What do you think?
Rate this book
Amazing Forest
Tales for the bold. Ideas for the strange. Wicked concepts that stir the minds of those with darkness in their hearts. A modern anthology that lends itself to a time when stories were short and ugly. Written by Ulises Farinas & Erick Freitas, each story is drawn by a different, amazingly talented artist, each lending their unique talents to bring horrible happiness to the readers skulls!"
208 pages, Paperback
First published August 24, 2016
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
April 7, 2020
A good anthology of weird, strange, SciFi stories with questionable art.
Received an advance copy from IDW and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Received an advance copy from IDW and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
August 7, 2016
I started out reading the Netgallery IDW trade, but it was a nightmare, so I ended up buying the individual MonkeyBrain issues off Comixology. As far as I can tell there's no difference between the two versions.
This is a hard comic to rate. It's made up of 24 short stories, and considering it's only 6 issues, you can imagine how short those stories are. Some of them had interesting premises, but the all ended abruptly. And they were all weird as fuck. In fact, towards the end they got predictable weird. If the ending is always a "twist", then it's not really a twist any more.
As for the art, it was enjoyable, and will probably be a highlight for a lot of readers. Each story had a different artist, so there was a wide rage of styles, some more to my liking than others. Overall, I would say this is a quality book as far as art goes.
There's actually two issues from the original MonkeyBrain run which weren't collected in this trade. If you like this it might be worth checking them out. I didn't bother to buy them, but who knows, maybe a couple of months from now I'll ready for more weird.
This is a hard comic to rate. It's made up of 24 short stories, and considering it's only 6 issues, you can imagine how short those stories are. Some of them had interesting premises, but the all ended abruptly. And they were all weird as fuck. In fact, towards the end they got predictable weird. If the ending is always a "twist", then it's not really a twist any more.
As for the art, it was enjoyable, and will probably be a highlight for a lot of readers. Each story had a different artist, so there was a wide rage of styles, some more to my liking than others. Overall, I would say this is a quality book as far as art goes.
There's actually two issues from the original MonkeyBrain run which weren't collected in this trade. If you like this it might be worth checking them out. I didn't bother to buy them, but who knows, maybe a couple of months from now I'll ready for more weird.
December 10, 2018
Kind of hit or miss. This a collection of a bunch of quite short stories. Too many to rate individually, and some of them only a couple pages long. Some really fantastic art and some that I really didn't care for. Some of the stories were pretty good, some just not. Most had a pretty dark twist ending. Reminded me of old tales from the crypt or twilight zone type twists. Worth a read. And really, some of the art, like the cover, would make a cool poster.
August 7, 2016
Some stories were better than others, but a lot of this I didn't enjoy, story or artwork.
I received an advanced copy of this from NetGalley.com and the publisher.
I received an advanced copy of this from NetGalley.com and the publisher.
November 25, 2017
Some of the stories were great and spooky; some of them were not as great or as spooky. It was a quick, fun read, though.
November 19, 2016
'Amazing Forest' by Erick Freitas and Ulises Farinas (with a whole bunch of artists) is a dark collection of 24 short stories. The title doesn't give you any idea of the sort of thing you are about to read.
A group in a tank has to spend every day killing alien visions of the people they love. A space villain tries to find ways to get hired. A trio of con artists travel town to town tying a woman up to the train tracks, then rescuing her for money. A virus that makes people exude cats. A boy that makes a gruesome trade with a wish gnome. These are the sort of stories inside.
The stories all have dark hearts and dark twists of the knife to them. The art is all different in style as well as quality. Some is much better, some is much worse. Each story is around 5 pages long, but they have a sameness in the tone that the book sets. The stories are different and odd. The length works to their benefit. If they were longer, some of them wouldn't work. If you are looking for cheerful stories, you'd be best to look elsewhere.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from IDW Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
A group in a tank has to spend every day killing alien visions of the people they love. A space villain tries to find ways to get hired. A trio of con artists travel town to town tying a woman up to the train tracks, then rescuing her for money. A virus that makes people exude cats. A boy that makes a gruesome trade with a wish gnome. These are the sort of stories inside.
