Comic Review: Little Bird #5

Little Bird #5

Image Comics

Writer: Darcy Van Poelgeest

Artists: Ian Bertram and Matt Hollingsworth

Little Bird has been quite possibly the best series to come out of 2019. Each issue ramps up the stakes and intensity to a staggering degree, and the conclusion is no different. Darcy Van Poelgeest and Ian Bertram deliver an absolutely wild ending.

I’ll admit, this is a pretty tough issue to get a handle on. This is partially due to the high number of pieces on the board at this point. However, if anything it’s a testament to the book’s strength that the team is able to build so much in so little time. I’m not one to complain about decompression in comics, but if you happen to be, then this is the book for you. It’s the antithesis of decompression, with so much detail and thought crafted into every panel.

The sheer number of things in this issue means that a good deal of it flies right over my head. That’s not a criticism, as I think it’s proof of just how rewarding this book is to re-read and pick apart. As of now, I’ve re-read the first three issues three times, and the last two twice. Each time I revisit one issue I pick up something else that enhances both the previous issues and the ones that come after. Despite all the time invested, I still don’t feel that I’ve unpacked everything this series has to offer. That is so rare these days and so very welcome.

To talk about this issue’s plot in any specific terms feels dangerously close to spoiling. So, I’ll stick to saying that the events of this issue re-contextualize a large portion of the previous. There’s a huge twist right near the beginning that changes #4 entirely. Or, perhaps I totally missed the point of #4 and am just now getting caught up to speed. Either way, the two work together so splendidly that it had me combing through the pages of the last issue just trying to work everything out for myself. It inspires an intense compulsion to understand it all. This is a product of what has always been the greatest strength of the book; it’s utter refusal to hold your hand. If you don’t pay attention it leaves you in the dust, but if you do, it’s heavily rewarding and satisfying.

Little Bird, as razor-sharp as its script is, is nothing without Ian Bertram. This is a guy I’ve never even heard of who bursts onto the scene and literally blasts me in the face with artistic genius. Each page is a marvel with soul in every panel. While so much of it is technically on-point, there’s indescribable magic to the work. I can sit down and study each page to try my absolute best to understand why it works, but I’ll never truly unpack every layer. It’s too dense and too smart. If every publisher is not currently fighting tooth-and-nail to get this guy to do a book for them, then their priorities are flat-out wrong. The guy deserves superstar status right now.

The worst thing about Little Bird #5 is that I no longer get to gush about it every month. The writing and art are, as always, perfectly in sync. One simply does not work without the other, and that’s not due to lack of talent on any creator’s part, it’s due to the storytelling being so deeply intertwined between the team. This is peak comics, folks. Books like this are the reason we continue to try to give new creators a shot because there’s always that chance that you’ll find a Little Bird.