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Little Bird
Precious Metal: From the World of Little Bird
An unforgettable companion to the award-winning dystopian, coming-of-age journey, Little Bird.
Thirty-five years before the events of LITTLE BIRD, VOL. 1: THE FIGHT FOR ELDER'S HOPE, disillusioned mod-tracker Max Weaver's routine hunt for a modified child takes a grisly and unexpected turn. Now, saddled with an unpredictable mod who may be the key to unlocking his missing memories, Max will soon find that he isn’t the only one interested in the child’s unique abilities - and if he wants to know more, it'll cost him everything. In fact, the future may well depend on it.
Eisner Award-winning creative team DARCY VAN POELGEEST and IAN BERTRAM reunite for their gripping return to the dystopian American Empire.
Thirty-five years before the events of LITTLE BIRD, VOL. 1: THE FIGHT FOR ELDER'S HOPE, disillusioned mod-tracker Max Weaver's routine hunt for a modified child takes a grisly and unexpected turn. Now, saddled with an unpredictable mod who may be the key to unlocking his missing memories, Max will soon find that he isn’t the only one interested in the child’s unique abilities - and if he wants to know more, it'll cost him everything. In fact, the future may well depend on it.
Eisner Award-winning creative team DARCY VAN POELGEEST and IAN BERTRAM reunite for their gripping return to the dystopian American Empire.
320 pages, Paperback
First published May 13, 2025
11 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Darcy Van Poelgeest
34 books45 followersDarcy is a multi-award winning writer and director living in Vancouver, B.C. His film work has screened internationally at festivals, broadcast on TV, shown in galleries, and become a best seller on iTunes. His debut comic series LITTLE BIRD (2019) is out now from Image Comics & Glènat Editions.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 29, 2025
perhaps this is one of those you read and sit back enjoy the amazing artwork and try not to let the slightly off-putting storyline distract you.
February 8, 2025
Wut...
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more please.
Did...
I...
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more please.
December 23, 2024
From the world of
Little Bird
comes a new prequel miniseries from the original creative team of Darcy Van Poelgeest, Ian Bertram and Matt Hollingsworth. Replacing the original letterer, Aditya Bidikar, is Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, but otherwise Precious Metal is as familiar of an entry as the original comic was. Lauded for its originality, rich world-building and mesmerizing artwork, Little Bird introduced us to the dystopian setting of the United Nations of America, a theocratic government that imposed an iron grip over the citizenry. A small rebel faction led by Little Bird and her grandfather, The Axe, served to resist the efforts by Bishop, an agent of New Vatican and the Disciples of Twelve, who plans to exterminate the last of the modified beings. Precious Metal, though being a prequel, explores a similar story from a new set of protagonists.
The principle protagonist here is Max Weaver, a mod-tracker who is tasked with a hunt to bring in a modified child. The job turns ugly quickly, and Max ends up racing across the dystopian American Empire to rescue the child from the grips of the Twelve whilst also attempting to reunite with his long-missing daughter. Set 35 years prior to the events of Little Bird, the story features a few recurring faces, but for the most part serves as an engaging enough standalone read. Will it have helped to have first read Little Bird? Sure, but I do think one can tackled Precious Metal first before diving into the original series.
I was pretty critical of Little Bird due to its frenetic and unfocused storytelling. I personally felt that Van Poelgeest threw a little too much all at once at the wall and felt that very little actually stuck. The story had an expansive setting that was undeniably imaginative and unique, though largely developed by Ian Bertram's energetic artwork. But the world-building has marinated since then, and so Precious Metal benefits from existing in a more lived-in setting and not having to establish quite as much. A much more focused narrative with a less mysterious protagonist at its core, the story flows more readily. It still has some of the clunkiness of the original series with a little too much being developed early on with little resolution, but for the purpose of just interpreting Max's journey, the story lands well.
Ian Bertram's artwork with Hollingsworth's colors is just as great this time, if not better. The design for the new characters here, particularly the villains, is nothing less than inspired. It's as beautiful of a collection as was Little Bird, and a demonstration of just how unique an artist Bertram is in the landscape of independent comics.
The principle protagonist here is Max Weaver, a mod-tracker who is tasked with a hunt to bring in a modified child. The job turns ugly quickly, and Max ends up racing across the dystopian American Empire to rescue the child from the grips of the Twelve whilst also attempting to reunite with his long-missing daughter. Set 35 years prior to the events of Little Bird, the story features a few recurring faces, but for the most part serves as an engaging enough standalone read. Will it have helped to have first read Little Bird? Sure, but I do think one can tackled Precious Metal first before diving into the original series.
