Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath Review

Samantha Strong is a pillar of the community in her small town of Woodbrook.

She’s also a serial killer.

The reason why she’s been getting away with it for decades is because she doesn’t shit where she eats - she plucks her victims from the big city and butchers them out in the country, beneath the trees where nobody sees.

And then a new killer emerges - except they’re killing the Woodbrook townsfolk! Sam’s desperate to shut down this new killer, not because she cares for her neighbours but in case the local sheriff unearths her own crimes in the course of his investigation!

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees is a decent and original crime comic that’s drawn in a cutesy kid’s book style with animal-headed characters but with subversively adult and graphic content that’s decidedly not for the little ones. The story isn’t wholly satisfying and aspects of it annoyed me, but it’s not a bad book.

The characters all being animal-headed felt stupid to me. I get it - hoho, look how it’s initially presented as this wholesome family book and then gore gore gore, how unexpected! - but that rug-pull approach feels childish. If the book had been drawn with the characters as humans, it’d be better. Because all it allows is for Patrick Horvath to wave away the one truly interesting part of the story with a trite dismissal later on.

There’s also the Goofy/Pluto conundrum at work here. There are dogs here that are like real dogs in our world, as well as humanoid dogs that talk like the sheriff - why is that?? And presumably there are regular cows, pigs, et al. as the butcher’s shop is prominently featured as well. So how did some of these animals become human-like and others didn’t? Just seems lazy and contrived.

Where it feels like a cop-out is in explaining Sam’s urge to kill: cos she’s a bear and bears kill. That’s the most lazy and contrived aspect of the story. Of course bears are violent - nature, red in tooth and claw - but that doesn’t explain calculated murder that some humans do and which Sam is mimicking. That’s why it’d be better if these characters were human: Horvath would be challenged to explain why some humans behave like this and have to come up with a better reason than “because they’re bears - bears kill duh”.

But the story is interesting. I wanted to see what would happen next - whodunit and why?! - and the premise is well set-up and draws you in. Parts of the first half have obvious beats - you know who’s going to die because that character is being annoying and is featured prominently; you know that character isn’t the real killer because it’s too early in the story for the reveal to happen - but it was entertaining to see Sam investigate.

And Horvath develops his story well, upping the stakes in the second half once the real killer emerges and puts Sam on the back foot. The ending is wrapped up a bit too neatly and quickly for my liking and I’m not sure what setting the story in the 1980s added to things. And the trope of the news reporter narrating everything is a pet peeve of mine - I hate seeing this in comics, and that unimaginative style of presentation is trotted out here for the umpteenth time.

Horvath’s art is very skilful. The animals’ body language is expressive, some sequences are creatively presented - the hallucinatory scenes as Sam’s past catches up with her - and the colours fit the style; not overpowering but quietly complementing the comic.

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees has a compelling, unique story that kept me turning the pages even if certain parts turned me off. It’s fine - besides its presentation of the animal characters, it’s not doing anything especially standout for the genre, but it’s also definitely worth a look if you enjoy crime comics.