Twig #3 // Review
The little blue, furry placeling is on a quest to save the world. It’s a dangerous journey. That much he’s expecting. He may not be expecting to get into the cage of a trapper looking for his pelt. This is exactly what he gets in Twig #3. Writer Skottie Young’s epic fantasy journey continues, as brought to the page by artist Kyle Strahm and colorist Jean-Francois Beaulieu. Young allows Strahm and Beaulieu plenty of room to render an appealingly unique fantasy world, but the pacing feels a little hurried as Twig and his pet slug Splay rush off to get everything in place before the world draws to a close.
Honestly, it was only fruit. (Maki Mellons, to be precise.) Twig saw a whole bunch of Maki Mellons beneath a tree, and the little guy got hungry. How was he to know that it would turn out to be a trap? The trapper in question used some very difficult netting to deal with. It wasn’t going to be easy to escape. Fortunately, the trapper wasn’t nearly as hungry as Twig. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had a chance to escape...right down the gullet of the trapper, and that would have been the end. The trapper only wants Twig’s pelt. Thankfully, the trapper doesn’t know about Splat, so Twig’s got a chance for escape.
Young allows just enough story onto the page to keep it from cluttering up the action. There might be a bit of worldbuilding in the third issue of the series, but Young allows most of that worldbuilding to flow in from the artwork. This is all well and good, but there IS a bit of a problem with so much of the conflict being tied up in the weird specifics of a world that doesn’t exactly feel familiar enough to allow the reader a very sophisticated understanding of the complexities of the danger that Twig and Splat find themselves in.
Visually, Twig has been nothing but fun from the first issue. Strahm once again shows a fairly even balance between cute and ugly in another visually rich exploration of a Jim Hensony world of fantasy and danger. The highly expressive face of Twig is matched by the equally expressive body of Splat in a deeply atmospheric world that feels like it’s brimming with life around the edges of every panel. Beaulieu adds a rich and vibrant life to a very colorful world with a beautifully bright range of colors. Twig looks suitably furry. Splat looks slick and rubbery. The villainous trapper looks suitably gruesome. It’s more or less flawless visually.
Twig’s story is rushing by so very, very quickly. The world of the story seems to be rushing by in a way that doesn’t allow for much of a chance to appreciate the atmosphere. The art team is bringing together quite a lot of different elements in a big, cuddly visual adventure, but Young’s story doesn’t allow a whole lot of time to really enjoy it. There’s a really nice urgency about it all, but it feels like a rush.
