Review: Trees Vol. 2- Two Forests

Quick Summary

Pros: The mystery behind the Trees is more interesting than before. The entire volume feels very tense and does a great job of creating drama.

Cons: The social commentary is not nearly as interesting here as it was in the previous book.

Overall: This volume improves on some aspects of this comic while faltering in other aspects. It is able to generate more tension than before and places an even more satisfying focus on the book’s central mystery. However, it accomplishes this as the loss of some meaningful social commentary. Because of this, this volume will really appeal to those intrigued by the mystery from the previous volume but will appeal less to those more interested in the social commentary.

Story

Trees Vol. 2, by Warren Ellis, continues many of the positive elements from its predecessor. It continues to explore the mysterious arrival of alien objects on Earth and does an even better job in building tension around their existence. This helps create a read saturated with anticipation. However, the social commentary is not nearly as interesting in this volume as it was previously, which is definitely a bit of a letdown. As long as readers are already with this tradeoff in focus, they will likely continue to enjoy this series. 

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From a very early point, the most significant positive in Trees Vol. 2 is clearly the cultivation of tension that occurs as the volume progresses. Within the first few pages, readers see the devastation caused by the Tree at the conclusion of the previous volume. As the story continues, readers realize that this same level of devastation could occur at any or all of the other Trees around the world. Knowing this made me feel genuinely nervous at some points during this read, as a few moments are simply oozing with tension. All of this then becomes increasingly more apparent as the book’s final page comes around, which essentially confirms that some sort of cataclysm is coming and is coming very soon.

The other major positive here is that this volume continues to slowly reveal the mystery behind the Trees. Speculation occurs which indicates that these Trees have been gathering data since arriving on Earth and that they then transmit this data in a way that is unintentionally devastating to the area around them. There are even indications that the Trees have some connection with the early days of civilization. Knowing these possibilities makes the mystery surrounding the Trees even more captivating and gives readers even more of a reason to continue reading this series.

The biggest problem with Trees Vol. 2 is that the interesting social commentary, from the previous volume, is almost not present here at all. The last book tackled several situations that explored themes regarding powerlessness, prejudice, war, and gender identity. This volume really only ends up addressing political corruption and even this one theme feels less meaningful than any of the themes from the previous collection. The political situation in New York is still interesting but focusing on it almost exclusively made this a less satisfying read overall.

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Art

The artwork in Trees Vol. 2 does a great job in accurately depicting and then enhancing the events of this story. Jason Howard’s work looks nice on nearly every page and suits the tone of this comic well. It is able to jump from depicting brutal scenes to tranquil scenes in a way that doesn’t feel jarring at all. However,  I found the best aspect of the book to be the way in which page and panel structures were utilized. Flashback panels are inserted in ways that essentially take the place of thought bubbles, important visual elements are juxtaposed against one another, and splash pages are utilized in a way that elicits shock or awe. In the end, the artwork in this book does what artwork should do in a comic book, make the story even more of a pleasure to experience.

Continuity

Trees Vol. 2 continues the story started in Trees Vol. 1 (Review).

The story here will continue in Trees Vol. 3. However, the series is currently on hiatus for an indeterminate amount of time.