Image credit: IDW
You can tell how much I was hooked on “Under the Tree That No One Has Ever Seen” by how quickly I finished it and jumped into the sequel. Like a hybrid of Richard Scarry and Dexter, the murder mystery story was an incredibly compelling page turner. That said, I didn’t see how it could actually spawn a sequel, despite having an open ending of sorts.
The story follows Samantha Strong, an anthropomorphic bear who is the owner of a small town hardware store (hence the Scarly aspect), who also happens to be a serial killer and follows very clear rules that allow her to continue operating undetected (and there’s Dexter). A quiet and orderly secret murder case is suddenly threatened with discovery when a second killer begins to make his presence felt more clearly in the quiet neighboring town of Woodbrook. Sam takes it upon himself to catch and eliminate this new mysterious killer before his own horrific crimes are revealed.
It was beautifully written and gorgeously illustrated, with a wonderful juxtaposition of fairy tale tone and truly graphic gory content. The story has come to a satisfying conclusion, but how will its sequel, Rite of Spring, begin?
Early in the first series, Sam takes to the streets to claim a random victim. She kidnapped some kind of (also anthropomorphic) duck, methodically dismembered him, carefully wrapped every part of his body, and buried him in the woods.
Eight years have passed and we are now in the 90’s. With the rise of the internet in the world, these animals live as mirrors of ourselves, and the duck’s sister tried to find any trace of the duck, but had no luck at all.
But with the spread of information and connections offered by the burgeoning internet, it seems that the understandably smitten Duck is trying to find his way to Woodbrook…
Despite the fact that we as readers were generally on Sam’s side throughout the first series, there’s no denying that she was responsible for some pretty awful things and definitely deserves to pay the price for her sins. Going back to Dexter, this wasn’t a vigilante dishing out gruesome justice to those who deserved it. Her actions were committed against kind-hearted and innocent people in order to satisfy her innate despicable bloodlust.
A new kind of story begins here, with the focus on whether or not Sam will be arrested, but this time we’re given all the details about how the young victim’s disappearance has affected those close to him, and it feels as if they want her to receive justice.
But I doubt it’s that simple. However, this first issue is a fiasco in establishing the setup, which promises to soak up the ride just like last time. Welcome back, under the tree where no one is looking. Let’s see where the Rite of Spring takes us.
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