In this review of Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite Of Spring #1, we’re pulled into a gritty crime drama in a world of anthropomorphic animals, as one Monica Brewster searches for answers about her missing brother.
Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite Of Spring #1
Writer: Patrick Horvath
Art and Main Cover: Patrick Horvath
Variant Covers: Tony Fleecs, Riley Rossmo, Skottie Young
Page Count: 36 Pages
Release Date: July 9, 2025
This review contains spoilers
Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite Of Spring #1 begins right away, as we get the aftermath of a murder scene and get some information about this dead (literal) duck: his name was Daniel Brewster, and he disappeared in 1986.
As it turns out, his sister has been hounding the various police precincts in the city this whole time (8 years). With the sheer amount of crime in that city, Monica’s been getting next to nothing in the way of leads. She’s been posting flyers all over the place (unlimited free copies being a perk of her job at the copy shop).
This case has been consuming her life over the years, to the detriment of any sort of social life. She spends her time checking message boards for leads. Just to get some damn closure. She does get a message about a duck fitting her brother’s description, but on an actual inspection, she learns it’s not him. She’s back to square one.
Monica heads home (nearly gets mugged, but fights off her assailants pretty quickly), ready to spend another night alone with her disappointment. She hops online, to find that a message she’d posted on the cold case board had gotten a reply, saying to come to Woodbrook, VT for answers..
With a renewed sense of hope, she packs for the trip, asking her neighbor/coworker George to cover for her for the next few days (and borrowing his car). The local cops there are hesitant at first, but give her the first real lead she’s had in so many years: a look at a windbreaker she knows for sure was his. But unfortunately, any further investigation into the corpse would be expensive.
She storms out of the police station, back to the car, when she finds a bear named Samantha in the passenger seat. Samantha had been the one to message her, offering her help. But there may be a very good reason she’d have this information…
The art style in Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite Of Spring #1 immediately caught my eye. The anthropomorphic characters are drawn in a semi-realistic way, while the color palette has a soft quality that wouldn’t be out of place in a kids’ storybook. The blend of these two works well, I think.
The way the city is portrayed really pushes home the point that, yep, this place is crime-ridden. When someone is not only able to fight off a couple of would-be muggers without showing any amount of surprise, this means one of two things: either they’re a superhero or this is a common-enough occurrence that the only real way they can respond is to go for the kneecaps. The fact that there are also over 100 precincts in this city, the desaturated colors of everything, the mentions of dozens of missing persons reports on a daily basis…one can practically feel the grime and grit of the setting.
With the story Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite Of Spring #1 itself, I’m curious about where it will end up going. The cover (and variants) make no secret of the killer being Samantha, so it’s not like her identity will be a major twist. Instead, this can take things in other directions, particularly with the dramatic tension factor. How will Monica react when she finds out that this bear was the one that killed her brother? Also, how high of a body count does Samantha have on her paws? And most pressing: what is her motive? What is the connecting factor between her victims, and would that cause questions to come up about Daniel?
Final Thoughts
If you ’re a fan of crime stories and Film Noir-like cynical narration, look no further. This will definitely scratch that itch, leaving you wanting more. Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite Of Spring #1 is a dark, well-done crime drama that is always cool to see, and the fact that the characters are animals adds a little something to it.
