With “Trees”, Warren Ellis and Jason Howard are making strides in using the realm of speculative fiction to create a mirror for our own world that is perhaps the clearest ever seen in comics. In this fourth issue we see how the world is progressing, even if it’s at the cost of the plot progressing.
Written by Warren Ellis
Illustrated by Jason HowardChenglei is starting to find himself in Shu, the Chinese city built under a Tree: but things are starting to find him, too. There’s a storm coming, and the pressure is starting to be felt all over the world.
“Trees” is an interesting book in that I find it almost indescribable. With a base pitch of “these giant, unknowable pillars landed on Earth about ten years ago”, the story so far seems to have focused on the people living in that world instead of on the titular pillars themselves. This isn’t the grand sci-fi book in which the pillars were the start of some LOST-esque journey of self-discovery for a scrappy band of heroes like it seemed it would be. Instead, Warren Ellis and Jason Howard are making what amounts to the comic book version of an indie film with an unlimited budget; a story in which trying to appeal to the masses through explosions and twists is a non-issue, focusing on the intricate lives and relationships of its characters through the connective tissue posed by the Trees.
In comic books, it often seems like the industry is always just behind the curve. Nowadays, we’ve been seeing a push from the bigger companies in utilising their female characters as headliners. In 2014, you’d think that would be a given. But, unburdened by having to please the larger crowds of Marvel and DC, Warren Ellis has been able to inject a sense of realism into “Trees” through the use of realistic characters that represent a wider sense of culture than many comics you would see on the stands right now. Within the first ten pages of this issue is a conversation between two characters as to the fact that one is a transgendered woman. I mean, sure, does it get a little preachy? It does. But in order to use that character as a mouthpiece and the conversation of explaining her existence in the comic to the audience through the other character as a way of saying “Hey. I’m here. Get over it.” is better than her not addressing it all. It’s a small moment, but it’s in the forefront of a book built on small moments between characters to show that this world that “Trees” is showing us is a real world. It’s not some artificial reality where everyone is Straight and White and Pure like so many other comics are.
This is what makes Warren Ellis’ writing on “Trees” stand out despite the slow burn of a plot. His focus on character work in the setting is next to none. This issue focuses on two sets of characters in two parts of the world, with a third coming in for a last second cliffhanger. This allows Ellis to further the stories of the characters in this issue and to continue to build this world for the reader. That means, yes, this is going to be a long ride for anyone looking to follow this series and it seems to eschew the issue to issue set-up/pay-off tactic that a lot of other series employ. It’s becoming clearer and clearer that this series will likely become easier to read in trade for some, but worth following in single issues like watching a Richard Linklater film chapter by chapter.
As Ellis’ writing brings a sense of realism to the high concept of the series and to the world it is set in through realistic characters, Jason Howard brings it through his simple renderings of the settings. Howard’s very heavily cross-hatched style brings a flurry of measured intersecting lines that build this feeling of the world on the page. It brings the details to the forefront, a sharpened image of a city and its people or a scientific outpost in the middle of a frozen wasteland, and lets the rest slip into the background. This is keyed into Howard’s masterful use of negative space on the page. Throughout the issue, there are a number of pages on which at least one panel is drawn on the background without borders with the panels with borders layered on top of it. These background panels often bleed out at the edges into the white space of the gutters creating a snapshot of a scene created in hatched lines as the edges fade out into nothingness.
Continued belowOften comic book art is measured on how many things blowing up per panel an artist can muster, especially when talking about superheroes. The grander the better seems to be the winner. Here, things don’t blow up, true to the indie film feeling of Ellis’ writing. Therefore, Howard’s artwork becomes cinematography. The beauty of his art comes in the small moments and the poignancy of the framing. In a moment early in the issue there is a moment in which a character is left out of a conversation and as Howard keeps a sharp focus on the character from one panel to the next, the background blurs and shifts until the measured hatching Howard used to build the background unravels. It’s a poignant moment and gives a look into the character’s feeling and their place in the world without the use of dialogue. For a series like this, the artist has to be a storyteller in their own right and Jason Howard is one hell of a storyteller.
“Trees” is an interesting book. Warren Ellis seems to be, at every turn, subverting expectations, especially coming off of “Moon Knight”. This couldn’t be any more different if it tried and it’s kind of wonderful because of that. It focuses on Ellis’ ability to tell a story through focusing on the characters as people instead of pawns to drive a plot. The plot, as it were, then becomes a case of following each person and their lives as events unfold and Ellis pulls it off rather well. This also allows Jason Howard to show off his skills as a storyteller. In a comic book where the focus is on the every day lives of their characters, it’s hard for an artist not to be overlooked when they can’t draw the reader’s eye with an explosion or two or a double page spread of a superhero punch.
“Trees” is a definite slow burn of a series. It’s been four issues and I would not argue with someone if they were to say that nothing’s happened. This might be a series that will be much easier for some to read collected, but for this issue it proves that Ellis and Howard’s focus on character-driven story telling can still make for an entertaining issue.
Final Verdict: 7.8 – Recommended only for those with the iron clad patience to not complain about nothing happening. Everyone else should wait for the trade.
