By Lisa Gullickson — Zuli begins her life as an anomaly, the only living girl in the branches of The Great Tree. She was discovered by the Tree’s guardians, luminous spirit birds, lovingly swaddled in an ornate purple cloth and left sleeping blissfully nestled in the robust roots. The Guardians raised her amongst their own, teaching her about The Great Tree and its purpose. The Great Tree is the resting place for the souls of birds in between incarnations. When birds die, their souls return with their memories of the living world. Once their time with The Great Tree has ended, they then return to the world, forgetting their previous life and ready to be born anew. Zuli understands she is not like the other residents amongst the branches - she is not a bird, has no wings, and is not dead. All she knows about where she comes from is the fading recollections of transient souls. When these winged spirits cease coming home to roost, Zuli knows that it’s up to her to find out why.

“Adventures are good for making our worlds bigger… and our hearts too.” Even though Zuli has never been to the living world, she leaves everything she’s ever known to save the adoptive family that raised her. In Wingbearer, writer Marjorie Liu (Monstress) has created a hero that is idealistic, brave, autonomous, and naïve all at once. She will be the one to save the souls of the birds because she is uniquely qualified. Literally, no other person will do. There is a reason why most middle-grade stories, for readers ages eight to twelve, are populated by “chosen ones” who have been specially selected by extraordinary abilities, circumstances, or prophecy. At that age, children are hatching out of the egocentrism of childhood and realizing that they don’t want to be in their nest forever. But taking flight for the first time is scary and unsafe, so the idea that there is this great and powerful destiny out there to catch them is reassuring.

“What happens once will always happen twice.” When Zuli enters the living world with her curmudgeon of a guardian Frowly the owl, she is emboldened by curiosity. She is wearing a bracelet with a blue stone that was left with her at the foot of The Great Tree, and she is eager to see if there are other people like her, unfeathered and flightless, but she is immediately overwhelmed by skeleton creatures called Wraiths. She is saved by magic that had been dormant in her bracelet with a little help from a slightly older seeming Goblin named Orien, who confidently grabs her hand and leads her to safety. He becomes her ally and guide since his existence as an oppressed class has made him wary and savvy. She meets many on her quest to save the birds - Orien’s Nainai Lyja, Captain Fara the Kalinarian, Jax the Fyrefox - but the people like her seem to only exist in her dreams. They all indicate, however, that if she is looking for a source of dark evil, the most likely source is the Witch-Queen.

Liu and artist Teny Issakhanian use peril in careful measure. Boney Wraiths, serpentine dragons, and enchanted soldiers of the Witch-Queen get close enough to our hero to thrill, but Zuli is impervious thanks to her magic bracelet, her only tangible connection to her long-lost parents. Issakhanian’s art is lush and dynamic, and her action scenes propel the reader from one panel to the next with heart-clutching momentum. The vitality of the art comes from each character’s evocative expressions. Issakhanian has worked as a storyboarder and visual development artist at Walt Disney, Dreamworks, and the Jim Henson Company. The art is imaginative, but the faces are familiar to those of us raised on the house styles of these dominant animation studios. Issakhanian wields a vocabulary of brow-furrows, agape-maws, and eye-squints that we have become fluent in as a culture, making the characters emotionally accessible and comfy.

“Will you choose high, or will you choose low?” When Zuli meets Orien, she is shocked that he barely uses his enormous, batlike wings. He explains to her that goblins are natural gliders, so to keep his kind at bay, the higher classes keep his people to regions low to the ground. He is never allowed the opportunity to soar. While Zuli’s origins are not unlike so many other middle-grade stories - a naive but kind person of mysterious parentage, with unique abilities and a prophetic quest - she defies convention by being a little black girl. And little black girls are long overdue to see themselves on such an adventure. They are owed the opportunity to soar. My only honest criticism of this story is that there needs to be more. Despite there not being a number on the spine or indication of a continuation on the final page, Wingbearer is ostensibly a volume one. Zuli’s search for answers only leads to grander mysteries. The satisfaction of Wingbearer comes from getting lost in this fantasy world where a little girl gets to live her purpose.

“Let her go. Let her live. So she can become something, and in that becoming, perhaps save us all.” Ta’ia, the supreme guardian of the Great Tree, knows that Zuli is the only being suited to go on this quest to find the missing souls but is still reluctant to see her child leave the nest. The other bird spirits gently remind her, “We cannot protect Zuli forever.” Zuli in Wingbearer is a fanciful and aspirational example of a young black girl being divinely chosen to set foot on her own adventure and discover her ability to soar.

REVIEW: Wingbearer

Wingbearer
Writer: Marjorie Liu
Artist: Teny Issakhanian
Publisher: Quill Tree Books, imprints of HarperCollins Publishers
A young girl must stop a threat to her magical world in this epic graphic novel from New York Times bestselling author Marjorie Liu and remarkable debut illustrator Teny Issakhanian.
Zuli is extraordinary—she just doesn’t realize it yet. Raised by mystical bird spirits in the branches of the Great Tree, she’s never ventured beyond this safe haven. She’s never had to. Until now.
When a sinister force threatens the life-giving magic of the tree, Zuli, along with her guardian owl, Frowly, must get to the root of it. So begins an adventure bigger than anything Zuli could’ve ever imagined—one that will bring her, along with some newfound friends, face-to-face with an ancient dragon, the so-called Witch-Queen, and most surprisingly of all: her true identity.
Release Date: March 1, 2022
Price: $12.99
Buy it Here: Wingbearer

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Lisa Gullickson is one half of the couple on the Comic Book Couples Counseling podcast, and, yes, the a capella version of the 90s X-men theme is all her. Her Love Language is Words of Affirmation which she accepts @sidewalksiren on twitter.