Graphic Content: Family Tree, Vol. 1: Sapling by Jeff Lemire and Phil Hester

 

The title of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” isn’t hyperbole or symbolism (that comes later in the story). The subject of the story is an old man with wings sprouting from his back. He crashlands in a couple’s yard and with his arrival flock the pious and the curious, those who see the old man as either a celestial being or an oddity to be put in captivity for our amusement. If the story has a moral, it’s that  when humanity discovers something truly awe-inspiring, we’d probably find some way to ruin it. The “humanity ruins everything” trope has been explored throughout literature, both fantastical and mundane, but there are times where it goes beyond simply that people are intrinsically terrible. Jeff Lemire and Phil Hester, for example, created a story where they combine the fantastic and mundane to  explore familial bonds in the aptly titled Family Tree, Vol. 1: Sapling.

The story centers on single mom Loretta, her angsty teenage son Josh, and her young daughter Megan, who seems to be turning into a tree. What begins as a rash on her skin soon becomes bark complete with branches and leaves. Adding to the drama is the return of the kids’ grandfather/Loretta’s father-in-law Judd, an old man who’s handy with a shotgun. Soon the reunited family goes on the run from a mysterious group called the Arborists that wants Meg for their own ends. As the family flees and tensions between them rise, more is revealed about what the Arborists want and what Megan’s skin-to-bark affliction actually is.

The images of Megan’s skin becoming bark, plus some other spoiler-laden images of what this affliction does, puts it in the realm of body horror, but there’s also a fantastical undercurrent, particularly when Lemire’s story explores what is happening to Megan and many others around the world. Beneath the bark of this body horror fantasy are layers (or rings) of familial relationships that seem to give the title of this book a deeper meaning beyond the obvious pun. These layers include Loretta and grandfather/father-in-law Judd sniping at each other over what happened to the kid’s father or Meg learning more about her father thanks to what’s happening to her. Yes, there’s some graphic skin-to-bark depictions, but Hester shows real skill in depicting the pain in each family members’ expressions from annoyance to anger to terror. This story incorporates body horror, but those expecting a bloodbath with monster trees might be disappointed. This Family Tree is more about the lives of individual branches trying to discover their roots (yes, the tree puns are done). Just like Marquez used a pseudoangel to explore human weakness and a desire for meaning, Family Tree, Vol. 1: Sapling  uses an apocalyptic tree disease to explore how family makes us who we are, for better or worse.