Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees #2 Advance Review: It’s A Scarry World Out There

It’s adorable serial killer versus adorable serial killer in Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees #2 from IDW, written and drawn by Patrick Horvath.

We reviewed the book on the Stack podcast. But in the interest of highlighting more about the title, here’s a summary of the conversation with our thoughts. And if you prefer the longer audio version, that’s below as well!

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Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees #2 Review:

The first issue of this series introduced us to a Richard Scarry-esque village of animals living a peaceful life until a horrific murder broke up their idyllic existence. The bigger problem? One of the cutie-pies is already a secret serial killer, and more murders are going to bring unwanted attention. In issue two, our hero (?) gets her Dexter on.

Host Alex Zalben called the book, “absolutely phenomenal,” and Justin Tyler added, “It’s so good. This is my favorite read… I want this every day… The art is beautiful, it’s scary, it’s just one of the best comics I’ve read [recently].”

Pete LePage made it the hat trick saying, “the darkness in the twisted story,” mixed with cute animals “adds such a crazy layer beneath all this.”

Zalben continued, “I love so much of the characterization and tension in this issue. In particular, without spoiling anything, there’s a new character that comes in, and amps up the tensions considerably. It leans into horror movie tropes, but filtering it through these adorable and sometimes super gross animal characters changes it, and twists it… Puts it through this dark mirror in a very specific way.”

He added that that while the art is gorgeous, the violence is also “extremely graphic” and “doesn’t shy away from it, I think that’s part of what makes it work.” He also compared the book to Tony Fleecs’ Stray Dogs, which mixed Don Bluth movies with a serial killer; here, it’s The Busy World of Richard Scarry… But scary. “The focus is different, but it has the same level of extreme horror intention throughout. So if you’re a fan of that book, pick this up as well.”

Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees #2 hits comic book stores on December 6, 2023, from IDW.

Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees #2 Official Synopsis:

Horrified to learn that she’s not the only serial killer in Woodbrook-and insulted, frankly, by the rookie’s flare for the dramatic-Samantha hits the pavement to silence the competition before they ruin her quiet, perfectly curated life. But the insufferable latte-chugging local busybody Cherry Gherkins is poisoning the town with her own theories about the murder, and things are about to get messy. Grab a cup of cocoa and curl up with the second chapter of Patrick Horvath’s twisted tale of a cozy animal community in crisis!