Advance Review – Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees #2 (IDW Publishing)

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Patrick Horvath
Lettering: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Release Date: 6th December 2023

After a first issue I called “a beautifully disturbing concept executed to absolute perfection” in my review last month, Patrick Horvath’s cutesy animal serial killer drama (yeah, you heard me) returns next week as the shocking events in Woodbrook continue to unfold.

Last time out, we discovered that local hardware store owner Samantha Strong was actually a serial killer, hiding in plain sight while making periodic trips into the big city to satisfy her dark urges. However, we also found out that there appears to be a second psychopath in the sleepy town, and this one has much more of a flair for the dramatic. In this latest issue, we see Samantha trying to track down her “competition” before the community’s attempts to catch the newcomer ends up with her in the crosshairs instead.

Horvath does a great job here of letting us get to know a few more of Woodbrook’s inhabitants, including the irritating, belligerent Cherry “fucking” Gherkins, who has her own ideas about the identity of the killer and doesn’t care who she hurts in the process of accusing them. Gherkins is a remarkable dislikeable character from the first moment she appears on the page, and provides the main narrative thrust of his issue as her actions draw attention from both Samantha and the mysterious new killer.

One thing I absolutely love about this series is that, much like Dan Abnett and INJ Culbard’s Wild’s End over at BOOM! Studios, the anthropomorphic nature of the characters is more of an aesthetic choice than a story-based one. There’s no reference to the fact that they’re all animals in the narrative, with that fact instead serving more to add a delicious juxtaposition between the adult subject matter and the child-friendly visuals.

Speaking of the visuals, Horvath does another fantastic job here, bringing the various characters to the paid with a softly-coloured smoothness that belies the unsettling heart of the story. Once again, Cherry Gherkins is a real highlight, and her interactions with the other inhabitants of Woodbrook provides able opportunity for Horvath to flex his artistic muscle with lots of anger and irritation on her permanently sweaty porcine face.

I absolutely love the small details in the visual presentation, like the panel borders gradually changing from black to white to denote the shift from day to night and back again. Oh, and as should be considered standard at this point, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou knocks it out of the park with the lettering, delivering the various tones and emotions of the dialogue with trademark flair.

I honestly can’t stress how much I’m enjoying this series. And while it’s only technically going to have two issues published in this calendar year, it’s already rocketing its way to the top of my “Best of 2023” list. Blending cutesy animals and twisted psychopaths into a weirdly compelling mixture, this series once again gets my highest possible recommendation.

Rating: 5/5.

[PREVIEW ARTWORK – CLICK TO ENLARGE]