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The Woods #4-6
The Woods: Yearbook Edition, Book Two
A Midwestern high school is transported into the middle of an Alien forest. This is the story of what happens next.
It’s been over one year since the students, teacher, and additional staff of Bay Point Preparatory High School in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin were suddenly transported countless light years away to the middle of an ancient, primordial wilderness. Despite the chaos of their first year, the students have begun to build a life in this new world, a burgeoning society out of the ruins of their past. But mysterious forces are conspiring to bring it all crashing down... Written by James Tynion IV (Detective Comics, Memetic) and illustrated by Michael Dialynas (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles),The Woods Yearbook Edition Book Two collects issues #13-24 of the critically-acclaimed series Scott Snyder (Batman) calls a “dark, epic read.”
It’s been over one year since the students, teacher, and additional staff of Bay Point Preparatory High School in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin were suddenly transported countless light years away to the middle of an ancient, primordial wilderness. Despite the chaos of their first year, the students have begun to build a life in this new world, a burgeoning society out of the ruins of their past. But mysterious forces are conspiring to bring it all crashing down... Written by James Tynion IV (Detective Comics, Memetic) and illustrated by Michael Dialynas (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles),The Woods Yearbook Edition Book Two collects issues #13-24 of the critically-acclaimed series Scott Snyder (Batman) calls a “dark, epic read.”
240 pages, Paperback
First published August 13, 2019
2 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
James Tynion IV
1,650 books1,999 followersPrior to his first professional work, Tynion was a student of Scott Snyder's at Sarah Lawrence College. A few years later, he worked as for Vertigo as Fables editor Shelly Bond's intern. In late 2011, with DC deciding to give Batman (written by Snyder) a back up feature, Tynion was brought in by request of Snyder to script the back ups he had plotted. Tynion would later do the same with the Batman Annual #1, which was also co-plotted by Snyder. Beginning in September 2012, with DC's 0 issue month for the New 52, Tynion will be writing Talon, with art by Guillem March. In early 2013 it was announced that he'd take over writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws in April.
Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.
Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
August 27, 2025
This second yearbook is disappointing, particularly in terms of characterisation. The plot unfolds as expected with one or two decent twists, but the characters become caricatures of their archetypes to the point of grotesqueness. Casey takes the cake in this respect.
Inside the sub-arcs, some events are poorly constructed: a character of average importance sacrifices herself with no justification other than the flashback that begins the issue in question. That's too easy a trick to be credible. Another character dies at the end of the book; no surprise here, it is obviously to be expected from the start of the arc. Sloppy work, that.
Twelve episodes to get to this point in this way is far too many. Tynion had better get his act together in order to reach a convincing conclusion, but somehow I doubt it...
Inside the sub-arcs, some events are poorly constructed: a character of average importance sacrifices herself with no justification other than the flashback that begins the issue in question. That's too easy a trick to be credible. Another character dies at the end of the book; no surprise here, it is obviously to be expected from the start of the arc. Sloppy work, that.
Twelve episodes to get to this point in this way is far too many. Tynion had better get his act together in order to reach a convincing conclusion, but somehow I doubt it...
January 3, 2023
4.5 Stars ✨
January 2, 2020
This was even worse than the first one. The time jump was lazy writing and just goes back to my review of the previous book (telling what happened instead of showing what happened). In one year Karen turns into this bad ass that everyone worships for no good reason while Sanami is stuck in the office? Sanami’s short backstory showed that she was the only badass of the bunch. I feel like Maria’s death was out of nowhere and since she was not developed, I didn’t really care. I felt that Calder was the most developed character and had a fairly interesting story arc and then they kill him off to make Karen more interesting? It was stupid. And where did all of the teachers go? Why are there no adults from the high school in the world except a blood thirsty coach that turned his back on the school in the first book, but we won’t explain why he is totally fine/not a problem again a year later...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2025
the ending makes me want to unalive myself.
September 18, 2025
2.6 (biblio) got much better by the second half
November 25, 2021
In this second volume we see that the characters are now adapted enough to their new "home" and the focus is mostly on the politics around everything.
February 5, 2022
OH NO ITS SAD!
