A decent story with some promise, though my enjoyment was tempered by the juvenile execution. The six POVs felt like too much, especially after they all meet up half way through. Most everything else felt like trope after trope and not in a fun way.
Sora was the best character, honestly. She had a very interesting back story and motivations, and I think this story could have massively benefited from maybe being her own.
Not mad I read this, but not impressed either. At least the book is pretty.
The main title always feels a bit fractured, following various storylines that don’t seem to have any real connection to each other - I assume this is all for some big payoff down the road, but for now it just makes me feel like Hickman is incredibly pretentious and is ruining the X-Men.
Two islands: Noto’s art is always lovely and this is intriguing despite the heavy handed “you are soft and we are strong and only know war” etc etc. Boring.
Shi’ar: Horrible art. What was the point of this issue?
The Vault: Hickman at his most pretentious, but I genuinely loved the emotional story arc that Synch got here. Do I have any better idea of what the Vault actually is after this? LOL no.
Nimrod: Xavier has alway been an ass but HOLY SHIT THIS IS FUCKED UUUUUPPPPPPPPP.
A halfway decent volume that tries to create some Krakoa mysteries and thrills and tries its damndest to make me like Quentin Quire (spoiler alert: still hate him).
I still hate where they’ve taken Beast, this whole era better make all this character assassination worth it.
1 extra star just for having Black Tom on the team. I’m a simple gal, I love my Cassidy clan.
A confusing mess that I think was supposed meditate on themes of personhood and capitalism and identity, but honestly I did not care one bit about anyone and it all read a little bit on the silly side.
Oh boy. So I know I can always count on Ilona Andrews to give me some top tier world building and that is not in question here. Magic and Innkeepers? Making all the paranormal creatures like vampires and werewolves actually be aliens? Love it.
The character work is where it falters. Dina is fine, if a little lackluster. Sean and Arland, however, are the worst of what Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance as a genre have to offer - big strong alpha men (Sean is literally a special type of Alpha Werewolf, bred to be the biggest and strongest!!) who don't really seem to take Dina at her word when she says NO. Character decisions and backstory are clumsily explained.
Am I still going to continue on? Hell yeah. Everyone is an alien! The Inn is somewhat sentient and Dina is magically connected to it! This world building is fun!
If you're looking for a delightfully fucked up little story to read, Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees has it all!
Set in a world full of anthropomorphized animals, it gives off Berenstain Bears or Richard Scarry vibes, especially with the setting of a very close knit small town. Samantha is the local hardware store owner, beloved by the town and has many friends. She just so happens to need to go to the nearby Big City every few months to kidnap a random person, take their body into the woods, and murder and dismember them. Just to quiet her brain, of course. When a local man is murdered and his body found in a gruesome fashion, Samantha realizes there's another serial killer in town and she needs to stop them before the cops accidentally stumble upon her.
The juxtaposition of the animal characters, the warmth of the small town and the soft color of the artwork vs the unhinged gore of the murders taking place is what really works here and elevated it from Yet Another Serial Killer Story to something special for me. The growing dread of the town's inhabitants as more bodies pile up, the focus on some of the townsfolk as more bodies drop, exploring Samantha's relationships with others - it all makes for a great good time.
I would say the only negative for me here is how things are wrapped up in the end. The discovery and climax seem to happen in one single issue and it blows by so fast that it was almost unsatisfying.
Still, I had a good time with this comic - at least, as much of a good time as one can have when see-sawing between cozy smalltown vibes and gory murder. Very much recommend this if it's up your alley.
Content warning: I'm not kidding about the gore. There's some gruesome shit in here, but it works so well in contrast to the overall artwork choice.