The Woods #6
Boom Studios
Words: James Tynion IV
Pictures: Michael Dialynas

Pumpkin beers.  They’re all the rage right now.  Finding one that is a solid beer with authentic pumpkin flavors with a good balance of spices can be tricky.  Sometimes it’s all cinnamon and nutmeg; sometimes it’s nothing but pumpkin in your face; and sometimes it’s too much of the base beer and not enough of everything else.  But when you find that pumpkin beer that has a solid quality beer base, blended with just the right amount of pumpkin flavors, and accented with notes of spices, that is damn near magical, my friends.  The Woods #6 from James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas is to comics what Dogfishhead Pumpkin Ale is to pumpkin beer.

That’s a long way to go to say, man I like this book.  But, man, I like this book.  James Tynion IV has done a fantastic job of blending action, adventure, fantasy, character exploration, interpersonal drama, teen angst, and flat out cool story telling into one, awesomely balanced book.  Plus, I really dig how each issue has had time to focus on one characters back story, fleshing out who they are and giving us insight into why they are doing what they’re doing in the current timeline without dragging down the overall story.  This issue focuses on Calder, the troubled kid who always has ideas but no one seems to take too seriously.  Like all of the kids in The Woods, there’s more to Calder than meets the eye and Mr. Tynion IV does a masterful job of showing us what makes Calder tick.

Michael Dialynas continues to serve up heaping helpings of awesome, handling the fantastic and the mundane with equal ease and deftness.  The mouth trees (or whatever the heck those things are) are downright weird, the flying-dino-ostrich thing with the stocking cap is just plain cool, and Doctor Robot flat out rocks.  And our party of mysterious DnD types continue to look cool and mysterious.  Oh, and Wolf-Bear.  Awesome.

I’m digging this book a lot.

4.5 out of 5 Pints of Pumpkin Beer