Review by Frank Plowright
The Woods ends with The Way Home, although one of the Wisconsin teenagers abducted to another planet has already made their way back to Earth only to find people in authority unable to accept the truth have chosen to brush it under the carpet. Two characters have grown to become key over nine volumes, one assured of their destiny from the start, yet few would have predicted the journey taken by Karen Jacobs, as of The Final War commanding the largest force the planet has ever seen. Will it be enough?
Actually, that never becomes the question, as although action has featured, it’s always been secondary to personalities and mystery, and that remains the case as Tynion ends his story intelligently, if controversially. When it fires up, though, the action is terrifying and the enemy seems invincible. Of course, it’s because Michael Dialynas draws it that way. He doesn’t need to show much because there’s other stuff going on, but the couple of pages switching between areas of slaughter panel by panel are grim and relentless in explaining what’s at stake. Again, the colour choices of Josan Gonzalez really make a difference.
While the series has been about character development, it’s also been sustained by the idea that there’s a way home, and The Way Home has to cope with a hell of a lot of expectations on that score. It falls a little short. There’s a lot of last second melodrama, people put in situations where they almost fail, and while Tynion plans well for some of the main cast he falls short on others by providing an ending setting up a couple of things while not properly following through. Do you want the writer to lay everything out for you, or would you prefer to figure things out for yourself? In most cases there’s a reason you’re the consumer not the creator, so to finish nine volumes with about ten pages of story left to be told is unfulfilling and underwhelming. Getting there, though, is fine.
The third Yearbook Edition combines this volume with the next and the previous one, or alternatively the whole series is available collected as one bulky paperback just titled The Woods.
