“Whatâs sort of weird is the end of the book does that recent comics thing of having a serious essay in there, but this book has like 5 or 6! You might trick me into reading an essay at the end of a comic, but not 5. Iâm not so dumb that Iâll be tricked that way, yet Iâm way too dumb to read that many essays. I’m a very specific kind of dumb.
I think this is a great concept, and the overall idea and direction is a good one, the representation is good, but I think those things are overshadowed by the storytelling, which is kind of a mess. It’s not super clear what’s going on, it’s hard to follow exactly who’s doing what and why, there are a lot of characters that aren’t fleshed out, and I think there are some serious shortcomings in this volume that left me pretty disappointed. I feel like there’s a lot of good going on here, but I don’t think the reader is shepherded into this world very carefully, and the end result is that the reader is a bit confused.
And I think you’ll see this as a theme in lots of other reviews here, and it’s something people are struggling with a little because it does seem like we’re all happy with the ideas and representation and to see comics with Black creators, but at the same time, this book just is challenging to read and comprehend. Not because I think the idea of racism and so on is challenging, because I think the basic plot is a little convoluted.
Unless things coalesce better in the next volume (if they do, please let me know!) this will be the end of my brief love affair with Bitter Root.”