The Low, Low Woods, written by Carmen Maria Machado and part of Joe Hill's Hill House Comics, is a horror story that deals with the theme of endemic sexual violence against women and the cost of remembering or forgetting. Set in the small, fictional Pennsylvania town of Shudder-to-Think (seemingly somewhat modeled off Centrali, except haunted). The story follows two high school seniors (best friends) who wake up in a movie theater with no memory of the movie and a feeling something bad has happened to them. One, El, wants to find out the truth, while the other, Octavia, isn't so keen on learning what actually happened to them. However, as we who read a lot know, secrets don't stay buried for long, and the rest of this story is filled with skinless dead dudes, hybrid animal things, witches, and magical waters.

Overall, I enjoyed the tale and will read more in the series. I don't love the art, but the story is compelling enough to keep me turning the pages. I'm already a fan of Machado, having read Her Body and other Parties, and she has a way of working with the weird that I really like. Plus she incorporates themes and characters that we need to see more in all kinds of literature. That said, this does feel like a but of a hodgepodge of horror tropes that don't always entirely play well together. It's one of those stories set in a town that's just weird (kind of like Sunnydale or Greendale) in ways that everyone, except one or two people, accepts for some reason. There's also some unevenness in the story telling, whether it's starting us in a place where we don't really understand why the one character is freaking out about falling asleep in a movie theater or a prolonged flashback that seems to go one a bit too long. Still., it gets a thumbs up from me!

I really didn't enjoy this as much as the other two Hill House collections currently on NetGalley (Basketful of Heads and The Dollhouse Family). Two female friends who live in a dying Pennsylvania coal town uncover a big secret that changes their lives. It's certainly artistic, but the story is just a bit too surreal for me (deer women, sinkholes opening up in people, burned men periodically coming up out of coal seams?). This just wasn't for me.

Holy shit. Holy shit. I just finished this graphic novel and, friends, I truly do not see myself as someone who gets legitimately rattled easily — books may make me emotional, but rarely do they get under my skin and stay there — but I feel like The Low, Low Woods is going to linger in my bones for a long, long time to come. That's not because it's scary, but because it is horrifying, not in the haunted houses and ghosts sort of way, but in a sinister, nauseating manner that I never saw coming.

There is so little I can say without spoiling the entire thing, so instead, I'll just tell you that Carmen Maria Machado is one of the most brilliant creative minds I've ever seen and I cannot possibly recommend this story highly enough. It carries her signature speculative taste and bleak outlook on the world, despite following characters you can't avoid loving and rooting for (and naturally, it features queer women of color as the main characters, because we can always count on CMM to give us beautiful diversity in her dark little tales) ♥).

All of my appreciation not only to CMM for crafting this story, but to DC and the Hill House Comics team for helping this twisted creation come into being.

Well, this went in a direction I was NOT expecting, and it ended with a gut punch straight to the feels, but damn it was good. I can't say much about it without throwing out a LOT of spoilers but I guess what I can say is, friendships are golden, even when you think forgetting is bad remembering can be way worse, and men are absolute trash.