Image Comics reviews 7/2/25 – Bitter Root: The Next Movement 4, GI Joe: RAH 318
Bitter Root: The Next Movement 4
Bitter Root: The Next Movement 4 serves to reiterate how truly special this series has been since it debuted. You can take the story on its surface as this really involved science fiction meets monster slaying world, but the beauty is in the layers.
Writers Chuck Brown and David F. Walker also weave in race and hate on various levels. The analogy that racism and hatred makes people demons and monsters who sometimes can’t take the cure is next level. With the arrival of a character in Walter Sylvester, who doesn’t want to administer a cure that won’t work and calls instead for amputating the monsters, The Next Movement 4 is finding more fertile ground for story exploration.
The Next Movement 4 dives deeper into the conflict Walter had with the Sangerye family as he argues that the Jinoo are going to keep getting stronger while the Sangerye family waits for true purification from those infected by hatred. Walker and Brown continually shift from the present to this discussion with a united Sangerye and affiliates meeting a few years prior.
Sylvester assures the family that the government does not want their help with Operation Purify for a reason and it’s to paint themselves as the heroes for dealing with a problem that they helped allow to prosper. The Next Movement 4 has a higher than usual amount of quotable dialogue particularly in this discussion and the subsequent family meeting where they discuss The Evil Garden. This actually breaks down more of the root of all evil, which is such high-level writing. Bitter Root can at times feel like a secret history of the United States with its look at racism and how it is a hidden virus in the same manner that it’s this exceptional sci-fi monster title.
As usual, artist Samford Greene delivers outstanding dramatic panels whether just in the character perspectives during intense discussions or the action sequences. There is one big reveal tying in to racist cops trying to quietly deal with the federal agents assisting the Sangerye family that just wouldn’t have the same impact if done by another artist. It needed all of Greene’s electric energy that he brings to every issue of Bitter Root and especially throughout Next Movement 4.
Matt Herms’ color work is outstanding as he maneuvers the various moods and mounting tension within the issue. Letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou also does strong work conveying tone with the font size, keeping some of the lengthy monologues easy to read and creative use of sound effect fonts.
The Next Movement 4 is another excellent installment of a series that hasn’t let up. Perhaps the biggest frustration is that this is the penultimate issue of a series that feels like it has plenty of story left to be told.
Rating: 10 out of 10
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