The Woods Graphic Novel Review

The Woods (by James Tynion IV, Michael Dialynas, and Josan Gonzalez) is a graphic novel about a high school, with both students and faculty, being transported to another planet. In their time there, they need to work together to survive. The only clue that they are given is a rock pointing in a direction.  Six students decide to go into the woods to see how they can get home, hoping that the rock will lead them to the direction of the being/s who brought them there.

The first volume looks into the students and faculty trying to survive in an unknown world with limited supplies while you have your group of students going into the woods for information. The second volume looks not only into the past of our students, but what is happening to them in the present as they try to survive the woods. In addition, you discover there are other people living there as well.

I gave volume one four out of five stars on Goodreads. However, if I was honest with the rating, I would give it a 3.5 stars out of five. I must admit that the story line was good and fascinating, and I did enjoy the parallel story line between the students in the woods and those at the school. I also enjoyed the color scheme. They picked dark reds and purples, and it fit in with the story and the tone very well. In addition I did enjoy the flow, however, it is a bit choppy in the beginning, like the first few pages. After those first few pages, everything starts to make sense. However, I do wish that the authors added a few more details in both the story and the art. When I finished the first volume, I felt like the characters were not personal or relatable due to the lack of content about who are characters are, and why they would go make such choices when transported to the unknown. I also wished for more details in the artwork. Don’t get me wrong, the artwork is beautiful. However, there are several pages where I wished the artist took the time in each still. There was a still in which some of our characters were in a Mayan temple with writing all over the wall, but the wide view showed a plain wall.  In addition, this is an unknown world. Let us make it magical.

The second volume looks into our six students survival into the woods. We not only get to see how they survived, but we also get to see a bit of their past and get to learn who they are, and the choices they made and why.

I gave the second volume four out of five stars on Goodreads, but if I was honest I might have given it 4.5 stars. I will admit that the story line is much better. We do get to see the details of our character’s past and get to understand the fear of the woods from both our main characters as well as the travelers. We also get a better development of the setting, and the dangers that are out there. I still love the color scheme of the story and enjoy the different tones between the past and present, and how the color scheme adds to the story. However, I did not enjoy that the authors dropped the school storyline. I would love to know what was happening to our school and the gym teacher. I am hoping that the third volume would provide that story line.

In the end, I would recommend series to everyone, especially if you are into science fiction. It does take a while to get into the plot, but it is a fascinating storyline that everyone would enjoy experiencing.

I do hope that you’re enjoying your summer. Happy reading!