Broken Frontier

Will Cole Tyler, a mysterious visitor to a mysterious small town, find out what happened to his brother or will he fall victim of the same brutal fate?

Cole Tyler knows his brother is in trouble and goes to the creepy small town of Sunset (population 875) to find some answers. Unfortunately, all he finds is more trouble… There’s a killer on the loose but the town’s sheriff is also a cold blooded killer and Cole will have to keep his wits about him if he is to uncover the mystery and stay alive. Werewolves: Call of the Wild is a good enough read for the 15 minutes it occupies but it is not a good enough hook to reel me back in for more.

The werewolf story is one that has its roots in Western European pagan traditions. Wolves and other dangerous animals used to be revered and honoured until the missionaries converted the pagans to a new worldwide phenomenon: Christianity. Needing to break the pagan mystical attachment to wolves, Christian missionaries told terrifying stories about fallen men who became ruthless killers at the full moon. The werewolf story has since resonated in pop-culture as a metaphor for the struggle between humanity and bestiality. However, in recent times, werewolves have played second fiddle to more popular horror fare like zombies, vampires and aliens.

Moonstone Books has made its place in the comic word as a purveyor of classic genre pieces and re-imagined classics. Werewolves: Call of the Wild is something of a genre mixer bringing in classic western concepts and horror sensibilities. It just doesn’t work very well and I was not sufficiently grabbed by the material. The opening scene is quite shocking and exciting but the heart rate is soon slowed by wooden dialogue and standard set pieces. Some scenes show promise; for example the powers of the main character are demonstrated cleverly through the art rather than through exposition.

The art in the book is certainly well done with Joe Bucco penciling, inking and colouring the entire issue. He has a good handle on facial expressions and he creates much of each character’s depth this way. His action scenes are also good, a cramped layout for a bar fight emphasizes the close confines of the action. Similarly his werewolf attack scene really brings out the fear in the unfortunate victim through colour and framing.

It is not easy to pin down what was disappointing about this issue. I suppose I am becoming increasingly annoyed with first issues purely being full of set-ups for things to come in later issues. If you can’t make each issue something complete in itself then write a graphic novel. It is possible to have ongoing stories that break up into complete chapters – just look at what Ed Brubaker did with Sleeper last year. On the whole, this issue failed to grab me – something a werewolf story should certainly aspire to!