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Warren Ellis' Trees Epic Returning in Sept-TIMBER [Review]

Published Thu, 12 Sep 2019 14:00:36 -0500

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The quiet and desolate Russian tundra is home to a town of sixty-four residents; Toska, dreary and isolated, has its calm atmosphere interrupted by a house fight between lovers. Sasha, clad only in his white underwear, barrels out of his home into the frigid temperatures only to be followed by the shouts of an angry Klara. Promising to never return to the woman, Sasha's screams into the night are immediately cut short when the trunk of an impossibly massive tree drops from the sky and crushes him into the earth.

Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan) returns to his Trees chronicle with Image Comics in his typical style; with intelligent writing and characters that are developed around the conflict, and not in spite of it. Pulling the plot eleven years into the present, he reintroduces Klara, who again is thrust into chaos as a town resident pounds on her door to let her know he has discovered a dead body. As she investigates the murder, Ellis introduces more questions than answers…failing to regard the looming presence of the trees at all, and instead develops more insight into the unique nature of Toska and its residents. Although Klara is assisted by a super intelligent investigative robot named Boris, she is also curbed in her case's progression by a stray goat falling asleep on the town's solar panel, thus hindering her internet access.

With Ellis' writing style succeeding in a dramatic first issue, the artwork and coloring of Jason Howard (The Astounding Wolf-Man) and Dee Cunniffe (Redneck) absolutely elevate Trees into an emotive work of art. The cool tones of the story are transformed into chaos with Cunniffe's use of oranges and reds, drawing focus to not only movement but allowing the colors to bring emotions into the panels as well.

With the panel layout pulling readers through the story quickly and the plot yielding more questions than answers, the October release cannot come fast enough. Already being adapted for a television show, this five-issue mini-series is worth the read and does well to expand on Ellis' previous Trees works without feeling redundant. Recommended for previous or new fans, Three Fates is looking to be tree-mendous

(I am so sorry for the tree puns, I will leaf now…)

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