Written by: Pierre Boisserie
Illustrations: Nicolas Bara
Coloring: Nicolas Bara
Publisher: Dargaud
Het Slapende Woud – Comic Book Review
With a title like ‘The Sleeping Forest’ and the rather ominous looking tree on the cover one could easily mistake this book as an homage to the well-known story of Sleepy Hollow, and honestly it seems we are not that far off. This story takes us back to the early 1900’s where strange events are unfolding. A case where children wander off at midnight, to run around in a trance, while chanting songs in an unknown language asks for special measures. It seems the forest isn’t fully asleep anymore.
When in the local children’s hospital children get up at midnight to perform strange rituals and they are completely oblivious of what transpired the next day, the institution calls out for help. As this is not a case the police or other normal instances can help with, the help of two special agents get called in. First there is Casimir Dupré, a wealthy man that finds it extremely important to be properly groomed and doesn’t mind arriving late, as long as he looks good. Secondly there is Artemis D’Harcourt, a beautiful and fit young lady, who also has enough resources at her disposal, but she seems to be more practical than solely thinking about her own appearance. While both seem to tease each other a lot, as well as comment on each other’s behavior, it’s clear that they have worked on many cases together before.
After getting a quick explanation from their contractor, the ministry, they head towards the children’s hospital, only to experience resistance from the owner, who doesn’t want any word to get out. Due to this, they aren’t even allowed to see the children or even their medical records, as these are all confidential. After breaking in at night to see what is going on, they get thrown off the property once again, but luckily they saw enough and have enough data to start investigating the case properly.
As this is a standalone story, the pace is rather rapid, at least to conclude the entire story in roughly sixty pages. Nonetheless, the introduction is properly sketched, as well as the line of thought on how the problem should be addressed. Things never get overly complicated or mind-blowing, but you’re able to put your grey matter to work during the duration of the comic book, all while excitingly waiting on what will happen next. Not only does Pierre Boisserie paint an interesting storyline, he also brings the two protagonists to life, thanks to their banter against one another. The characters immediately become appealing and eventually offer a lot more than meets the eye.
Even though the illustration style might not be realistic and is actually a bit gritty, the drawings are simply amazing. The main characters look a bit cleaner than all the rest, and it seems that characters are either elegant or corpulent, which adds even more to the overall atmosphere of the story. Facial expressions are seemingly valued highly by Nicolas Bara, which adds a lot to the overall story value. The coloring is done with an eye for details, but it’s not always as clean, adding another layer to the grim atmosphere of the story.
Conclusion
Het Slapende Woud is one of those stories that is a great addition to your comic book collection, not only thanks to its fun story and great character evolution, but also thanks to the exquisite illustrations and the atmosphere the book brings. If you like a spooky-yet-not-so-scary story that gives a subtle nod and wink to the original Sleepy Hollow tale, you’ll love this story. We hope to see more issues of these ‘detectives’ but only time will tell if we’ll ever see these two in action again.
Het Slapende Woud - Comic Book Review,
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