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The Woods: “The Swarm” (BOOM! Studios, 2015; #5-8)

It’s time to go back into The Woods!

  • This volume spends its time with the kids who have ventured out of the school.
  • James Tynion IV weaves together two timelines to delve into characters’ histories with one another and to show how their pasts affect the choices they make in the present.
  • In the present, they deal with natives of various stripes.
  • In the past, we see the same night a year ago from each character’s point of view.
  • That night establishes a sense of history and how characters’ relationships have changed.
  • Those changes are this book’s lifeblood: Tynion clearly knows where those relationships have been and are going.
  • Michael Dialynas and Josan Gonzalez’s art continues to excel at conveying emotion and reaction; and their designs for the woods dance between beautifully alien and terrifying.

I like this book.  A lot.  If it weren’t for Clearing the Backlog, I’d binge the whole thing.  You should give it a try.

Collected in

  • The Woods, Vol. 2: The Swarm (#5-8)

Credits

Writer: James Tynion IV | Artist: Michael Dialynas | Colorist: Josan Gonzalez | Letterer: Ed Dukeshire | Designer: Scott Newman | Associate Editor: Jasmine Amiri | Editor: Eric Harburn

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