I was pretty critical of Little Bird due to its frenetic and unfocused storytelling. I personally felt that Van Poelgeest threw a little too much all at once at the wall and felt that very little actually stuck. The story had an expansive setting that was undeniably imaginative and unique, though largely developed by Ian Bertram's energetic artwork. But the world-building has marinated since then, and so Precious Metal benefits from existing in a more lived-in setting and not having to establish quite as much. A much more focused narrative with a less mysterious protagonist at its core, the story flows more readily. It still has some of the clunkiness of the original series with a little too much being developed early on with little resolution, but for the purpose of just interpreting Max's journey, the story lands well.
Ian Bertram's artwork with Hollingsworth's colors is just as great this time, if not better. The design for the new characters here, particularly the villains, is nothing less than inspired. It's as beautiful of a collection as was Little Bird, and a demonstration of just how unique an artist Bertram is in the landscape of independent comics.
March 18, 2025
I haven't been this hot for an Image book in forever. Little Bird blew me away when it came out, but I didn't realize the potential these two had in them...
This serves as a prequel to the first book. Though I haven't read it in ages so I'm sure I missed most of the links between the two..
It has the same base line: clearly jodo/moebius inspired, heavy on religious caricature and psychedelic storytelling. But it's a much more mature work. The characters are way more developed. Our protagonist is a deadbeat dad with a savior complex who gets dragged into a political tug-o-war between the religious bigoted zealots and the rebellion fighting them (I'm making it simple but there's so many different sub-factions each fighting for their own goals. It's a very complex storyline full of twists and turns where you can't trust anyone).
Take it as you may, but I do find it interesting an somewhat telling that the first book came out in the midst of Trump's first term as president, and the second one comes out right at the start of his reelection..
Ian Bertram's art is, of course, drop dead gorgeous, and a big part of what makes this book so cool. His body horror is off the charts here. The Twelve is an absolute banger of a design.
This serves as a prequel to the first book. Though I haven't read it in ages so I'm sure I missed most of the links between the two..
It has the same base line: clearly jodo/moebius inspired, heavy on religious caricature and psychedelic storytelling. But it's a much more mature work. The characters are way more developed. Our protagonist is a deadbeat dad with a savior complex who gets dragged into a political tug-o-war between the religious bigoted zealots and the rebellion fighting them (I'm making it simple but there's so many different sub-factions each fighting for their own goals. It's a very complex storyline full of twists and turns where you can't trust anyone).
Take it as you may, but I do find it interesting an somewhat telling that the first book came out in the midst of Trump's first term as president, and the second one comes out right at the start of his reelection..
Ian Bertram's art is, of course, drop dead gorgeous, and a big part of what makes this book so cool. His body horror is off the charts here. The Twelve is an absolute banger of a design.
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September 12, 2025I picked this up because it was nominated for a Harvey award but it's not my jam; artwork is dark and ugly, premise uninteresting and demands my knowing this fictional world already. 12 pages and I was out.
June 28, 2025
(Full disclosure: I received an e-ARC for review through Edelweiss. Content warning for gratuitous violence.)
Set thirty-five years before the events of LITTLE BIRD: THE FIGHT FOR ELDER'S HOPE, PRECIOUS METAL introduces us to Max Weaver, a sort of futuristic bounty hunter/tracker. Find. Deliver. Get paid. Never ask questions. - These are the rules he lives by. That is, until he's hired to retrieve a mod who turns out to be just a kid. A little boy - and one whose powers seemingly include the ability to help Max recover memories long since lost. If Max can rediscover who he was - is - maybe he can win back Naomi, and their child, Alina.
But Max isn't the only one in hot pursuit of this one-of-a-kind mod. His boss, a notorious gangster named Elle the Blade, isn't going to let him go so easily; nor is Bishop who, at this point in time, is just beginning his rise to power. The boy's creator, an aging designer, wants to roll back the powers he gave the boy, while his daughter Designer Chen, wants to harness them. Whatever the boy's mysterious abilities, they hold the key to the future, for better or worse.
