It was a little concerning when Briar wrapped up last year with its eighth issue. The story had been left unresolved, the characters were left in precarious places, and the lax release schedule – those eight issues were released over two years – didn’t leave readers with much confidence. Briar was stellar regardless: a brutal reimagining of Sleeping Beauty tropes, each issue deepened a fantasy world that felt fresh, new, and yet somehow familiar.
BOOM!
Thankfully, the narrative continues with the release of Briar: Night’s Terror this week. The issue opens without much fanfare, which is to say that the book doesn’t acknowledge its time away or celebrate its new #1. This is simply the next chapter, and we pick up the story without much of a hiccup in time.
Our heroes, whose arduous journey has led them to the threshold of a grueling and trap-filled land, have been lying low in a city even as forces conspire against them. The evil queen isn’t in great shape, herself: her blood magic has run dry; that doesn’t mean she’s powerless, nor does it mean that our heroes are safe.
The book retains its gritty fantasy core, though the issue doesn’t do much to deepen its lore so much as instigate a new runaway momentum near the book’s end. Readers won’t discover anything new, but the will feel swept into movement as the issue ramps up its (out of nowhere) action. You won’t be left wondering whether you’re interested in picking up Night’s Terror’s second issue.
BOOM!
Alex Lins’s pencils do much of that sweeping away: the world of Briar feels wonderfully unique, even when it plays into tropes like evil-looking castles and stock medieval villages. Vast and frigid vistas and precarious desert stones enliven a sort of homebrew D&D campaign map of disparate biomes. Villainous hordes bloodly decimate townships and, without much of a transition, we’re in the valley of the traps; the book has the feel of a madcap TTRPG gone wild.
It’s a relief to see Briar return, and while the first issue of Night’s Terror doesn’t do much than tip our characters into action, it’s a balm to be back here with them. It’s hard not to be impatient for the next issue, even though we’ve waited so long for this one.
