By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting

Anime Expo this year was amazing, as I discussed already in an early post! While there, I stopped by one of the booths at the exhibit hall where—for some reason—an employee gifted me an ARC of the print comic Under the Oak Tree set to release in early September of this year. For those not familiar, an ARC, or advance reader copy, is a pre-publication version of a book distributed by publishers to a limited audience, such as reviewers, booksellers, librarians, and media outlets. The purpose of an ARC is to generate early buzz and gather feedback before the book’s official release. ARCs often contain some minor errors or may be missing the final cover design and illustrations. They are a valuable marketing tool, allowing key readers to experience the book early, provide reviews, and create anticipation among potential readers.

When I worked in publishing, I encountered these versions of books often (though all my experiences were with novels and business books). A lot of times, the base of the work is done, but editing and covers are still being finalized. They are not re-sellable copies of the text either.

With that in mind, I want to review for you all the graphic novel/comic version that was handed to me at AX.

If you are familiar with the webcomic version, which I believe has been on Manta for a while now (and also on Amazon’s kindle), then you know that the layout is pretty standard to webcomics you see on other platforms. You typically have one panel and scroll downward to read the next, like so:

The graphic novel version which is set to release from Penguin Random House’s new imprint, Inklore, displays more like a traditional US graphic novel or comic, with multiple panels being placed on a singular page, like so:

What does this mean?

Well, storywise, this is probably one of the better titles to have this kind of change when it comes to switching from the “infinite scroll” talked about in webcomics. Unlike action titles, like Solo Leveling, where scrolling through the different panels helps to build suspense and allows quick reading, a romance title like Under the Oak Tree benefits more from an expanded look at emotions between characters in a scene and my goodness does this benefit!

While re-reading the series in this new format you could really feel the anxiety of the main character, Lady Maximilian, is married off to the war hero she barely knows, Sir Riftan, and moves across the country to a new territory and home. You also get to see, thanks to this new layout, how misunderstandings between the new couple really hang in the air as she copes with the trauma of her childhood and learns to communicate with her not-so clear on communication husband.

The pressure and lingering of her anxiety as she doubts herself even with other characters really feels different when reading in print too when compared to scrolling on an app. Before I get ahead of myself and start to spoil everything, I’ll just say this: Keep your eyes peeled for the print version of Under The Oak Tree! Not only is the story good, but I highly recommend reading it in this format as I found everything so much more interesting as a result of the change.

10/10 Recommended! Particularly for a romance title like this!