Review by Frank Plowright

Over the opening pages James Tynion IV takes a tour of personality types easily located in every high school, naming them and underlining their characteristics. This school happens to be in Wisconsin, but not for long, as Tynion appears to take inspiration from Kazuo Omezz’s The Drifting Classroom and has the entire school building transported across the universe to a forested planet. Sonami Ota’s insistence that she won’t be going to summer camp this year seems to have been premature.

With an assertive personality already established, it’s no surprise that head of the student council Maria Ramirez adapts quickly, but also quick to react is smart outsider Adrian Roth, who determines the solution is somewhere in the woods from which feral flying creatures emerge. Both realise something intelligent and powerful has transported the school somewhere there’s no chance of being rescued, so pupils and staff need to adapt quickly.

Tynion’s given some thought to practicalities like there being no more running water, and the fact that certain mindsets are required in certain situations when talking and planning counts for nothing and instinct is all. Very rapidly the worst controlling aspects emerge in some.

Michael Dialynas designs an effective cast, ensuring they look very different, covering a broad base of ethnic origins and body types, and designs constricting environments, enclosed in the school, and open yet potentially fatal outside. That’s because of the well designed creatures, none of them comforting. The vegetation and surroundings could feel familiar without the colouring of Josan Gonzalez adding the final disturbing touch of the trees and plantlife in the woods being largely purple.

Effective cliffhanger endings to each of the four chapters ensure you’ll want to keep reading, and the final page ensures you’ll want to head straight to The Swarm. A lot of ground is covered in a story that keeps moving and keeps dropping new mysteries. The inspirations may be obvious, but Tynion forges his own path from them and this begins an enthralling journey.

If preferred, the paperbacks are combined three to an oversized hardcover Library Edition, or the complete story is available in one massive slipcased hardback.