In my opinion, this is a rough start to the thoroughly excellent Cwej: The Series. A Bright White Crack is a story that has to do everything -- introduce Cwej, introduce the Superiors as Cwej's status quo, introduce the series' vocabulary, introduce the whole Quantum Leap thing that the series is doing, introduce Larles and Kwol, two important characters that the book needs thoroughly established to move forward, and to tell a complete story in of itself. It's a sort of impossible pitch to do in 44 pages, especially when quite a lot of it is based around the Quantum-Leap-y idea being shown to us first-hand in an alternative Washington DC. Couple in a cameo from Lady Aesc and the story is almost impossibly busy. Luckily, the story makes up for it's dodgy pacing and difficult task by being incredibly charming, and the fact that it's brisk and you're quickly moving onto the excellent stories that follow means that it's flaws are remarkably diminished compared to blunders you may find elsewhere. This is still Cwej and I'd still be surprised if you didn't enjoy it.