Review: "The Woods (Vol. 1 & 2)" by James Tynion IV, Michael Dialynas and Josan Gonza

Having embarked on this mission to read as many graphic novels as I can get my hands on I found the first two of the series titled The Woods. Despite the fact that I am favorably inclined toward all novels in this genre, I have to say that The Woods was largely disappointing on every level.

First, I will forgive everything for story, story, story. The storyline just didn't capture me. It seems that every week on T.V. or in novels we experience what I'll call the "dislocation" effect. A disparate group of people find themselves reborn, removed, displaced, or captured, often in strange or weird environments. O.K. I get it. Whether it's "Lost" or "Under the Dome" or a host of others, this has now become an overworked, tired genre. People this tiresome format with the requisite number of stereotypes: the normal girl, the idiot jock boy, the black kid, the Asian girl, on and on. Still, someone will argue that I didn’t give it enough time to develop and find out the “what” of the story. It’s a comic book! If you can’t deliver by the time I’m through with Book Two, you failed.

That's the opening salvo against "The Woods". Now to the art/drawings in this mag. At the best they are rather primitive without any real depth or nuance. Panels tend to be flat. Rich colors saturate the pages, but that's the best I can say about it. Most ordinary comic books are drawn better. Creature/monsters are pretty derivative and look like a lot of other monsters I've seen done better elsewhere from dragons to furry, tiger like aggressors with multiple eyes. A secondary subplot involving gay guys who find their affections unrequited does little to add to the story. Overall, a general disappoint and I won't proceed to volume 3.