Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Jason Howard
Publisher: Image Comics
It’s not that this is a bad comic; it just doesn’t have as much substance as I would have liked.
The tale involves a rich man (Gary Hampton) who, on vacation with his family, gets attacked by a creature everyone believes to have been a bear. Soon, unconsciously, he begins to transform into a wolf-like creature one night per month (that’s right, when it’s a full moon). Shortly thereafter, the security cameras on his property catch a wolf-like creature in action one night, and his wife begins to put two and two together. When she confronts Gary, though, they are paid a sudden visit by a mysterious man who claims he can help Gary control his new persona.
This book combines a few different fun and entertaining genres, like classic 50’s horror. But for me, the exuberant and engaging aspects of that genre never fully manifested in this comic. There were no surprises, and the story is something we’ve seen many times before. While the latter doesn’t normally throw me, it doesn’t work as well here because there’s just not enough of an investment in the characters in this first issue to make me feel that I had to keep reading.
The dialogue is sometimes a bit awkward. It took me out of the story a bit, and the flow of the story (which is helped along by the art, as it should be) was also interrupted by this effect.
The art is stylized and clean, with polished colors to go along with the pencils. They were a nice fit for the type of story that’s being told here.
This title will probably be a good fit for some readers; it just wasn’t particularly for me. If you’re a huge fan of classic horror/suspense, werewolf tales, etc., then go ahead and pick this up; it’s just not necessarily the comic for readers more like myself, who are fans of those things but are looking for a little something more.
What did you think of this book?
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