Writer James Tynion IV, known for his DC work on titles like BATMAN ETERNAL and TALON, has a creator owned series called THE WOODS coming out from BOOM! Studios. I read (and loved) a preview copy of the first issue, a kind of coming of age, sci-fi, adventure, mystery,  which hits the stands on May 7th.  James found the time to talk to with GonnaGeek about the series. BOOM! was even generous enough to include the covers and a 5 page preview to get you primed and ready.

GONNA GEEK:    First, let me just say that I’m a big fan of yours, and therefore was foolish enough to think I had an inkling as to what kind of thing to expect from THE WOODS, but you blew me away, and I never knew what hit me.  Sorry to gush like that, but the site is called “GonnaGeek,” and by golly, I’m gonna!

JAMES TYNION IV: Hahaha! I’m glad we surprised you. We really wanted to show people the heart of the series with the promos we released, which were all about these regular teenage kids and the way they see themselves, and then throw everyone into the deep-end with the reveal of where they’re being taken. I’m glad that seemed to work.

GG:       Since each of the teasers for the kids came with a brief description, well, a label, really…the screw up, the wallflower, the lunatic, the wimp, the control freak, and the genius, I take it this will be a very character driven story. Is this a fish-out of water story? I mean, the cast seems to define “underdogs”.

JTIV: Well, the core idea of the whole promotional campaign was that final twist of the reveal of the alien world. The idea that yeah, they might be screw-ups, wallflowers, lunatics, wimps, control freaks, or geniuses, but the second they’re thrust into this scenario… NONE of that matters anymore. Their preconceived notions of who they are and who they’re capable of being are meaningless in the face of something this strange and new. They’ll have to go on a journey to really find what they’re actually capable, and they’re absolutely going to have to shake their beliefs of what they are if they’re going to survive that journey.

GG:       There was one teaser showing an upside down image of a bizarre bat-eared creature that claimed DOCTOR ROBOT…is a space monkey! Now, I’m a fan of your work and the other images looked intriguing, but I gotta tell ya…this one hooked me. Who or what is Doctor Robot?

JTIV: He’s a space monkey! A monkey from outer space!! I’m not sure what else I can say about him just yet other than the fact that the more that Michael draws him, the more scenes I want to give him because he is delightful. I think every comic book should have a space monkey.

GG:       The teaser and cover gave me a sort of Co-Ed Lord of the Flies feel, and I suspected there would be a sci-fi element, but I wasn’t even close to grasping the enormity of what you’ve done here. Without giving away the first issue’s rather surprising plot, what can you say about what you’ve done here?

JTIV: A midwestern high school is transported to the middle of an alien forest, and there is absolutely no sign of what brought them there or why. That’s the mystery at the heart of the series, and something that all of these kids are going to have to try and figure out for themselves. It’s a journey towards understanding the mystery of this strange alien world, full of even stranger alien creatures. What happens when you throw a few hundred students and a few dozen faculty into the midst of something they can’t even begin to comprehend. How can the adults claim to know what’s best to do? How can the students maintain order? What’s more important, trying to get home, or trying to stay alive… especially when pursuing one might mean losing track of the other?

GG:       Kids fighting for their lives has become a major genre of late, with everything from Battle Royal to The Hunger Games and even Marvel’s Avengers Arena.  You’ve really shaken that formula up with this. Did you set out to tackle that genre, or did you come at this from somewhere else altogether?

JTIV: It wasn’t so much the desire to work on a teens fighting for their lives title, but much more a desire to work on a book centered around teenagers in general. And yeah, it’s definitely way fun to throw some life-threatening obstacles in the way, particularly when it comes to being trapped on an alien world… But I love stories about teenagers. I always have. I’m sure a big part of it has to do with my own high school experience and all the highs and lows of that, but mostly it’s the fact that teenagers feel like every situation is life or death. Tell a 16 year old they can’t go to their best friend’s birthday party because they got a C, and they will feel like they’re literally going to die on the spot. That mixed with the extraordinary arrogance of teenagers, who feel like they understand so MUCH about the world, when they really understand next to nothing… They’re incredible. Because we were ALL teenagers once and we know how stupid they can be but also so completely wonderful. Who doesn’t miss the purity of emotion, for good and for bad, that comes with being in your teens? That’s the world I wanted to play with, and that’s where this story came from.

GG:       The first issue starts off with a light-hearted, fun, and even funny kids at private school vibe, but then the you know what hits the fan, and things get dark quickly. What will the tone be for this series

JTIV: I want the book to be a fun book, but as you see right from the start, the fun can veer wildly out of control. There’s a real horror to these woods, a real palpable danger, and that danger is going to be coming after our core cast over and over again as the series moves forward. Wandering into the unknown, having literally no idea what you might face out there, it’s a terrifying thought. I want to capture that fear and anxiety, without losing the fact that these are kids with big personalities who are going to joke around with each other, make fun of each other, and do weird dumb things sometimes. The darkness and the humor will always intertwine with each other in this book.

GG:     Along the same line, how safe can we be getting attached to these characters? Clearly the threat level is high and lethal, but are our main protagonists relatively safe, or should we worry you’re gonna get your Kirkman or George R.R. Martin hat on and start pickin’ people off?

JTIV: Heh. I definitely don’t want people to get too comfortable… This is a series that will change its shape and scope frequently as it moves forward and the mystery unveils itself. Whether the core cast will see all of that happen… Well, you’ll just have to wait and see.

GG:       Okay, so I don’t think we can delve any further without stumbling into spoiler territory, and this was too good to spoil, so in closing, what one thing can you/will you say about THE WOODS that you want people to know going in?

JTIV: Well, From the covers and from the interviews people know about the alien world… But the mystery at the heart of the book is so much bigger than that, and this series is designed to really explore what it means to be human on a very large scale. We’re entering this tapestry from the smallest corner, with very little information, but as we break out into the larger world it’s going to explode. It’s a big story, with a big ending, that I’ve already mapped out… Although it’ll certainly be quite the journey before we get there. I sincerely hope a lot of you decide to come along for the ride.