FAMILY TREE #1 is the first in a brand new series by Image Comics, out this Wednesday. The series blends fantasy, horror, and family drama all into one twisted form. This series is going to be perfect for those looking for something unusual.
***SPOILER WARNING***
Family Tree #1 launches a new series from the minds of Jeff Lemire, Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur, and Ryan Cody. This series merges together the mundane and the horrifying. The family dramas and the grotesque. And in doing so, it’s creating something entirely new along the way.
When the day first started, Loretta’s biggest concern was her dull job as a grocery store clerk. Or perhaps she was once again worried about her son, and what trouble he might be getting up to this time. She certainly wasn’t prepared for the new dangers that were about to pop up in her life.
That may sound like the beginning of any old tale, but Family Tree is different. It’s a true Cronenberg horror – the fear of losing control over what happens to our very own bodies. And that means Loretta is about to lose control over her life – and quite possibly her family.
Family Tree #1 was a subtle beginning to what is sure to be one of the more horrifying series on the shelves. But that’s just going to make it more painful in the long run. You see, now we have time to get to know the family. And possibly even start liking them. Now we’re invested in their welfare. And that means we’re going to care about what happens to them. And whether or not they turn into a tree, as pictured on the cover of this issue.
Jeff Lemire really knew how to weave a fascinating introduction into this world. It is full of the mundane drama, the family issues, the troubled teenager, the quiet daughter, the works. But it takes all of that and throws it off the deep end.
And there are plenty of little tidbits for readers to pick up on. Not to mention a new mystery introduced at the conclusion of this issue. All in all, this issue did an outstanding job of grabbing onto our attention and refusing to let go.
The artistic team behind Family Tree #1 knew what they were doing. They knew how to capture the mundane, this quiet and boring little town. But they also knew how to weave in the horror elements as needed. The steady growth of the unusual is not something that can be ignored, as we’ve been clearly shown here.
Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur, and Ryan Cody all played a hand in making this series what it is. The dramatic shading went a long way in foreshadowing the darker events down the road. Overall, the tone was finely balanced between something commonplace and something…more. It will be exciting to see how they push the horror elements in later issues.
Family Tree #1 proved to be an intense and unexpected introduction to a series that will likely prove to get even more interesting with time. The groundwork has been carefully laid out, and now it is time to see it all get torn apart.