God, this story and its characters are so interesting to read about, but sometimes the storyline is super hard to follow between issues/chapters/times skips. I definitely didn’t expect it to become more of a fantasy story than a sci-fi one but I can’t complain— learning about the politics and magic/science/green glowy stuff is really fun alongside seeing how the relationships between the characters develop.
What I ABSOLUTELY adore is the fact that we’re seeing the main characters grow up! I can’t remember seeing that in a book before! But they’re getting older and it’s sad because they’re all so traumatized! Speaking of being traumatized, this series also does a really good job with approaching how the characters are affected by their time spent in this new world. I feel like in stories like this we’re oftentimes left with characters being macho-brave and strong through the whole thing with a passing glimpse of “oh I’m so sad and angry,” but this story really dives into that.
Also very appreciative of all the diversity in this book— characters are never just “the x minority,” they’re all well-rounded and it’s just one facet of their identity.
Also Ben? I would die for him. He’s such a SWEETHEART
God, this story and its characters are so interesting to read about, but sometimes the storyline is super hard to follow between issues/chapters/times skips. I definitely didn’t expect it to become more of a fantasy story than a sci-fi one but I can’t complain— learning about the politics and magic/science/green glowy stuff is really fun alongside seeing how the relationships between the characters develop.
What I ABSOLUTELY adore is the fact that we’re seeing the main characters grow up! I can’t remember seeing that in a book before! But they’re getting older and it’s sad because they’re all so traumatized! Speaking of being traumatized, this series also does a really good job with approaching how the characters are affected by their time spent in this new world. I feel like in stories like this we’re oftentimes left with characters being macho-brave and strong through the whole thing with a passing glimpse of “oh I’m so sad and angry,” but this story really dives into that.
Also very appreciative of all the diversity in this book— characters are never just “the x minority,” they’re all well-rounded and it’s just one facet of their identity.
Also Ben? I would die for him. He’s such a SWEETHEART
March 28, 2020
A high school disappeared one day and appeared on an alien moon. Now a year has passed and the kids have formed their own makeshift town.
It's so good.
The first collection (which contained the first 12 issues or 3 volumes) was alright, but felt like it was missing something. I'm not sure what that something was, but it definitely has it now. The characters are better realized and feel like people and the stakes are so much higher that it actually felt suspenseful at times. There was more than one part where I gasped at a plot development.
My only real complaint is that the author was apparently disinterested in the teachers because they are mostly not in this at all with little explanation.
It's dark and gritty but cares so much about its characters that it never stops having heart. It's what I wanted Hunger Games to be. The art is really good as well and manages to really showcase the bizareness of the woods the characters are in. It's very good and I'm really excited for the final 12 issues.
It's so good.
The first collection (which contained the first 12 issues or 3 volumes) was alright, but felt like it was missing something. I'm not sure what that something was, but it definitely has it now. The characters are better realized and feel like people and the stakes are so much higher that it actually felt suspenseful at times. There was more than one part where I gasped at a plot development.
My only real complaint is that the author was apparently disinterested in the teachers because they are mostly not in this at all with little explanation.
It's dark and gritty but cares so much about its characters that it never stops having heart. It's what I wanted Hunger Games to be. The art is really good as well and manages to really showcase the bizareness of the woods the characters are in. It's very good and I'm really excited for the final 12 issues.
June 24, 2021
In some ways feels like it's hitting a stride, but also feels a little more generic? It's sort of turning into a more standard issue fantasy series with warring factions and politics and cool monsters. I like all that stuff. But it also feels like it's slipping away a little bit from the Lost/Quiet Year kind of vibe where it's also about survivalism and limited resources and exploring a new universe. There are now a bunch of characters who understand this universe, and new information has to be some kind of secret those people were keeping from our heroes because... I guess how else do you expand the world, once we've learned the basics? Also feels like it's filling time on the grand plot behind the plot, the architects of this whole world.
This feels more negative than my experience actually was, I think it's great! It feels like a couple of guys who are really good at dungeon mastering and drawing monsters found a good niche and they're going ham. That's a totally worthwhile endeavor. Also: STILL VERY PURPLE! Love that.
