There is something immediately cinematic about the debut issue of Bronze Faces. It quick-cuts back and forth in time with a musical montage. It shifts setting and tone with the breeziness of an indie flick. It’s got Soderberghian heist vibes splashed across the opening pages and sewn into the conversations among the cast. And at its core, it’s got the highest stakes imaginable: the reclamation of a heritage that’s been stolen by interlopers and colonizers reframing their thefts in name of preservation and reverence.

Shobo & Shof (New Masters) and Alexandre Tefenkgi (The Good Asian) have packed the kinetic action of film into a floppysworth of pages, but they’ve done so with such virtuosity that a single issue feels lived-in and expansive. Empathy for the found family of Timi, Gbonka, and Sango as they come together for the first time since the passing of their father (by blood or otherwise) is automatic. Their father followed in the footsteps of his ancestors, crafting bronze masks of family members who have passed on, reaching back generations. Their family’s literal faces now sit locked in glass cases, right there for the entire world to gawk at, but trapped behind the seemingly unbreakable transparent barrier of colonialism gussied up in the formal wear of humanity’s shared historical context. It’s not nearly as heavy-handed as that description, but I’m telling you, this issue is as profound as it is propulsive.

So, what is there to do when your entire history is being used to “educate” people who couldn’t care less the moment they walk down the museum’s front steps and back into their own lives? Smash and grab. Take it back. Reclaim. And when that’s done, Timi, Gbonka, and Sango discover exactly where the rest of the masks are stored all around the world. And then, it’s time go ahead and reclaim them all.

Bronze Faces #1 sets the stage for a globetrotting tale about taking back what’s yours at the expense of your very life. What comes next is anyone’s guess, but jump on now, fellow readers. Bronze Faces has all the ingredients to becoming something truly special.

Creative Team: Shobo & Shof (writers), Alexandre Tefenkgi (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (letterer)
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
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