The Low, Low Woods (Hill House Comics)

pretty ptetty good wrote a paper on it or whateva

loved it! however, i wish it was longer and more fleshed out. the storyline was compelling and brought you into the world in a beautiful way, examining pain and trauma through magical realism. the art is fascinating, and the oscillation between perspectives of characters is done seamlessly. each detail is amazing, some requiring rereading to fully grasp the impact.

Content warning.

The story had a few high-impact moments, but despite the feminist themes and tone, the reliance on horror/fantasy tropes gave a sense of superficiality, and the pacing felt off. Art-wise, the illustrations often felt like drafts—scratchy dark ink blocked in with bold gradients—which made some of the action difficult to follow. I wanted to love this because I love Carmen, but it wasn't meant to be.

The Low, Low Woods is an atmospheric and surreal horror story (that has tons of body horror - if you're into that) set in the dying coal town of Shudder-To-Think, Pennsylvania. It's Carmen Maria Machado's first graphic novel that she has written. Elements of feminism and malice are combined to create a creepy story about regaining one's agency, as two young women named El and Vee realize something is terribly wrong in their town. Years ago a fire moved underground into the coal mines, forcing their closures and gutting an already fragile economy. In addition, women began to exhibit strange episodes in which they were losing large portions of their memory. When this seems to happen to El and Vee on an evening at the movies, they obviously want to figure out what happened. Readers then discover there is already a layer of magic, as a strange deer/human hybrid is sighted, skinned men are hiding in the woods, and there are rabbits everywhere with human eyes. And there's also healing/magical mushrooms? In addition to El and Vee, who are attempting to solve the mystery at the center of the story there is a witch who is trying to combat the cruelty of the men in the region, as previous sexual assaults are implied in the story but not seen, but her spells don’t always work the way she intended. The remainder of the story is about the young women trying to give agency back to the women affected by the dark magic. The story is a bit heavy on dropping exposition at times and doesn't always let the images by Dani do the work of plot progression. I think Machado did a great job with her characterization but the overall story was a bit clunky. Reread: 2022 - for IndyPL's graphic novel book club. Really enjoyed revisiting the story and the art by Dani. This graphic novel is part of the "elevated" horror trend - that is, it is horror with a message.

This is a different type of horror story. The kind that is truly terrifying to a woman. Do you choose to know, or to forget?

The Low, Low Woods definitely holds up when thinking about Carmen Maria Machado’s writing. This was a sinister graphic novel which pulled in the dread from the very start. This isn’t your typical horror comic, this is a horror comic that leaves you with emotional whiplash and burrows it’s way under your skin. I was not expecting it get get so very real. I can’t give to much away without spoiling the story, but the comic follows El & Octavia as they deal with loss of memory, a town that’s slowly burning and are on a journey to find out about the truths and horror that’s taken place for years in Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania. The art style of this comic really added to the horror of the writing. I think sometimes it’s hard to enjoy a graphic novel when the art isn’t something you particularly enjoy, but this was definitely right up my alley and the ability of being able to express horrifying circumstances through art is something I really admire. Representation; queer black main character, queer plus size latinx main character, queer side characters, poc side characters Trigger warnings violence, death, sexual assault, transphobia, hate crime, animal injury