When I reviewed the first volume in this series last year, I found it intriguing but with an unsatisfying ending, especially for its middle grade audience. I hoped the second volume would explain more of the background and tie up some of the loose ends of the first volume and I was delighted that it did exactly that.
The sequel opens with a written and illustrated preface, recapping the previous story and showing the menacing Lazarus Gallington, dictator and sentient washing machine, still searching for Iggie, the boy who started it all in the first volume. Iggie feels lost and confused after the strange events he’s been through, as well as the reappearance of his aunt and uncle, Jane and Bernard, who were raising him until he went to live with his mom, Jill. He brings his new friend Angie into the secret of the sentient items and the dangers posed by L. G., and with some old and new friends they set out to solve the multiple mysteries, save Peculiar Woods, and keep their friends and family, human and creature, safe. In the course of this adventure, Iggie resolves his own dilemma, finding reconciliation between both his old and new families.
This sounds like a lot to fit into just 200 pages, especially in a comic that has minimal text, but Colmenares pulls it off, reintroducing characters seen only briefly in the first book, like the mysterious gray-haired man, and each character fits neatly into the plot, with nonstop action knocking down one plot point after another, revealing secrets and solving mysteries.
Colmenares’ style of cute, doll-like characters fits well into a world where everything from cups to washing machines can be alive. The pink-spotted cheeks of snarky Boris the chair don’t make him any less snarky and L.G. looks positively menacing, with patches of rust and random popping bubbles drifting through the woods. Much of the action takes place at night, in the snow, with the gleam of holiday lights adding a ghostly green and blue sheen to the characters’ round topknots. Side characters are both cute and creepy, like the army of cups with tea bag bolases and the straw-hatted lamp who has their own attached cord weapon.
It’s a wild ride from start to finish and kids who want a relatively quick read, lots of mystery, adventure, odd happenings, and tidy resolutions will enjoy zipping through these two titles. I strongly recommend purchasing both together, since the first volume leaves so much hanging. The second volume hints at the possibility of more adventures, but resolves everything enough that readers will be satisfied if the story stops here. A fun additional purchase for most graphic novel collections.
Peculiar Woods, vol 2: The Mystery of the Intelligents
By Andrés J. Colmenares
Andrews McMeel, 2024
ISBN: 9781524880316
Publisher Age Rating: 7-9 years
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11)
