It’s easy to say that Patrick Horvath’s Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees was a surprise hit for IDW when it released over six issues from 2023 to 2024. And it certainly went way beyond what anyone expected, becoming a best-selling trade paperback only second to Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man. But it was clear from the iconic first cover for the series that Horvath had hit on the perfect intersection of cute and horrifying, thanks to the image of the book’s main character, a serial killer bear named Samantha Strong, dragging a bloody bag through a fairy-tale woods with a smear of viscera behind her. Thankfully Horvath paid off on that promise inside the twisty, tense, and gorgeously rendered six issues of the initial series. But was it a surprise? Not to anyone immediately obsessed thanks to that initial image.
The trick, then, is if Horvath can do it twice. And while it’s still early going, Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite Of Spring #1 builds on the spiraling tension of that first series, and then some.
Mild spoilers past this point, though nothing that will be a surprise to anyone who picked up the IDW Dark Free Comic Book Day Special that hit stores last week. In the new series, we start not with Sam, or Woodbrook, the town where she lives and works, cleverly hiding her more vicious tendencies. Instead, we start with Monica Brewer, the sister of Daniel Brewer, the duck Sam horrifically vivisected in the opening issue of the first series. Rite of Spring takes place eight years after this event, and Monica has not let it go, living in the city where Daniel disappeared, and spending her days obsessed with getting justice — or perhaps revenge — for whoever took him from her.
What Horvath smartly does here is spend time with Monica, so we get to see she’s as obsessive and analytical in her tendencies as Sam is in hers. Granted, hers are technically about justice versus chopping her fellow animals into tiny bits. But Monica is a foil for Sam who is less Sherlock Holmes than on the edge of becoming another Moriarty.
And while we, of course, want justice to be served, there’s also the tension of Monica drawing closer and closer to Sam, who we hate and are horrified by, but love anyway. I won’t get too deep into our society’s obsession with serial killers, but despite the frequent comparisons, Sam isn’t Dexter. She’s not going out and getting justice to feed her Dark Passenger. Sam has an irresistible urge to kill, but her main driving force is self-preservation. She chooses victims who won’t be missed, who are easy to take out. It’s the thrill of the murder, not the thrill of the hunt for her, or any sense of trying to do the right thing. Monica isn’t the diametric opposite of Sam; she’s on a razor’s edge from becoming Sam.
Throughout the first issue, Horvath builds tension expertly, eking it out through judicious splashes of violence, and the slow simmer as Monica draws closer to catching Sam. There are plenty of twists and turns in this first issue, including a fantastic final series of pages that will leave you dying for more.
And not enough can be said about Horvath’s draftsmanship. His characters are clean and precise, the layouts pristine, and the characters clear and expressive.
Did Beneath the Trees need a sequel? Not really. But Rite of Spring is, thus far, a worthy successor to the original that expands on the story and ratchets up the danger immensely. Only this time, its massive success won’t be a surprise.
Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring #1 hits stores on July 9, 2025 from IDW.
Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite Of Spring #1 Rating:
Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite Of Spring #1 Official Synopsis:
Patrick Horvath’s Eisner-nominated cozy horror hit is back! Samantha Strong, the serial killer brown bear living in the idealistic suburb of Woodbrook, got away with her crimes in the first tale. But now it’s eight years later, and Samantha will quickly learn that there are no secrets in the age of the internet… and some of her victims’ loved ones want justice. Plus, her sinister origin is revealed as the story explores what happened after her very first kill…
Comic Book Club Live Info:
Discover more from Comic Book Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.