I thoroughly enjoyed the dystopian future crafted in LITTLE BIRD (doubly so on my second read-through, during the era of Trump 2.0 ... or maybe "enjoyed" isn't the right word. Appreciated?), and I really wanted to love PRECIOUS METAL, especially given its potential to show us how Little Bird's world came to be. But mostly I was just confused. While the artwork is gorgeous - in a trippy, '70s, neon and velvet kind of way - it often left me with more questions than answers. A lot of the time may brain struggled to make sense of what it was seeing. For example, the urban landscapes are littered with cubes and organic, tentacle-like structures, and I had zero idea what they were actually supposed to be.
The various power struggles/structures remained a mystery as well. While all the double- and triple-crossing proved entertaining, Bishop's relation to the Twelve - and their contribution to this new, terrible America - is a big question mark for me.
Set thirty-five years before the events of LITTLE BIRD: THE FIGHT FOR ELDER'S HOPE, PRECIOUS METAL introduces us to Max Weaver, a sort of futuristic bounty hunter/tracker. Find. Deliver. Get paid. Never ask questions. - These are the rules he lives by. That is, until he's hired to retrieve a mod who turns out to be just a kid. A little boy - and one whose powers seemingly include the ability to help Max recover memories long since lost. If Max can rediscover who he was - is - maybe he can win back Naomi, and their child, Alina.
But Max isn't the only one in hot pursuit of this one-of-a-kind mod. His boss, a notorious gangster named Elle the Blade, isn't going to let him go so easily; nor is Bishop who, at this point in time, is just beginning his rise to power. The boy's creator, an aging designer, wants to roll back the powers he gave the boy, while his daughter Designer Chen, wants to harness them. Whatever the boy's mysterious abilities, they hold the key to the future, for better or worse.
I thoroughly enjoyed the dystopian future crafted in LITTLE BIRD (doubly so on my second read-through, during the era of Trump 2.0 ... or maybe "enjoyed" isn't the right word. Appreciated?), and I really wanted to love PRECIOUS METAL, especially given its potential to show us how Little Bird's world came to be. But mostly I was just confused. While the artwork is gorgeous - in a trippy, '70s, neon and velvet kind of way - it often left me with more questions than answers. A lot of the time may brain struggled to make sense of what it was seeing. For example, the urban landscapes are littered with cubes and organic, tentacle-like structures, and I had zero idea what they were actually supposed to be.
The various power struggles/structures remained a mystery as well. While all the double- and triple-crossing proved entertaining, Bishop's relation to the Twelve - and their contribution to this new, terrible America - is a big question mark for me.
December 5, 2025
I'm a sucker for things like this. Never heard about it, until my gf bought me this upon randomly stumbling on it in a small book place in France. I saw the art, and knew I would love this.
This is both otherworldly preposterous and cliche at the same time. I don't really know how to describe it, but I'll try.
The artwork is detailed, grim, viscous and beautifully disgusting at moments. The world is set in nightmarish organic dystopian future America. There is a boy with powers, and there's your retro-noir broken detective against-the-world type of character who is also a narrator. That's what's cliche - the story and it's themes - the detective who's broken and doesn't know his place in the world, the boy with the powers so strong nobody understands them, the world with a trick on the next page just to put our character in bigger disposition and everything revolves around him saving the boy and finding his purpose. And of, course, who could forget the larger than life impact of Church in our futuristic world. The humans just cannot escape the urge to control the world through God, can they?
But I like that, keep the story cliche and simple.
However, the art. It's like the last 10 minutes of Akira, but on every page. The immaculate, not explained and overwhelmingly disgusting, but beautiful world just keeps giving more and more.
I don't know who you are, people who made this, but by all means, just keep making your deranged stuff.
This is both otherworldly preposterous and cliche at the same time. I don't really know how to describe it, but I'll try.
The artwork is detailed, grim, viscous and beautifully disgusting at moments. The world is set in nightmarish organic dystopian future America. There is a boy with powers, and there's your retro-noir broken detective against-the-world type of character who is also a narrator. That's what's cliche - the story and it's themes - the detective who's broken and doesn't know his place in the world, the boy with the powers so strong nobody understands them, the world with a trick on the next page just to put our character in bigger disposition and everything revolves around him saving the boy and finding his purpose. And of, course, who could forget the larger than life impact of Church in our futuristic world. The humans just cannot escape the urge to control the world through God, can they?
But I like that, keep the story cliche and simple.
However, the art. It's like the last 10 minutes of Akira, but on every page. The immaculate, not explained and overwhelmingly disgusting, but beautiful world just keeps giving more and more.
