Broken Frontier

Can one make a difference even though he’s a lycanthrope? Find out in Robert Kirkman’s exciting new series.

Writer Robert Kirkman is quickly becoming a concept producing machine these days when you consider the impressive list of comics his name is attached to. My personal favorite is The Walking Dead, and I have to say his new series, The Astounding Wolf-Man, has nearly climbed to the top of the list just after two issues.

This series can be considered a light hearted horror adventure with superhero elements, and it all began this past May on Free Comic Book Day when the first issue debuted to rave reviews. The free issue introduced us to a man named Gary who learns that he has the ability to change into a werewolf after being bitten by one. Now in this issue Gary is learning to adjust to his newfound powers with the help of Zechariah (an aging vampire introduced last issue). The pair go out every night during a full moon to train and eventually Gary gets the chance to aid a group of heroes called the Actioneers, but things don’t go down as well as they should.

Now as with all of Kirkman’s titles, this series is chock full of humor and then balanced with the right amount of adventure to drive the story forward. I almost get the feeling that he’s pushing for a return of the storytelling of yesteryear when characters were treated light-hearted and the stories they were thrust in highlighted enough entertainment for kids of all ages to read. All of Kirkman’s dialogue here is soundly written and he even managed to cull the ending with a surprising twist, so tune in next month to see how truly astounding this wolf-man is supposed to be.

I also enjoyed the art of Jason Howard and all his pages were composed dynamically with the right touch of pathos for the important scenes. I found his style to be highly animated and his strong choice of colors helped to reinforce this look and it was a treat to read through from beginning to end. My favorite pages were the splash pages which featured plenty of action and tons of werewolf butt-kicking.

This series is highly enjoyable for a number of reasons, but I think the obvious choice I am recommending it to readers is for is Kirkman’s delightful sense of storytelling. He’s managed to take a tired old genre cliché like the werewolf and imbue it with a sense of fun, while crafting a solid story around it as well. If you missed the first issue given away on Free Comic Book Day then no worries, because a director’s cut of it was released to coincide with the publication of this second issue. Buy them both and eat’em up because the Astounding Wolf-Man is here to stay.