The stories all have dark hearts and dark twists of the knife to them. The art is all different in style as well as quality. Some is much better, some is much worse. Each story is around 5 pages long, but they have a sameness in the tone that the book sets. The stories are different and odd. The length works to their benefit. If they were longer, some of them wouldn't work. If you are looking for cheerful stories, you'd be best to look elsewhere.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from IDW Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
March 5, 2017
Various art styles are the only thing that made me read this one from start to end. And even in this aspect, some part of art was pretty nice, while other part was quite ugly. As for the stories, I think they supposed to go with a plot twist, but twists were not mind-twisting at all (basically, the whole books may be viewed as a parody of 'good guy turned out to be bad guy' trope) and the ideas for these short stories were quite bizarre. I don't know anyone who would find ideas for these stories appealing. There is a lot books out there with shocking content that is at least interesting to explore. And this one is just plain empty.
December 26, 2017
This was a book of weird tales. The art was good. Some stories were amazing, some were meh, but most were good. Highly recommended for people who want non-traditional stories.
Note - I received a free copy of the book from the publisher. This has not influenced my review in any way.
Note - I received a free copy of the book from the publisher. This has not influenced my review in any way.
June 6, 2021
Amazing Forest is a rerelease of a sci-fi comic anthology of the same name from 2013. The story order has changed, but everything else appears to remain the same. It appears that The Katzenjammer Virus and Cowboxing are the only two which were not published in the original comic run. Each of the pieces contains unique art and a bizarre short story. My favorites include Ronnie the Robot, Tank, Van Dark, Fishbone, Edith and the Murder Bot, and the Wish Goblin, but many of the stories are interesting and fun.
1. Tank - 4/5, story about a virus and the survivors who suffer from the worlds it has destroyed and then created. I really enjoyed the art style.
2. Wolf Mother - 3/5, good story about motherhood, with an interesting twist.
3. Ronnie the Robot - 5/5, touching story about a soldier trapped in a mecha suit who returns home to his family.
4. Bird Watcher - 2/5, a birdwatcher happens to discover a bird that looks a little bit like himself. Weird but not really in a good way.
5. Detective Dunk - 3/5, an under appreciated detective is tasked with solving a bizarre crime, it was funny but not spectacular.
6. Van Dark - 4/5, an evil overlord no longer appreciates the bureaucracy of his job.
7. Stardust - 3/5, a superhero decides to make his own world but becomes frustrated at how life often brings war and suffering.
8. Agroman - 3/5, I really liked the art but it was a strange story, about a warrior placed under a bizarre curse by a dark wizard.
9. Ben Franklin, Dragon Hunter - 2/5, an alternative history story. The art is interesting looking but sometimes confusing and felt too open-ended for me.
10. Giant Laser Rifle - 3/5, a kid who likes to tell tall tales has one come true unexpectedly.
11. Fishbone - 4/5, a fisherman feeds his wife a strange fish he catches, and wakes up to two wives. He finds himself torn between them both. The ending part was confusing.
12. 1935 - 3/5, a black and white tale about a traveling group of scam artists in the 30s who pull a “woman tied to train tracks” heist that goes wrong.
13. Edith and the Murderbot - 4/5, a “Murderbot” goes door to door seeking shelter from the cold, but everyone turns him away convinced he will harm them. But the one who does not has a secret.
14. Caballo Del Morte - 2/5, a town falls prey to the seduction of a mysterious horse. Just ew.
15. Dog Eat World - 3/5, a super bizarre story that asks “what if our dogs owned US.”
16. Last of the Huggaboos - 3/5, a soldier becomes convinced the evil teddy bears he is hunting are something else entirely. It is similar to the plot of a Black Mirror episode, "Men Against Fire," which is one of my favorite episodes. I would have liked more about this story.
17. Villain’s Friend -3/5 - a villain who has succeeded in world domination finds it isn't all it's cracked up to be.
18. The Wish Goblin - 4/5, disturbing story about a child who finds a goblin in a story and makes a wish. Be careful what you wish for when Wish Goblin is listening.
19. Snow Jokes - 3/5, a child who builds a talking snowman and preserves him in the freezer gets more than he bargained for when his child decides to use the snowman's head to build his own friend. A funny and dark twist on Frosty the Snowman.
20. Robo Dreams - 3/5, an android seeks his wife. But did he ever have one to begin with?
21. The Katzenjammer Virus - 2/5, a politically-staged virus that causes people to turn into murderous cats is warded off by a lone soldier with a secret too terrible to be exposed. It was like that episode of Steven Universe where he grows cat fingers, but graphically violent.
22. Cowboxing - 3/5, animals on a farm watch their owner start a boxing club and become inspired. The ending was dumb, but it started out funny. I'd have liked it better if the Cow had saved the farm.
23. Space Night Sonata - 3/5, an astronaut discovers the relaxing solitude of space after an accident
24. Nonbelievers - 3/5, a humorous Christmas story, Santa teams up with Krampus.
Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.