I don't know who you are, people who made this, but by all means, just keep making your deranged stuff.
June 10, 2025
Blade Runner with an acid tab of Moebius.
Ian Bertram solidifies himself as one of my favourite modern artists. This was 300 pages of some of the most incredible sci-fi stuff I've ever seen. Even Moebius himself would be jealous of a few of these pages.
Darcy Van Poelgeest spins a pretty interesting yarn in a dense sci-fi post-apocalyptic-ish future. Mod-tracker Max Weaver finds himself going all over the country and his psyche looking for a young boy with incredible powers. It's interesting here he's bringing to mind Blade Runner's Rick Deckard but in the following story (Little Bird) I thought he was basically Lando Calrissian.
I thought the story was a bit too hard to follow at times. Things happen and it just seems completely random. I actually read this, read Little Bird (for the first time since it came out), then read this again. I don't think reading Little Bird is essential, but it is an easier introduction to the world.
I'm sorry to keep comparing this to other works, but it brought to mind Peeter's Aama with the daughter story and wild sci-fi artwork.
Ian Bertram solidifies himself as one of my favourite modern artists. This was 300 pages of some of the most incredible sci-fi stuff I've ever seen. Even Moebius himself would be jealous of a few of these pages.
Darcy Van Poelgeest spins a pretty interesting yarn in a dense sci-fi post-apocalyptic-ish future. Mod-tracker Max Weaver finds himself going all over the country and his psyche looking for a young boy with incredible powers. It's interesting here he's bringing to mind Blade Runner's Rick Deckard but in the following story (Little Bird) I thought he was basically Lando Calrissian.
I thought the story was a bit too hard to follow at times. Things happen and it just seems completely random. I actually read this, read Little Bird (for the first time since it came out), then read this again. I don't think reading Little Bird is essential, but it is an easier introduction to the world.
I'm sorry to keep comparing this to other works, but it brought to mind Peeter's Aama with the daughter story and wild sci-fi artwork.
July 28, 2025
Un envoltorio precioso para una historia a medio cocinar. Vamos, que me encanta el dibujo y no entiendo un pijo de lo que me quieren contar, básicamente porque pasan de explicar el mundo, lo que suele llamarse el «lore», pero vamos, pasan del todo, y también porque meten analepsis cada vez que les da la puñetera gana sin avisar. Como al prota le falta un ojo casi desde el principio, te das cuenta por eso. En fin... lo dicho, bonito y punto.
August 22, 2025
One of those books that you read over and over and find new details every time. This book demands your attention to detail as it fleshes out the world created in “Little Bird”. The writing and artwork in this book are so good that it makes everything else hard to read at the moment. I can’t get this out of my head.
This and Little Bird are like puzzles and the pieces are all there for you in the books.
Amazed
This and Little Bird are like puzzles and the pieces are all there for you in the books.
Amazed
June 16, 2025
Grotesque but distinctly gorgeous art, with plotting that’s imaginative and original and labyrinthine enough to slightly stupefy at times. I hope this team pairs up for yet another story in this setting before too long.
August 15, 2025
While maybe not as impactful as Little Bird, this one still delivers! Perhaps an acquired taste, I love Bertrams visuals and they perfectly compliment the dystopia. I only wish the story was allowed to breathe a little more as the story feels rushed.
November 25, 2025
3 stars solely for how pretty this is. Amazing character design and world building. But the story telling was too murky. Character motivation, context, or just a general understanding of what was happening eluded me. Pretty though.
November 14, 2024
Beautiful. I want to re-read it in sequence with LITTLE BIRD for a more fleshed out review.
November 21, 2024
Leagues better than Little Bird, and the best art of any book I read this year.
June 14, 2025
Art is great, can’t say I fully understood every connection with precious bird. You don’t need to though.
July 6, 2025
Great prequel to the stellar Little Bird. This one is more of a crime noir with fantastic art.
July 24, 2025
The art was fantastic, the story was intellectually pretentious and pseudo-profound.
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August 9, 2025looked pretty cool but I don't know how well I really followed the story...
September 1, 2025
Lightning strikes again
December 2, 2025
Art and design are still great but the story this time is less interesting and more confusing than Little Bird.
December 12, 2025
2.5 rounded up. Amazing, beautiful art and interesting to be back in the world of Little Bird, but I kind of didn't get it haha.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews