hitch in the story I never would’ve thought of but feels totally plausible once I read it. If the Sleeping Beauty scenario was to play out in the modern world, I can all but guarantee this would be how it would go down.
While the opening pages of Briar #1 lay out Rose’s past, the rest of the book follows her once she is finally awakened. Malnurited and dehydrated, Rose’s struggles begin from the moment her eyes open, and her life only spirals downhill from there. The once idyllic kingdom she knew has long since been replaced by a largely unforgiving land of slavers and cold indifference.
This portion of the book does a good job of establishing the harsh conditions that will face Rose on her coming journey. Though little more than that can be said because what exactly that journey will be is left unrevealed as the book comes to a close. Though there are a few hints that whatever Rose will do will quite possibly herald a great many bad things for a lot of people, this lack of clarity where the main narrative is concerned leaves the story feeling lacking in a central purpose. Without a better idea of what comes next, Briar #1 feels like little more than 30+ pages of setup with no payoff. This leaves the book lacking that all-important hook that makes readers want to return for another chapter.
The art does a wonderful job of capturing both sides of the story. Depicting the background opening to Rose’s story, we see an art style that captures an air of elegance and joy. Light, delicate linework is combined with bright pastel colors to impart to the reader how right everything is. By contrast, when Rose awakens, the world is far darker. The linework is much heavier, and the light, airy colors are gone, replaced with heavier tones more suited to Rose’s new environment. Lastly, we have the lettering. The letters guide the reader through the story smoothly, and I like the choice of design used for the narration as it makes these parts of the dialogue stand out from the rest of the lettering while still flowing seamlessly with it.
When all is said and done, Briar #1 crafts a strong setup for what could be a good story. But with so much of exactly what this series will be about still in the dark, it is hard to know what exactly all this setup will be about.
Briar #1 is available now wherever comics are sold.
Briar #1
TL;DR
When all is said and done, Briar #1 crafts a strong setup for what could be a good story. But with so much of exactly what this series will be about still in the dark, it is hard to know what exactly all this setup will be about.
