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dulfbarglin's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
francomega's review
4.0
Volume One set up the challenges facing Grace Briggs as she assumed control of her anti-government secessionist community from her imprisoned monster of a husband. This volume shows some of the those challenges as Grace and her family deal with ghosts from the past as they try to break free from the white supremacist ties of their past. This would make an excellent TV series.
otterno11's review
2.0
Briggs Land: Lone Wolves, the second volume of this gritty crime drama, isn’t really doing much to draw me further into the story. Little seems to be happening and the characters feel increasingly interchangeable. Tough ladies trying to command respect in a man’s world, stoic manly dudes strutting about on some mission or other, it’s all getting a little dull. As the Briggs clan continues their familial battle for the control of a secessionist anti-government militia compound in upstate New York and the millions in drug money it brings in, clan matriarch Grace stands up against her jailed husband and his neo-Nazi thugs, corrupt federal agents, and her gun happy citizenry alike. In spite of all this, her story seems surprisingly unengaging. It's obvious the work is trying to be topical to our fraught times, referencing the “alt-right” for instance, but doesn’t seem to be very interested in actually examining any of the political ideas it brings up.
Instead, we get rather murky “intrigue” in which characters engage in mysterious actions we’re not yet given the reason behind, while delivering shallow, snarky speeches on the nature of freedom and the American way. This leads the proceedings to feel a little disjointed, a little unclear of what is happening. Regarding his previous work in the DMZ series, with it’s similarly vague anti-government militia and pretensions to a deeper theme than it was willing to engage, this seems to be Brian Wood’s modus operandi.
I can definitely see how this comic has already been optioned for the next bit of streaming “prestige television” to bloat our screens in the coming months, though, and perhaps with some solid acting the rather bland characters of the comic may come alive a bit and make for some gripping TV. I do have my doubts, however, that the story’s “political” pretensions will go anywhere or have anything concrete or interesting to say about the rising threat of racist right wing domestic terrorists in the United States and where our nation is currently heading.
Instead, we get rather murky “intrigue” in which characters engage in mysterious actions we’re not yet given the reason behind, while delivering shallow, snarky speeches on the nature of freedom and the American way. This leads the proceedings to feel a little disjointed, a little unclear of what is happening. Regarding his previous work in the DMZ series, with it’s similarly vague anti-government militia and pretensions to a deeper theme than it was willing to engage, this seems to be Brian Wood’s modus operandi.
I can definitely see how this comic has already been optioned for the next bit of streaming “prestige television” to bloat our screens in the coming months, though, and perhaps with some solid acting the rather bland characters of the comic may come alive a bit and make for some gripping TV. I do have my doubts, however, that the story’s “political” pretensions will go anywhere or have anything concrete or interesting to say about the rising threat of racist right wing domestic terrorists in the United States and where our nation is currently heading.
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