When Does "Bitter Root" (2018) Take Place?
"Bitter Root" is a horror comic-book written by David F. Walker with Chuck Brown that first released November 14th, 2018. So when is "Bitter Root" set?
It takes place in the years:
We know this because in issue #1 Belinda "Blink" Sangerye says, "Women can do anything. Bessie Coleman flies airplanes." The real-world aviator Elizabeth 'Bessie' Coleman died on April 30th, 1926 AD and the word "flies" is present tense so it is most likely during or before April of 1926 AD.
1924 AD - 1925 AD
We know this because in issue #1 Belinda "Blink" Sangerye says, "Women can do anything. Bessie Coleman flies airplanes." The real-world aviator Elizabeth 'Bessie' Coleman died on April 30th, 1926 AD and the word "flies" is present tense so it is most likely during or before April of 1926 AD.
More specifically, in comic #8 Cullen Sangerye jokes, "Maybe if we tell these fine folks that we're the Duke Ellington Orchestra and our tour bus broke down, they'll take pity on us." The real-world Jazz musician Duke Ellington only became the leader of his famous band in January or February of 1924 AD in the real world. While, during #5 a huge advertisement reading "SWEET LITTLE DEVIL" and "MUSIC BY GEORGE GERSHWIN" towers above what is presumably the Astor Theater (a round letter is visible next to the letters "THEAT"er) for "Sweet Little Devil" (1924), a musical that first performed there on January 21st, 1924 AD and moved to the Central Theater on February 25th, 1924 AD. So it must be February of 1924 AD at the beginning of the story.
Furthermore, issues #3 and #8 (2020), open with small time and place setting textboxes that read "Harlem. 1924..." and then "Harlem, New York. 1924..." in #1 and #6 "RAGE & REDEMPTION PART ONE" (2020).
(HOWEVER, Blink says in #9 "RAGE & REDEMPTION PART FOUR" (2020), "Two years ago, women couldn't vote. ... " Women in the United States of America first became able to vote after the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which passed in the real world in August of 1920 AD. So it should currently be 1922 AD. This could be seen as a production mistake or an indication that the American women in the fictional world (diegesis) of "Bitter Root" gained the right to vote later than in the real world, in 1922 AD.
1920 + 2 = 1922.)
Later, "Bitter Root" #10 "RAGE & REDEMPTION CONCLUSION" (2020) ends with a short epilogue in which Wiley says, "After all this time--nearly a year", referring to a phenomenon that began around issue #6, which takes place in February of 1924 AD. In #11 "LEGACY PART ONE" (2021), Ma Etta says, "We've been wrasslin' with this infection for more than six months.", referring to the same problem. Furthermore, there's new time and place setting textboxes: "Harlem. 1925..." and "Across the river from Harlem. 1925..." Reconciling this isn't impossible: 11 months is "more than six months" and "nearly a year" and puts this middle part of the story within January of 1925 AD.
2.1924 + 6 months = 8.1924
or
2.1924 + 1 = 2.1925.
Finally, #13 "LEGACY PART THREE" (2021) immediately tells us it's "November 1925". So it's probably November of 1925 AD at the end of the story though this doesn't seem to be confirmable by context.
Additionally, issue #7 "RAGE & REDEMPTION PART TWO" (2020) is mostly a two-part flashback that begins on page one panel one with a time and place setting textbox reading, "Boley, Oklahoma. 1919..." So it seems to be 1919 AD though there doesn't appear to be anyway to confirm this. After a few pages, the narrative moves on to a depiction of the aftermath of the famous and tragic Greenwood District Race Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma which happened in the real world on May 31st, 1921 AD into June 1st, 1921 AD. A new textbox labels it: "Tulsa, Oklahoma. 1921..." Issue #4 included the phrase, "I lost my family in Tulsa in '21. ... I lay buried in rubble" and in #7 in this flashback the same character is in the foreground amid the remains of a brick wall. So it is clearly June of 1921 AD during this sad and transformative moment for the character.
Issue #10 begins with a return to this flashback setting and a textbox telling us it is "Northern Oklahoma, between Osage Nation and Cherokee Nation. 1921. One week after the Bombing of Tulsa." So it is certainly still June of 1921 AD.
Portions of the story take place in another dimension called "Barzakh". ? says, "Time... It isn't the same there." in "Bitter Root" issue #12 "LEGACY PART TWO" (2021) and ..."Barzakh, or Diyu, or Purgatory or whatever you name you want"... in "Bitter Root" issue #11 "LEGACY PART ONE" (2021). So it seems to exist entirely outside of time as we understand it.
