BRIGGS LAND TP VOL 01 STATE OF GRACE
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A critically-acclaimed crime epic set in an American secessionist militia compound mixing politics with complex family issues, from New York Times best-selling author of DMZ.
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What is the synopsis?
• A secessionist family in rural America struggles through intense internal challenges while the world outside threatens their ideals and way of life.... view morer />
What is the setting and background?
• In rural, upstate New York, on and around the 40,000-acre compound of the Briggs family established in 1980, as well as the nearby (fictional) town of “Wrenton”
• The founder and patriarch, Jim Briggs, has been in federal Supermax prison for the last twenty years for attempted assassination of the President while his former child-bride, Grace (now in her 50’s), manages the extended family of her and Jim’s three grown sons and their families, all of whom live on the compound, with the exception of their youngest son, who spent two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with the US Army presence there.
What are the central themes?
• Family dynamics: who is family, what do we owe to our family, what does loyalty mean and require of us, what do we do when our family’s needs conflict with our personal needs and goals?
• The right to independence and self-isolation: what are the practical limits society can or must tolerate from those who want to self-isolate or secede?
• “The consent of the governed”: What happens when we disagree with the policies of the duly-elected government (which in this case points to the US government and Grace as Jim’s wife running the Briggs family).
How is it relevant?
• Similarities to the [Maleur National Wildlife Refuge occupation in 2016](en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Malheur_National_Wildlife_Refuge), as well as calling back with “faint whiffs” of [Ruby Ridge](en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ridge) and the Branch Davidian Standoff in Waco (1993).
• The rise in prominence of right-wing extremism in the United States harkens back to the unrelenting self-reliance of the homesteader movement that helped settle large parts of the continental United States, as well as “desire for freedom” that inspired the principal framers of the Declaration of Independence.
• Ultra-conservative groups’ dissatisfaction with the government leading to rejection of their laws and primacy, while substituting their own.
Who comprises the creative team behind the comic, and who publishes it?
• Creative team:
◦ Writer: Brian Wood (DMZ)
◦ Art: Mack Chater
◦ Colors: Lee Loughridge and Jeremy Colwell
◦ Lettering: Nate Piekos (Blambot)
• Published by Dark Horse Comics
Is it still being produced? What other trade paper volumes have been published, and what was the last issue number and date? What other developments are relevant?
• Briggs Land ended its 12-issue serial run in 2017 with issue 6 of volume 2, “Lone Wolves”
• There are two TP volumes in print: “State of Grace” (vol 1) in 2017, and “Lone Wolves” (vol 2) in 2018.
• It was optioned by AMC in 2017 and is listed as “In Development” by AMC for a series, but has not been greenlit (approved and funded to begin production).
What interesting questions does it ask us to consider?
• What kind of independence is realistic in this increasingly-interconnected world?
• Is there a spark of the original pioneering mindset that helped create and build the United States that we can recognize in far-right extremists and secessionists, even if their motives, rhetoric, and methods have become distorted and condemnable?
What did I like about it?
• It asked me to question what the philosophical differences are between those who disagree with authority because it has abused them and those who disagree because changes in society threaten their power as well as what the similarities are between them. While the differences are often fairly obvious in terms of right versus left, liberal versus conservative, the similarities are both more subtle and more telling. What remains common among these groups is a distrust in the government, in the establishment, in the invested power structures to protect them and create a space for them to thrive, and their very understandable desire to create that space for themselves, either by stepping beyond the reach of the establishment or by
Would I read the next volume?
• Yes, though I’m a completist and like to see how a story ends, even if I wish I could go back and not have started it in the first place
• That said, this is not normally the type of story I get into. I honestly picked it up because of its title, not the subject. It nonetheless brings up some very topical issues that have become even more prominent recently with the Capitol assault and similar incidents perpetrated by individuals and groups that likely would look fairly similar to the characters in Briggs Land.
What am I curious about in the story? What am I curious about as a writer?
• In the story (and spoiling as little as possible), I’m curious to see the history of how Grace got enmeshed with this family as Jim Briggs’ bride at age seventeen, and what has caused the transformations within her that are leading to the steps she takes toward the end of the volume.
