The Evil Tree
Written by Eric Hendrix
Art by Daniel Thollin
Colors by Anna Sallstrom
Arcana Comics
Release Date: October 9, 2012
Cover Price: $14.95

The market for horror comics right now is brutally competitive. With books like Locke and Key, Green Wake, and Rebel Blood reinventing what can be done with a genre, competition is fierce. The Evil Tree, being an independent horror comic published by a small press, faces some challenges when stacked up against titles from Image Comics and IDW Publishing. Which is a shame. Even though The Evil Tree is a by the numbers horror story, this book’s expert writing proves that there is nothing wrong with a good old fashioned ghost story.

At its core, The Evil Tree is a very simple story. It is your standard unsettled ghost haunting the living as a means to eventually rest in peace. This book’s storyline is fairly cut and dry and, in this case, it is perfectly okay. Writer Erik Hendrix seems to understand that sometimes mastering a preexisting story can be more appealing than poorly tackling some high concept horror story. Why try to blow people’s minds by ruminating on the human condition if you can’t even get it right?