Biff Bam Pop’s annual 31 Days of Horror celebration may have quickly come and gone (almost as fast as our children’s Halloween loot bag Kit Kat and Coffee Crisp chocolate bars) but that immediately puts us in this website’s upcoming end of year holiday gift guide spotlight.
Still, there’s a good thirty days between All Hallows Eve and the month of December. And that time is best suited for you and your comic book reading pleasure– even if it means generating the casual holiday gift ideas for friends and family.
A decade ago, writer James Tynion IV was looking to branch out from his superhero comic book storytelling work at a major publisher. He was asked to pitch ideas to Boom! Studios, an artist-friendly publisher who was wanting to make further inroads with creator-owned series. The series that developed would go on to win awards and make Tynion a well-known, trusted and hot commodity in the horror comic book world.
This year, Boom! Studios has been celebrating their relationships with Tynion and the various artists that have partnered with him and the fruits of their labours, showcasing seminal works of the past decade in handsome deluxe edition formats. Today sees the release of the comic series that started it all with The Woods.
The Woods was a thirty-six issue monthly series from writer James Tynion IV (Something Is Killing The Children, Nice House On The Lake, Justice League Dark, Batman, The Department of Truth) and artist Michael Dialynas (Amala’s Blade, Trinkets: An Attic Full Of Stories, Swan Songs: Fleeting Feathers). It was Tynion’s first long-form series and the first pitch of his to Boom! Studios, who wrapped their arms around the tale from the very beginning, publishing the sci-fi, horror, coming-of-age tale from 2014 through 2017.
The Woods tells the story of Bay Point Prepatory High School of suburban Milwaukee that vanished without a trace – only to reappear on a forest-covered moon, somewhere in an unchartered part of the universe.
There, under the amazement of strange skies and in the thrall of horrible and inconceivable threats, 437 students, 52 teachers and 24 staff try to unite by building a new civilization and new allies – all while trying to unravel the mystery of their upending and find their way home again. Still, a doom is coming and time is running out for the Bay Point Community!
Recalling Lord of the Flies, Predator and the coming-of-age John Hughes films of the 1980s, The Woods is a modern tale the tickles the fancy of any fan of science fiction, horror, politics or human relationships. The series earned the 2016 Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) for “Best Graphic Novel for Young Adults” and the 2017 GLAAD Media Award for “Outstanding Comic Book”.
The Woods Deluxe Edition H/C is a compelling 896-page tome that collects the entire series. Make the run to your better comic book shop or bookstore today and pick it up!
You can catch a wonderful interview with James Tynion IV and his decade-long relationship with Boom! Studios along with inspirations and remembrances of The Woods and its importance to him as a writer, directly below.
