I gave Trees an average review for the first issue. When I saw that #2 was coming, I wasn’t excited but honestly the other Bastards’ reviews of the comic made me think there was something that I missed in the series. The art was cool, the concept seems interesting, and there were lots of overlapping stories, so I thought I could give Trees another chance. As always, let’s start out with the positives. Trees offers a cool new take on the whole alien invasion thing. Instead of green humanoids coming down to Earth, trees have been planted. These trees are part of the intelligent life outside of Earth. What part they play is unclear. We now know of life outside of our Earth, but it seems these trees couldn’t care less about us. They haven’t done much which allows for Warren Ellis to do damn near anything he wants with these aliens. It has been a decade since these trees have landed and like any human, they are all worried. Again, I think Ellis has set up a perfect introduction to the plot because there really isn’t one. The trees have all the power. The plot can go anywhere with the drop of a hat. The characters, although trying their best to stay in control, have no real power either.
Jason Howard’s art for the series is spot on. The trees are enormous and powerful looking, but yet beautiful. The characters are all unique and with so many stories happening at once the bouncing around of lands makes for some cool art too. It is hard to grasp so many different landscapes and make them all look real, but Howard keeps it together in this twisting story.
With so many stories going on it is difficult to completely understand really anything. And that is where this comic takes a dive. I got about one thing from the plot. I half followed the Arctic Island story where this one dude is investigating black poppies. The other stories were hard to grasp and even the arctic one which was the easiest. I hate having to be so confused and incompetent during a comic. Not only are the aliens slow to invade, but the whole story is slow. All of the time is spent talking in each new place but nothing is really happening. So when the story isn’t clear and then the comic is paced so slow, I didn’t want to keep up with the plot.
I think some basic plot points needs to be faced soon. And I also think this comic would benefit from some sort of character chart or recap from last issue at the beginning. It sucks that I couldn’t stay longer on with this comic, but I don’t think I have the stamina or patience. Although the story has great potential, it needs some ironing. I don’t see myself jumping onto the series until I head otherwise.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Warren Ellis Artist: Jason Howard Publisher: Image Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 6/25/14 Format: Ongoing, Print/Digital