This feels more negative than my experience actually was, I think it's great! It feels like a couple of guys who are really good at dungeon mastering and drawing monsters found a good niche and they're going ham. That's a totally worthwhile endeavor. Also: STILL VERY PURPLE! Love that.
November 4, 2019
The middle of a trilogy is often times, a bit lacking. Why? Well, because it doesn’t begin at the beginning and it doesn’t end with the ending. But there are exceptions. The Empire Strikes Back is (arguably) the best of the original Star Wars trilogy and this volume was definitely better than the first volume. Will it hold up this pace? CAN it hold up this pace? Will the characters become even more interesting? I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out. Wonderful art and characters that will sweep you away in a fascinating story that is extremely easy to keep caught up in. What more could you want?
August 6, 2024
Review is for the entire series read in one shot.
If I didn't have a strong completist streak I would have abandoned this about a third of the way through.
Dropping a high school onto an alien planet for unknown reasons, ok.
Encounter the mysterious denizens of said world? Sure
Join with them against an even bigger threat? absolutely
Spend several years on the planet and have not one child born or even pregnancy shown? This author has been to high school, right?
Aggressively showcase self-destructive homosexual relationships and exclude anything normal? Ah....no
Have all of the 'jocks' recruited by descendants of Imperial Japan so they can oppress the rest of the planet? You took a wrong turn at Albuquerque
Suddenly reveal one of the main characters has been cosplaying as a boy? byebye
If I didn't have a strong completist streak I would have abandoned this about a third of the way through.
Dropping a high school onto an alien planet for unknown reasons, ok.
Encounter the mysterious denizens of said world? Sure
Join with them against an even bigger threat? absolutely
Spend several years on the planet and have not one child born or even pregnancy shown? This author has been to high school, right?
Aggressively showcase self-destructive homosexual relationships and exclude anything normal? Ah....no
Have all of the 'jocks' recruited by descendants of Imperial Japan so they can oppress the rest of the planet? You took a wrong turn at Albuquerque
Suddenly reveal one of the main characters has been cosplaying as a boy? byebye
August 29, 2022
DNF.
I really, really hate it when authors do a “X year(s) later” thing when they open a new chapter. I spent half of this book just trying to figure out what was going on with the characters. Then the delinquent brother of one of the characters, that they didn’t do that a good job of explaining how he came along in the first volume, is now a power player and aligned with another sect of people transported there?
I don’t know, it just felt waaaaaay overdone and lacking in coherent narrative. I’m just going to pretend the first yearbook was the only thing published for this title. Ugh.
I really, really hate it when authors do a “X year(s) later” thing when they open a new chapter. I spent half of this book just trying to figure out what was going on with the characters. Then the delinquent brother of one of the characters, that they didn’t do that a good job of explaining how he came along in the first volume, is now a power player and aligned with another sect of people transported there?
I don’t know, it just felt waaaaaay overdone and lacking in coherent narrative. I’m just going to pretend the first yearbook was the only thing published for this title. Ugh.
May 9, 2024
With the end of this volume, we are at the end of year two. I hate to get into any spoilers but the last couple issues of this volume are excellent. Tynion's imaginative brand of story-telling still shines brightly thanks to his incredible character development. Watching the students evolve and take us to where the story has led us so far has been a joy to watch unfold, and this story truly feels like it was made for television.
October 13, 2020
The plot thickens and the kids have started to forge an actual life here on the new planet. But of course, there is still trouble and this time, they are truly all they have...even against each other.
February 7, 2020
Took me awhile to get into it after a long break from the first book, but once I did, I binged it...
January 29, 2022
The plot thickens, twists land and everything starts to build towards a big finish. Great stuff.
February 5, 2022
Calder McReady my one, my only, my everything ♥️
August 10, 2022
This series stresses me OUT
January 2, 2023
Mindblowing!! This series is one of the best graphic novels that I've read!
October 27, 2023
"you have one death. Use it right"
June 1, 2024
I did like this on a bit better than the first yearbook. However, sloppy time shifts and holes in the flow of the story hamper the overall rating.
December 20, 2025
A Weak 3/5 Space Opera Graphic Novel Volume about teen attachment on a forreign planet… huh?
March 3, 2025
Good read but way too fast. They should take it slow and not rush it so.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews