The Comic You Need to Read This Week: "The Evil Tree" #1

Horror comics are hard to pull off. Sure, there’s never been any shortage of horror books, at least since the independent press came along in the ’70s. But a lot of them just aren’t scary.

“The Evil Tree”, though, works because it’s more about getting invested in the stakes. Erik Hendrix invests a lot of time in making these characters distinct and grounded: these are all people you believe are friends through work, pitching in to help out, making fun of each other, in close relationships.

The art, by Daniel Thollin, takes some getting used to. He uses a thick line and often his art evokes woodcuts without explicitly referencing them. It starts to make sense as an artistic choice once the story gets into motion, however, and by the final splash panel, it all clicks into place.

In short, it’s a great horror book, so far, and worth checking out.

Also worth checking out: the cleverly structured “Mars Attacks!” #1, from BOOM!, which actually gives a silly trading card series a surprising amount of depth.

How about you? What’s the comic you think everyone should be reading this week?

image courtesy Arcana

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