The Low, Low Woods
Ratings12
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings12
Average rating3.8
Shudder-To-Think, Pennsylvania, has been on fire for years. The coal mines beneath it are long since abandoned. The woods are full of rabbits with human eyes, a deer woman who stalks hungry girls, and swaths of skinless men. And the people in Shudder-to-Think? Well, they’re not doing so well either. When El and Octavia wake up in a movie theater with no memory of the last few hours of their lives, the two teenage dirtbags begin a surreal and terrifying journey to discover the truth about the strange town that they call home. Like so many women in Shudder-to-Think before them, all they have is a void where the truth once was. But as time passes, El finds herself needing to know more about what has happened, while Octavia wants nothing more than to forget the forgetting. Can these two teens reconcile their differences before the horrible things lurking beneath their town emerge and swallow them whole? Collects The Low, Low Woods #1-6.
Reviews with the most likes.
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.
Thanks to DC Comics and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC for review.
Carmen Maria Machado always has permission to completely devastate me. In proper CMM fashion that is exactly how I felt after finishing this comic.
The Low, Low Woods is a story about El and Vee who one day wake up in the movie theater without any recollection of what had happened. Searching for answers they find much more than they had bargained for while looking deeper into the history of Shudder-to-Think.
CMM excels at any medium that she touches. This was so much a story about women reclaiming their agency on their own terms. The monsters may not be the creepy beings in the woods but instead your next-door neighbor.
If you are looking for another read about teenage girls disrupting the patriarchy, this one is for you.
Perfectly illustrated, eerie and atmospheric, a story of friendship in the face of evil.
Gold standard weird fiction with some of the most effective storytelling I've seen in horror comics.
Series
3 primary booksHill House Comics is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2020 with contributions by Joe Hill, Carmen Maria Machado, and Laura Marks.
Series
5 primary booksThe Low, Low Woods is a 5-book series with 5 primary works first released in 2019 with contributions by Carmen Maria Machado and Joe Hill.
