Loretta and her family are surrounded by deadly cultists and running out of time when Grandpa Judd arrives toting his ornery attitude and his trusty shotgun.
But what good is a gun against a mysterious ailment turning his granddaughter into a tree? Good questions, and Family Tree #2, from Image, is here to entertain answers.
Or just to entertain and ask more questions! Why you ask, do we need answers when our $4 entertainment budget is in the capable hands of writer Jeff Lemire, and his trusty artist companions Eric Gapstur, Phil Hester and Ryan Cody. (not sure who does what, it ain’t explained, see)
I really like this book. The flow is natural; the story just moves right along, through touching scenes of people in transformation into trees (seriously), assaults and gunfire, family quarrels. There is natural conflict here, inherent in the tale. Of course, we are being led along for the ride. In this case, it’s a kinetic kick to the pants half the time, and a few moments of standing around, aw-shucks, tryin’ like heck to comm’un’ikate and all that.
The drawing style is really interesting in Family Tree. Whoever draws and whoever colours, congrats to you all. The figures are well-drawn and constantly moving, the lighting is high contrast. The colouring, in contrast, is subdued. Mostly earth tones (two guesses why…) except for extreme pistol fire, etc.
It’s a rollicking tale of running and wreckin’, and I reckon you oughta catch hold of ‘er.
Image, Family Tree #2, $3.99 for 22 pages of content. Mature
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