With their ninth issue of “The Woods”, James Tyion IV and Michael Dialynas have expanded the world they have been creating to an unprecedented scale, while keeping compelling characters at the fore of their story. Check out our spoiler free review of the issue, which serves as the open to a new story arc, to find out why “The Woods” is a book you must be reading.
Written by James Tynion IV
Illustrated by Michael Dialynas
New story arc! Having barely escaped their confrontation with the swarm, the hunters have led Adrian, Karen, Calder and company. to their breathtaking home base. But just when they think they may have found answers to what brought them to this alien world, a horror from the teens’ past rears its ugly head…
“The Woods” was a series I was not expecting to like as much as I do. In fact, it wasn’t really a series I was expecting much of at all. It largely came off, at first, as some strange hybrid of “Morning Glories” and LOST, but I wanted to give it a shot based on James Tynion IV’s name on the cover; a writer who I’d followed on his Batman work with the New 52 and was curious to see how he’d fare in the realm of creator owned. What I didn’t expect to find, though, was one of the most outrageously charming comic books I’ve ever read that that not only transcended its influences to create something truly unique through stellar character writing of genuine and complex teenagers with fantastic, out of this world artwork, but that, no joke, got better and better with every issue. In short: I’ve become something of a fan.
As I mentioned above, this issue is the start of a new story arc for “The Woods”, but it is also a turning point for the series. So far, the story has been constructed as a series of mysteries or obstacles facing the group of characters, usually splitting them into smaller groups, that ties into a moment related to a character’s past from before they found themselves in The Woods. This issue is where all the weird and wonderful happenings in the series so far unfolds from a series of mysteries to a permanent and constructed world that the characters inhabit that looks to develop from this point on into something expansive and unique. What that is to say is that “The Woods” has graduated from being closely compared to LOST to existing almost in a realm of its own at this point, with alternate realities, fantasy and time travel all being rolled into one. Sure, it’s taken a while to get there not that it’s been a bad ride, but this is definitely the issue that showcases the potential of where this series could go the most.
A lot of that is down to the writing by James Tynion IV, who feels more comfortable as writer here than he ever did over at DC. Tynion’s writing stands out the most in two areas: in his construction and interaction of the teenagers in the story and in limitless mysteries each issue can contain. The first is why “The Woods” is so immediately enjoyable and engrossing, the second is what keeps you around for more. Now, there have been a fair share of weird school based comics, but what I think causes “The Woods” to stand out is in how genuine each character feels. Whether you’ve followed this series since its first issue or you’re coming to this issue as your first, you immediately get a sense of who everyone is and a slice of their personality.
But what’s really special is in how Tynion treats these kids as human beings as opposed to plot devices. This obviously helped by the last arc’s focus on exploring a different character in each issue, but Tynion makes sure to establish that no one is the “bad guy” for no reason, that each of these characters is coping with their situation in a different way and it’s the intercharacter relationships that sparks conflict, not some asshole still trying to be the school bully in another dimension.
Continued belowThis all adds up to a book that is fun and engrossing to read as it balances introducing a new, strange mystery each issue with the continuing drama of following a group of kids in a life or death situation on a strange, new world, but it truly would not be the same book without the art team of Michael Dialynas and Josan Gonzalez. Without the two of them, the feeling of otherworldliness created by The Woods these kids are stranded in simply would not have the same feeling. With the dense, unnatural geography of The Woods and details like a medieval English town circled by flying raptors or the ringed planet hanging in the sky, Dialynas goes all out in reminding you on every page that this is not Earth.
What that makes for is a setting that is unique in it’s feeling and aesthetic as Dialynas brings in more strangeness with every issue. This is backed up by the colour palette of Josan Gonzalez, who seems to have kicked every “normal” colour scheme out the door to compliment the otherworldly feeling of Dialynas’ art by focusing on purples and oranges and other secondary colours to give the world just a slightly off feeling like the orange sky or the purple and cyan shaded trees.
“The Woods” continues to be one of the most inventive, enjoyable and engrossing series being published right now. With this issue, the beginning of the next story arc means anyone can jump in from this point and you would be seriously missing out if you don’t. James Tynion IV writes a cast of teenagers that feel more believably real than I think in other comic book I’ve ever read. It’s all in the little details, too, in how Tynion shucks the notion that there must be a designated gay kid to be sad about or a bully to be angry at or a nerd to laugh at. Each of these kids shows signs of all three of these and more as they’re not defined by one notion of their personality, but by how they face each new challenge “The Woods” presents them with. But all that great writing would mean squat without Michael Dialynas and Josan Gonzalez to bring it all home with their unique and inventive style that brings a truly otherworldly feeling to the setting. It could have been very easy to have this book feel like the comic equivalent of a student film, with a generic forest standing in for the background, but the attention to detail in Dialynas’ art elevates this book to a whole new level.
Seriously, you’re missing out on all the fun if you’re not reading “The Woods”.
Final Verdict: 8.9 – A great continuation of a great series and the perfect jumping on point for new readers. Don’t miss this.
