Broken Frontier

Patrick Dalton thinks he is God’s gift to women. He’s about to find out just how very wrong he is.

Writer Jason Burns opts to take an idea that has appeared fairly often in movies, plays, and TV shows and adapt it for comic books. It’s certainly a gamble as the question is will readers be open to a gender-bending comedy-drama?

Patrick Dalton is a wolf – in the old fashioned, slang meaning of the word. Handsome, young-ish, wealthy and successful, he not only has it all, he wants more. He manipulates and uses women and sees nothing wrong in the chauvinistic tendencies of those around him either. That is all about to change when Patrick uses the wrong woman. He’s about to get a lesson in viewing life from the other side.

Admittedly, Curse of the Were-Woman is a bit of a difficult comic book to review if for no other reason than the fact that it breaks so many molds for not only traditional comics but also for indie comics. While there have been comedy comics, satirical comics, and drama stories, there have been few that dared to combine all of those elements. Burns pulls it all off with surprising aplomb here, although there are a few jokes which come off a bit like easy marks. Probably the best thing that can be said is that this is a comic that really does read like a movie – a good, funny, enjoyable one – and that’s only from the first installment. Burns’ protagonist/narrator is the kind of jerk audiences love to hate and it will certainly be interesting to see how his comeuppance plays out here. Burns also manages to maintain the character’s chauvinistic voice consistently throughout the issue – something that some writers are not always able to achieve.

The art here is provided by relative newcomer Christopher Provencher. His style is a bit cartoony, a little over the top but then again, that’s what a story like this calls for. His style also lends itself surprisingly well to the sexuality on display in the story – for both Patrick and the female characters.

Curse of the Were-Woman dares to step outside the traditional comic book milieu and the medium as a whole is all the better for it. Hopefully readers will be willing to follow outside the box and give this one a try. Satire, humor, and an unerring aim for the heart of the matter definitely set this story apart from the rest of the pack.