1. Tank - 4/5, story about a virus and the survivors who suffer from the worlds it has destroyed and then created. I really enjoyed the art style.
2. Wolf Mother - 3/5, good story about motherhood, with an interesting twist.
3. Ronnie the Robot - 5/5, touching story about a soldier trapped in a mecha suit who returns home to his family.
4. Bird Watcher - 2/5, a birdwatcher happens to discover a bird that looks a little bit like himself. Weird but not really in a good way.
5. Detective Dunk - 3/5, an under appreciated detective is tasked with solving a bizarre crime, it was funny but not spectacular.
6. Van Dark - 4/5, an evil overlord no longer appreciates the bureaucracy of his job.
7. Stardust - 3/5, a superhero decides to make his own world but becomes frustrated at how life often brings war and suffering.
8. Agroman - 3/5, I really liked the art but it was a strange story, about a warrior placed under a bizarre curse by a dark wizard.
9. Ben Franklin, Dragon Hunter - 2/5, an alternative history story. The art is interesting looking but sometimes confusing and felt too open-ended for me.
10. Giant Laser Rifle - 3/5, a kid who likes to tell tall tales has one come true unexpectedly.
11. Fishbone - 4/5, a fisherman feeds his wife a strange fish he catches, and wakes up to two wives. He finds himself torn between them both. The ending part was confusing.
12. 1935 - 3/5, a black and white tale about a traveling group of scam artists in the 30s who pull a “woman tied to train tracks” heist that goes wrong.
13. Edith and the Murderbot - 4/5, a “Murderbot” goes door to door seeking shelter from the cold, but everyone turns him away convinced he will harm them. But the one who does not has a secret.
14. Caballo Del Morte - 2/5, a town falls prey to the seduction of a mysterious horse. Just ew.
15. Dog Eat World - 3/5, a super bizarre story that asks “what if our dogs owned US.”
16. Last of the Huggaboos - 3/5, a soldier becomes convinced the evil teddy bears he is hunting are something else entirely. It is similar to the plot of a Black Mirror episode, "Men Against Fire," which is one of my favorite episodes. I would have liked more about this story.
17. Villain’s Friend -3/5 - a villain who has succeeded in world domination finds it isn't all it's cracked up to be.
18. The Wish Goblin - 4/5, disturbing story about a child who finds a goblin in a story and makes a wish. Be careful what you wish for when Wish Goblin is listening.
19. Snow Jokes - 3/5, a child who builds a talking snowman and preserves him in the freezer gets more than he bargained for when his child decides to use the snowman's head to build his own friend. A funny and dark twist on Frosty the Snowman.
20. Robo Dreams - 3/5, an android seeks his wife. But did he ever have one to begin with?
21. The Katzenjammer Virus - 2/5, a politically-staged virus that causes people to turn into murderous cats is warded off by a lone soldier with a secret too terrible to be exposed. It was like that episode of Steven Universe where he grows cat fingers, but graphically violent.
22. Cowboxing - 3/5, animals on a farm watch their owner start a boxing club and become inspired. The ending was dumb, but it started out funny. I'd have liked it better if the Cow had saved the farm.
23. Space Night Sonata - 3/5, an astronaut discovers the relaxing solitude of space after an accident
24. Nonbelievers - 3/5, a humorous Christmas story, Santa teams up with Krampus.
Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.
July 4, 2017
An eclectic anthology of 'weird' stories, often in the horror or science fiction or dystopian genres, and with a vast array of art styles representing a lot of what you see out in indie or professional comic. Unfortunately, most of the stories don't have enough space or time to flesh out what premises and worlds they create, and even though some might hint at intriguing ideas, they suffer from endings that feel less poignant than they set out to be, and the dialogue is fairly inconsistent in quality. A couple dozen stories here, maybe only 3-4 I'd like to see followed up on.
October 6, 2019
There are some interesting stories in here, in general a bit more on the weird side. Stories about boxing cows and unhappy villains present a skewed view of the world, with the art styles in general effective. The variations from the different artists help make the distinctions between the stories very obvious. None of the stories really blew me away, but none are particularly weak either. Considering all the stories are from the same authors, that's a bit better than I expected.
November 20, 2020
This is a great idea - a thick anthology full of short stories - that just lacks in execution. You know how you go through an issue of Heavy Metal and encounter those stories where the art is really iffy and the story just doesn’t grab you, but you slog through it in the hopes that the next story will be much better? Every story is like that here.