• As a writer, I’d like to see how they begin to increase the pressure on the family to create more volatility and conflict. There are a couple of obvious avenues, but I’m curious how they might surprise me. view less
• A secessionist family in rural America struggles through intense internal challenges while the world outside threatens their ideals and way of life.
What is the setting and background?
• In rural, upstate New York, on and around the 40,000-acre compound of the Briggs family established in 1980, as well as the nearby (fictional) town of “Wrenton”
• The founder and patriarch, Jim Briggs, has been in federal Supermax prison for the last twenty years for attempted assassination of the President while his former child-bride, Grace (now in her 50’s), manages the extended family of her and Jim’s three grown sons and their families, all of whom live on the compound, with the exception of their youngest son, who spent two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with the US Army presence there.
What are the central themes?
• Family dynamics: who is family, what do we owe to our family, what does loyalty mean and require of us, what do we do when our family’s needs conflict with our personal needs and goals?
• The right to independence and self-isolation: what are the practical limits society can or must tolerate from those who want to self-isolate or secede?
• “The consent of the governed”: What happens when we disagree with the policies of the duly-elected government (which in this case points to the US government and Grace as Jim’s wife running the Briggs family).
How is it relevant?
• Similarities to the [Maleur National Wildlife Refuge occupation in 2016](en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Malheur_National_Wildlife_Refuge), as well as calling back with “faint whiffs” of [Ruby Ridge](en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ridge) and the Branch Davidian Standoff in Waco (1993).
• The rise in prominence of right-wing extremism in the United States harkens back to the unrelenting self-reliance of the homesteader movement that helped settle large parts of the continental United States, as well as “desire for freedom” that inspired the principal framers of the Declaration of Independence.
• Ultra-conservative groups’ dissatisfaction with the government leading to rejection of their laws and primacy, while substituting their own.
Who comprises the creative team behind the comic, and who publishes it?
• Creative team:
◦ Writer: Brian Wood (DMZ)
◦ Art: Mack Chater
◦ Colors: Lee Loughridge and Jeremy Colwell
◦ Lettering: Nate Piekos (Blambot)
• Published by Dark Horse Comics
Is it still being produced? What other trade paper volumes have been published, and what was the last issue number and date? What other developments are relevant?
• Briggs Land ended its 12-issue serial run in 2017 with issue 6 of volume 2, “Lone Wolves”
• There are two TP volumes in print: “State of Grace” (vol 1) in 2017, and “Lone Wolves” (vol 2) in 2018.
• It was optioned by AMC in 2017 and is listed as “In Development” by AMC for a series, but has not been greenlit (approved and funded to begin production).
What interesting questions does it ask us to consider?
• What kind of independence is realistic in this increasingly-interconnected world?
• Is there a spark of the original pioneering mindset that helped create and build the United States that we can recognize in far-right extremists and secessionists, even if their motives, rhetoric, and methods have become distorted and condemnable?
What did I like about it?
• It asked me to question what the philosophical differences are between those who disagree with authority because it has abused them and those who disagree because changes in society threaten their power as well as what the similarities are between them. While the differences are often fairly obvious in terms of right versus left, liberal versus conservative, the similarities are both more subtle and more telling. What remains common among these groups is a distrust in the government, in the establishment, in the invested power structures to protect them and create a space for them to thrive, and their very understandable desire to create that space for themselves, either by stepping beyond the reach of the establishment or by
Would I read the next volume?
• Yes, though I’m a completist and like to see how a story ends, even if I wish I could go back and not have started it in the first place
• That said, this is not normally the type of story I get into. I honestly picked it up because of its title, not the subject. It nonetheless brings up some very topical issues that have become even more prominent recently with the Capitol assault and similar incidents perpetrated by individuals and groups that likely would look fairly similar to the characters in Briggs Land.
What am I curious about in the story? What am I curious about as a writer?
• In the story (and spoiling as little as possible), I’m curious to see the history of how Grace got enmeshed with this family as Jim Briggs’ bride at age seventeen, and what has caused the transformations within her that are leading to the steps she takes toward the end of the volume.
• As a writer, I’d like to see how they begin to increase the pressure on the family to create more volatility and conflict. There are a couple of obvious avenues, but I’m curious how they might surprise me. view less
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