War of the Woods Season 1
A Perfect Exception
The problem with making rules is then you have to worry about all the damned exceptions. I’ve been debating this particular exception for a while: War of the Woods.
Creator Matthew Petz digitally released his first issue through Comixology over three years ago (according to the Comixology site). You have digital series made by an independent creator whose first full issue is free and all the rest are at 99¢. Perfect cmx499 material right?
And yet I doubted for one simple reason; each issue of the book only contains 15 pages of which really 11 of those are devoted to full content. I actually weighed this for a while.
Too long. It should have been a no-brainer.
I know the guidelines will sometimes get warped. They can’t be set in stone. They didn’t even start as codified rules, just a way for me to maximize my investment in my comic book addiction. For this magazine they help to show a different view on comic books today.
Good quality work from an independent creator, released digitally at good prices far, far outweighs any specific set of rules. We’ll work hard to keep within the framework but sometimes exceptions are necessary.
And this is a good exception, the perfect one to be the first.
Aliens Have Landed...Again
Aliens have invaded Earth. It starts with flying saucers hovering in the sky. Then we hear the news reports on the radio. We see attacks on TV as the saucers reign fire and the aliens go after the expendable cameraman.
We’ve seen it before. A lot.
Only we haven’t here. War of the Woods takes place, well, in the woods. The story’s heroes are animals and the entire comic is about their fight.
Full disclosure here: I’m a sucker for these types of stories. I love them. I always have. I remember loving The Wind in the Willows (FREE!) and keep telling myself it’s time to re-read it. I read The Book of the Dun Cow (99¢) in college and twice since then. I’ve only read the first series but Mouse Guard and I are getting along well so far.
I love the premise of War of the Woods. Aliens invade Earth. As the saucers fly overhead we see two otters, young Phin and his father Nathaniel wonder what’s going on. From the moment they turn on the radio to the end of the final book in the series War of the Woods only relates these animals fighting to protect their home.
On a journey with their turtle friend and helmet Isaac, Phin and Nathaniel take off to meet with the others (there’s always some sort of committee lead by an owl so I know Petz was forced to use one here). From there we meet a legendary beast with a dark secret, learn more about these alien invaders and meet a group of warrior Canadian Fishers led by the rouge Mur d’eau.
What’s a Fisher? You’re reading this online. Head over to Google or Wikipedia (no, not linked, you lazy bum).
Petz keeps his artwork simple and uncluttered. We get to see every character in detail on almost every panel. I personally love the details on his legendary New Jersey monster and the Fishers. Using color and detail he creates the look and especially the feel of being in the woods at every moment. They’re always around us but not in our faces. You can understand the action in every moment (I only had to look hard on one panel) and I even nodded my head in a tacit “nice” during two of the fights.
More Please
Only one thing kept me from out and out loving this comic book. Through so much of it I felt it had the same problem I find in children’s books (and this is not meant to insult WOTW nor call it a children’s book). We are constantly presented with a situation that gets resolved two panels later. We need to see the beast, so we see him right away and he instantly tells us all. We meet a special messenger who’s crashed and needs to rest before making the rest of his journey to deliver his message, only that’s all right since within just a couple of pages that situation gets easily resolved.
I would have loved to see all six issues have 30 pages (the last issue in the series has over 30). That’s no slight on Petz or the length. I simply mean that I would have enjoyed seeing Phin and the others have a bit more time on their journey and that certain steps had been fleshed out more.
Even saying that, what I did get was truly enjoyable and something I will re-read and share with my entire family. It was a wonderful exception to whatever rule. And now I can download all of Season 2 without even waiting for a single issue. I’m getting my turtle helmet ready.
You can find all of Season 1 at Comixology. You can download the free first issue, buy the collected edition or purchase each separate episode after #1 at 99¢ (which saves you 4¢ over the collected edition; this always happens when the first issue is free; I don't know why they do that).
