TREES #1 Review

What are the Trees and how have they changed the Earth? Read on to find out.

The official description from Image:

Ten years after they landed. All over the world. And they did nothing, standing on the surface of the Earth like trees, exerting their silent pressure on the world, as if there were no-one here and nothing under foot. Ten years since we learned that there is intelligent life in the universe, but that they did not recognize us as intelligent or alive. Beginning a new science fiction graphic novel by WARREN ELLIS and JASON HOWARD.

Trees is a unique yet interesting sci-fi series that has you questioning the Trees themselves and how they have changed the world. The way that this series shows the erratic behaviour of humans and how they overreact really appealed to me, showing how relatively inanimate object can cause so much panic all because it came from space.

Warren Ellis is a writer who’s work I’ve really enjoyed over the years, as though not everything he’s written has been to my personal taste most has. This series however has me on the fence as though I really enjoyed this opening issue the mass of questions it left me with made me wonder just what to make of this concept. For the most part Ellis does a tremendous job of explaining how these Trees landed and what affect they had on the Earth, with some brilliant narration and intriguing dialogue. Despite this the issue was a little inconsistently paced and though this helped at times the sudden switch from fast to normal pace was slightly awkward.

Jason Howard takes his normally smooth and sleek style and changes it slightly by making it a bit rougher and sketchier. This change works perfectly for this series as the texture and grittiness that it adds is amazing. The overall tone of Howard’s art along with the fabulous layouts also added to the depth of the issue. The emotion that he adds through the characters body language, positioning and facial expressions also help give energy as well as a sense of realism. Howard also gives us tremendous colours with the boldness of them giving a lot of impact and definition.

Trees gets off to a fantastic start as though there are many unanswered questions the premise itself is captivating enough to have me hooked. Highly recommended.