Comics Review: “Wolf” #1 (Image Comics)

- by Ninja Ross, 26 July 2015

I've never been to L.A, but I've seen enough movies and listened to enough Red Hot Chilli Peppers songs to know it's a pretty happening place full of short people and bridges, with the occasional one eyed escapee. But the first issue of "Wolf" from Image comics gives us an even more in depth look at the city, showing how it's full of monsters, psychic street magicians, racists and Cthulhu. If all of that doesn't make you want to visit the place, I don't know what will.

The cover. Click to enlarge!

Written by Ales Kot, with art from Matt Taylor and Lee Loughridge, this book follows Antoine Wolfe, an occult specialist who happens to be a little bit immortal. Which is pretty convenient, since the book opens with him on fire while wearing a magic straitjacket.

Antoine Wolfe is in a bit of a crappy situation; he's haunted by the ghosts of old friends, he has terrible nightmares and he just can't seem to die. He's also involved with a rich angry racist by the name of Sterling Gibson, who thinks setting fire to Wolfe is the best way to test his immortality before hiring him.

Add to that the daily problems one might find around L.A, such as scum bag hypnotists trying to con old ladies on the bus and an old God having arguments over the rent with his vampire landlord, and you can see why Wolfe doesn't smile all that much.

Writer Ales Kot spends plenty of time setting major plot points up and introducing story elements, but a lot of the book is dedicated more to the characters. We're introduced to a few of the supporting cast, the best of which is the aforementioned old God Freddy Chtonic.

Here's Freddy!

Wolfe himself is pretty interesting character. He has a low tolerance for terrible people, occasionally going out of his way to make that clear. On more than one occasion, he puts his own safety on the line just to insult people.

The story so far is still quite intriguing; We only learn so much about Wolfe, but everything we do learn seems to be pretty tragic. Wolfe is almost a classic noir hardboiled detective, complete with a death wish. Most of his motivation seems to come from the need to help his family, who are only mentioned a couple of times in this first issue.

Wolfe. Also mentioned? His love of myths.

Matt Taylor's art work is a pretty great fit for the story, too. It's clean and pretty! He gives everything a nice, simple look with plenty of life. There's some real nice looking places in there, with just as much detail given to the backgrounds as the characters. Which is good, since L.A feels very much like part of the cast in this book.

Wolfe's design itself is a nice simplistic one; jeans, white shirt and dog tags. While others are more complex, Wolfe's look stands out pretty well.

Gibson. That racist piece of shit.

The book does have a couple of pacing issues, despite the fact that the first issue is nearly three times the length of a regular comic book. Even with the extra space, Kot sometimes gets carried away with each new idea.

But overall, it's a pretty great first issue that sets the series up nicely. It has plenty of great ideas and some truly interesting characters with some great art backing it up. Well worth giving it a shot, especially since there's plenty of content in this bumper first issue! BUY IT!


Did you pick up "Wolf" #1? What did you think of it? Will you stick around for #2?

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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