Broken Frontier

There’s a supernatural presence hunting the streets of Quad City, but is the beast here for good reasons or for purely malevolent ones?

I have to say this book totally caught off me off guard. When I first saw it on the rack at my local comic shop, I thought it looked rather typical for an independent comic. I decided to leaf through it and needless to say I am really glad I did. The book is strictly in a black and white format, and while this is only a prologue, it certainly had an intriguing premise and sharp looking artwork to accompany it.

Now as for the story, it revolves around the troubled Davey Doyle as he struggles with his bestial alter ego. Davey is a werewolf and he will do whatever it takes to end his horrendous affliction. He decides to enlist the aid of his brother Kip to help end his curse by shooting him with a hand gun. Unfortunately though, Davey learns that he cannot die and he seems to be damned to roam the earth forever more as the werewolf. He doesn’t know what to do, until one fateful night (while in wolf form) he murders a local drug dealer. This then gives him the idea to dub himself the Nightwolf and stalk the criminal element roaming the city at night. Since he cannot die, maybe the only way for him to cope with becoming a monster is to balance the scales and turn his affliction into a force for goodness.

I can’t think of a more nifty way to approach this kind of subject matter, and I must say most comics using the mythology of werewolves have been rather cliché. The concept is not new, and we have seen dozens of movies, comics and novels on the subject already, but writer Stephen Antczak twisted this tired and old concept into something wholly fresh and interesting for my tastes. I thought it reminded me of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment in a small way, but what seemed so evident in the first few pages quickly evolved into a totally different type of beast. I certainly liked what I read so far, and based upon this primer issue, I will probably pick up #1 when it debuts next month.

The art for this issue was handled by Nick Marinkovich and his work was very reminiscent of early Bill Sienkiewicz. I do believe this is a fairly accurate estimation, and there a couple of shots of the werewolf lunging into a bloody fury that are dead ringers for panels Bill once illustrated in issue #29-30 of Moon Knight battling Werewolf by Night. It’s so obvious of a reference, and I am sure it was done in homage of that terrific rendition. Beyond that though, the art is solid, and technically superb for the black and white format, and I am keen on seeing how much progress this artist maintains on upcoming issues of this series.

I think the series is off to a good start, and don’t let the glut of past werewolf stories prevent you from buying this series. I think the creators have taken a novel approach to the mythos and only time will tell if it flies long term. In the meantime though, give this issue a try and enjoy solid storytelling in the making.