November 24, 2017
So this is really..........odd. A lot of different stories, each by different artists. They're almost universally odd, many rely on twist endings on weird premises, and the art is all over the place. But for all of that, I really enjoyed it.
May 1, 2018
AMAZING FOREST is an anthology collection of various unusual short-form comics from different artists. As with any anthology, the results will be uneven. I enjoyed it, but didn't find it especially memorable.
March 3, 2021
Some of these shorts had really weird and fun concepts but it was all kind of ruined by how dense and flat a lot of the art was. A large portion of it was impossible to discern and genuinely offensive to the eyes.
March 25, 2017
An interesting compilation of short stories. I loved almost all of the art, but some of the short stories left me feeling weirded out or left wanting. I enjoyed some of the weirder stories as long as the story had good storytelling and a good punch at the end.
January 10, 2018
This collection of different comics is not for me. Variety of strange short stories by different illistrators.
May 3, 2018
This was part of a humble comic book bundle, it's a bundle of short stories... I would never buy this separately but was an okay read (some good some not so much).
November 28, 2018
it's kind of like those tor.com stories but as short comics. these were seriously disturbing. not just the animal ones but the ones with the messed up jokes like 'wish goblin'
January 14, 2020
Weird comic anthologies are my jam.
The strongest stories were definitely those that made up issue 1.
The strongest stories were definitely those that made up issue 1.
April 14, 2020
Some decent stories, but a weakness for O. Henry style twists at the conclusion. The range of artists is a nice wrinkle.
May 1, 2021
It's different from usual comics.
August 15, 2021
Brilliant selection of short comics, the art is amazing from start to finish. Loved the inclusion of some extra art showing the universes of the stories coming together.
July 29, 2016
Tons of weird short stories. Some better than others. Only slightly disturbing. Worth reading if you like different. Definitely worth it if you like odd.
All the stories have pretty non-traditional art and lettering.
I think the idea behind the dragon hunter story was creative - but the art was confusing and the story could have been fleshed out.
And I don't know why, but I found the Katzenjammer Cats story interesting.
Space Night Sonata made me laugh.
I think the stories got weirder as they went along. Almost like the authors tried to one-up themselves on weirdness.
Thanks to NetGalley, Diamond Distributors, and IDW Publishing for a copy in return for an honest review.
All the stories have pretty non-traditional art and lettering.
I think the idea behind the dragon hunter story was creative - but the art was confusing and the story could have been fleshed out.
And I don't know why, but I found the Katzenjammer Cats story interesting.
Space Night Sonata made me laugh.
I think the stories got weirder as they went along. Almost like the authors tried to one-up themselves on weirdness.
Thanks to NetGalley, Diamond Distributors, and IDW Publishing for a copy in return for an honest review.
September 6, 2016
Amazing Forest is a collection of short comics that allow you to read/view a variety of artists. This is the type of collection that rating will vary widely as some short stories were fine, some were funny, and many were blah. What your rating will be will depend on how many tales you like. Just be careful in looking at the trees that you do not get lost in this less than amazing forest.
July 5, 2016
I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
A completely unique collection - highly recommended. Each story is illustrated by a different artist, and the results are amazing. The stories are bizarre and strange and sometimes a bit gruesome, which may bother some folks. It's hard to describe, other than to say that I would definitely recommend it.
A completely unique collection - highly recommended. Each story is illustrated by a different artist, and the results are amazing. The stories are bizarre and strange and sometimes a bit gruesome, which may bother some folks. It's hard to describe, other than to say that I would definitely recommend it.
September 22, 2016
Thanks to Publisher who gave me free digital copy via NetGalley!
Amazing Forest is a compilation of short stories from different artist. Each stories have their own amazing weirdness.
My personal favourite was The Bird Watcher art by Yumi Sakugawa. The message behind that story was simple yet hit so close to home. And the art work wasn't less amazing than the story itself.
Amazing Forest is a compilation of short stories from different artist. Each stories have their own amazing weirdness.
My personal favourite was The Bird Watcher art by Yumi Sakugawa. The message behind that story was simple yet hit so close to home. And the art work wasn't less amazing than the story itself.
August 17, 2016
Nice to see a compilation comic, but the very short pieces here don't always work satisfactorily, and the artwork is very mediocre, to say the least. In the end the only thing that sticks in the mind is the very varied approach to genre writing, and none of the individual tales.
August 4, 2016
Full review to come!
August 30, 2016
weird for the sake of being weird. Not that interesting.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews