Customer Reviews

The Astounding Wolf-Man Volume 1 (v. 1)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This one offers up seven issues of comic book goodness, of fledgling superheroics combined with juicy horror elements. THE ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN, following the lycanthropic adventures of a young captain of industry, is another one of Robert Kirkman's creator-owned series, and Kirkman unsurprisingly again delivers. When Gary Hampton is savaged in the woods by a bear, it turns out it wasn't a bear. Strange stuff begins to happen, starting with Gary's miraculously rapid recovery and followed by his jaunts out into the night, of which he only ever has a vague memory. But, eventually, Gary learns the truth, that he's now cursed to be a werewolf.

And what does he do with this? He decides to become a superhero.

It starts out as a rosy picture, Gary's life. Runs his own company. Has a loving wife and teenaged daughter. Posh digs. And a butler. Even his initial clocking in as rookie costumed crimefighter starts off promisingly (he teams up with a superhero group - horribly called the Actioneers - and gets to beat up on a gooey supervillain). Dude's secret lair is underneath a mall. There's even a Wolf Car.

Then, gradually, things start to sour. Firstly, dude's a werewolf, and it shouldn't be such a shock that the wife and daughter find it challenging coming to grips. Then, there's this: once a month, on the first night of the full moon, the curse is at its most irresistible, and the wolf is rendered uncontrollable. Gary learns this in the worst way possible.

Not to mention, Gary is being mentored by a vampire, an honest-to-goodness bloodsucker. There are surely trust issues here.

As if that's not bad enough: the Astounding Wolf-Man has a run-in with a pack of werewolves, this pack seemingly with a personal grudge against his vampire mentor. Then his do-gooder status is called into question (the newspapers dare to ask "Hero or Killer?"). And the superhero team (with the lame name) which Gary had once fought alongside with comes looking for him, suddenly harboring a vendetta.

On the personal side: the husband-wife relationship is slowly crumbling. His daughter stops wanting to hug him. And wealth, it turns out, is ephemeral. And maybe love, too.

You can tell Robert Kirkman is having fun, because he's gleefully putting his lead character thru the wringer. This trade, THE ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN Vol. 1, collects issues #1-7 of the bi-monthly ongoing series (although it went monthly with #8). I actually caught the debut issue during Image Comics' 2007 Free Comic Book Day, although the bi-monthly schedule made it hard for me to stick with this series. Which is why this trade comes in so handy.

Robert Kirkman is writing some of the best comic book stuff currently going, what with his hit zombie series WALKING DEAD and his so cool teen superhero series INVINCIBLE (and I'm currently reading his Tech Jacket Volume 1: The Boy From Earth trade). Kirkman is all kinds of prolific, and one wonders how he's able to keep penning so many titles. In reading THE ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN, the first impression is that Gary seems to be going 'round in circles, patrolling at night and scrapping with super-villains. During the day, it's family crisis time, as his personal relationships slowly circle down the drain. But, as Kirkman himself has mentioned, nothing much seemed to be happening with INVINCIBLE either, during the early issues. And, then - Pow! Bam! - he sprung that trapdoor under you feet (remember when Omni-Man was once deemed the greatest superhero in the world?)! So, me, I'm being patient with this series, giving Kirkman time to develop things. THE ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN is slow at exploring this particular corner of the werewolf mythos, true, but there are some interesting "Oh, snap!" moments which Kirkman throws in. Check out issues #2 and #7, to see how quickly the status quo changes. Anyway, now that this series is on a monthly schedule, I'm back on board again, and very, very curious (Just what exactly is the Elder Brood? Hint: Gary is one).

Note that the Wolf-Man's exploits take place in the same universe as that of Invincible, Brit, and Tech Jacket, so expect cross-overs in future issues. But, for now, there's the Actioneers, playing a key role. Note also that the supervillains have been largely forgettable. In fact, there's almost a casual, throw-away feel to the way Kirkman writes the superhero battles, as if that's not where the true narrative punch lies. Thing is, the Wolf-Man is a creature of the supernatural, and there's so much more to dig up from that source.

One downside is that, in my opinion, Jason Howard's artwork doesn't match Kirkman's storytelling. Howard's style isn't what you'd call polished; it's more cartoony than anything, although it undeniably has a clean look and an energetic vibe to it. For whatever it's worth, I do like how he draws the Wolf-Man. It's the rest of it that bugs me. But, if you dig his illustrations, this trade also comes with 20 bonus pages of sketches, concept designs, and rough cover drafts by Jason Howard.

I like this series quite a bit, so it actually wouldn't surprise me at all should I find Howard's stuff growing on me. Meanwhile, Kirkman keeps whetting my appetite. After the shocking developments in issue #7, I had to pick up issues #8 & 9, and, well, things don't get any cushier for our man Gary.

So, go ahead, give THE ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN a try. It's a werewolf in tights, for cripes' sake! Now that's entertainment!

Along with Invincible, Capes, Brit and Tech Jacket, this is a great addition to the Kirkman corner of the Image universe. You might think this is a horror comic with the werewolf on front, but it is superhero comic through and through. Gary Hampton is head of a huge company when he is attacked by a werewolf and is cursed. But the curse of the wolf is only one aspect. He loses his company and his family is in shambles as he tries to deal with his new found powers. Gary however does decide to use his new powers as a super hero to fight crime and help others. This collects the first 7 issues. It does a great job introducing you to Gary and his supporting cast and family. Lots of nice twists and turns which really make me look forward to reading the second collection. This is worth picking up.

This first volume of the Astounding Wolf Man was a welcome arrival for me as I am a big fan of the Invincible series. Was really excited then to have a new series operating out of the same Universe as Invincible. The story line jumps off quickly and develops at a reasonably good pace. Where the book suffers however is in its artwork. Jason Howard's work is not as crisp as Ryan Ottley'. His figures are lacking in detail and don't establish a firm visual foundation for some of the characters -- Zechariah and the Wolfman himself being the two main exceptions. The main issue with the artwork in the compilation is that the coloration is off and quite frankly bland. The result is that the Wolfman series is left without the zip and freshness of Invincible. I totally get that there are other dimensions at work in this series, mainly the horror/darkness piece, which might call for different coloration, but what they have settled on is frankly too grey and pale for my liking. There is a lot of room to grow this story line and I am quite curious to see how Kirkman brings in more of the supernatural. He is one of the best writers out there in my book so if they can get the coloration and artwork fine tuned this series has a lot of potential. 4 Stars.

Gary Hampton is mauled by a werewolf while on a family vacation. Afflicted with the curse of the werewolf, Hampton finds himself changing into the beast at night. However, with the helping hands of the vampire Zechariah, Gary tries to use his powers for good and to become a superhero. But is there more to this curse then what Gary thought? And what secrets does Zechariah hold to the recent attacks of werewolves that are plaguing the city?

This story is horribly paced. Well, I shouldn't say horrible, but it's just way too fast. I shouldn't even start off a review this way but whatever. One page will talk about some thing or some crisis and the next would pretty much be after it, telling you quickly what happened. Issue to issue can be days apart with you getting what happened in a short outburst of exposition.

However, some of the dialogue is actually funny and interesting. This would be okay if the story wasn't so...predictable. Seriously, it's not hard to figure out what's going on and where everything is leading.

I know, this is Robert Kirkman, the guy who has been writing "The Walking Dead" since 2003, he should know how to pace a story, he should know how to make a twist work. I don't know what happened, but this feels like a throw away story.

The artwork, though, can't really complain about. It's really good. Jason Howard has great character designs, really good backgrounds and is still able to capture human emotions with all the gore thrown in there as well. I love Gary's Wolf-man look, even the Wolf-man's costume looks awesome. My one true grievance with the artwork is with the faces. Sometimes there will be an awkward look; other times the gum lines cause some of the characters to look like vampires. Overall though, good.

Volume 1 of TAWM collects issues 1-7 on high gloss paper. A cool extra at the end is a sketchbook of Howard's work with Kirkman adding comments to almost every picture. I'm a sucker for these kinds of things because I love knowing what ideas inspired them and the designs of characters, I just love it.

-Bottom Line-
I wanted to love this book. Kirkman has done so well with zombies and even superheroes, what happened here? The story is way over paced and highly predictable. The artwork and extras though are actually really good. This, however, doesn't help what's important to the book, the story. Kirkman could have done a lot with this book, but just didn't. In the end I would read the second volume if it could found for a decent price. Other than that it's at your own digression to buy it.

Title: The Astounding Wolf-Man Vol. 1
Publisher: Image
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Jason Howard (pencils, inks, colors, covers)
Collects: Astounding Wolf-Man #1-7
Price: $14.99

The name is designed to say it all. This new series by Robert Kirkman is about a werewolf super-hero. Yes, it has been done before, but never like this. Unlike Marvel's Werewolf By Night and other werewolf comics, this book doesn't seem to have the horror overtones of those books. It's much different than that. Probably the closest character comparison I can make for AWM is probably Moon Knight. The main character, Gary Hampton, is a super-hero by choice - using his curse to try to help others - ala Spider-Man. However, being quite wealthy, he has his own secret underground base of operations and high-tech car to drive around in - ala Batman. He only operates at night, as that is when he transforms to his feral, super-strong, super-agile, white-fur-covered state of wolfiness. He has his own self-designed (not self-made) costume but is not big on gadgets, relying primarily on his own claws and heightened senses and reflexes to keep safe. As an added bonus, his curse allows him to heal from wounds when he transforms from one state to the other. So, if he's injured as the Wolf-Man, he can change back to his human form and be healed up good-as-new, and vice versa. Why is he white and not brown? I don't know. Maybe that will be explained at some point or maybe there is no reason other than it makes him look cooler in costume.

I have to say that the idea of a Wolf-Man as a costumed hero sounded pretty silly to me. Why would a werewolf even need a costume? Well, it turns out that the execution of the idea plays out better than the idea I had in my head. It's not so bad after all, and his costume looks better than a lot of other costumes I've seen, so I won't hold that against him.

The other central character of this story is Gary's mentor, a vampire named Zechariah. Why would a vampire help a werewolf? Well, though some reasons are given, part of the fun of this book is that you really don't trust Zechariah. Gary and Zechariah go in circles, with Gary constantly questioning Zechariah about his actions and motives and Zechariah constantly trying to explain things to Gary without really giving him the full story. Though Robert Kirkman prides himself on being unpredictable, it seems clear that at some point there will be loads of dirty laundry that will come tumbling out of Zechariah's closet and the fight between these two will be officially on. I could be wrong, but I think that's where things are going.

Gary is hardly innocent, himself, though, and Zechariah seems to be building up his own list of blackmail material against Gary, should their relationship ever head south. Any why, exactly, are all other werewolves in this book trying to kill Zechariah? That is yet to be fully explained, too.

There's a lot going on in this book and it was a far better read than I was expecting. Add in a cliffhanger ending to this volume and there's plenty here to like and bring me back for more. While I didn't love the story, Kirkman had plenty of interesting elements to draw me in and leave me wanting more.

Artwork in this book was done be newcomer Jason Howard. Howard handles all the art chores, which is extremely rare in this day and age. However, when your art style is as simplistic as Howard's is, that isn't as hard to achieve. While Howard is a gifted artist, his art tends to be more cartoony than realistic. He seems more like a cartoonist than a typical comic book artist. His art style seems more suited to Tiny Titans or The Batman or one of Marvel's Franklin Richards comics for younger audiences than a violent book like this. More than anything, it was the art that I did not like about this book. It reminded me of the poor look of animation that is so common in cartoons for young kids seen on Cartoon Network these days. I have no doubt that had this book been illustrated by a superstar artist like Marc Silvestre or David Finch, this book could have real selling power. As it stands now, it's just not going to be a large seller with this artist on it. Sorry Mr. Howard, but I think you'd be better on another book.

Despite the lack-luster artwork, AWM is a decent comic and one worth checking out. It's definitely better than a lot of other books on the shelf that are being put out by the "big two." Pick it up for a look-see and see what you think of it. You may very well enjoy it as much or more than I did. Plus, at a cover price of only 15 dollars, this book is priced much more competitively than similar books from the rival companies.

Writing: 7/10
Artwork: 6/10
Cool Factor: 6/10
Value: 8/10
Overall: 6.75/10

I just finished the first volume last night, and all I can say is: I am truly amazed.

The Astounding Wolf-Man is a comic masterpiece. To be honest, I just learned about the comic book series a few days ago, and I'm already in love with it! ^__^

The art style is very unique, compared to all of the other comics I've read in the past. The story is very well written, and the fighting and action scenes are very detailed. I would give an award to the creater and artist who made this comic if I could, but I can only give my positive review and happy comments, which is worth much, much more than a trophie or medal.

I was blown away from this comic, and I have already ordered the next two volumes, and I will pre-order the final volume after finishing the third. I cannot wait to read the next books!

I am very happy with my purchase of The Astounding Wolf-Man! :)

A new take on the story of werewolves and vampires, set in the same universe as Robert Kirkman's Invincible series. Like Invincible, it is very compelling; Kirkman sets up situations and takes them to their logical, if gory, conclusions. Where other comic books would use a deus ex machina to avoid character deaths or even to avoid major character personality changes, Kirkman is fearless in changing things up, right from the very start. Like Invincible, this comic could be accused of being more blood-filled (and guts-filled, and brain-splatter filled, you get the point), than is needed. But if you're okay with that, there is much to enjoy in this graphic novel, which contains the first seven issues of the comic book series and some extras such as artists sketches.

"The Astounding Wolfman, v.1"
Written by Robert Kirkman
Illustrated by Jason Howard
(Image Comics, 2008)
--------------------------------------
This slim volume, collecting issues #1-6 of a new series by Robert Kirkman, is a pleasant book, a quick read with the simplicity and quick movement of the classic, old-school superhero books that many of us grew up with. Kirkman has established himself as a master of retrodelic comicbook storytelling, particularly on his "Invincible" title which takes the teenaged superman myth to new heights. He's also mastered the monster genre, in his zombie epic, "The Walking Dead," and this title, about a superhero werewolf, falls somewhere between the two.

The storytelling in this initial arc is economical in the extreme, opening, without prelude, to the aftermath of a vicious mauling that leads our hero to become a lycanthrope. With even less explanation we learn that, conveniently enough, the newly-minted monster man is also a Bruce Wayne/Tony Stark-style gazillionaire, enabling him to build a secret lair and design some of the high-tech doodads that go with the superduper lifestyle. Despite the overly facile presentation of these and other important plot points, this is an enjoyable series, and although I wasn't blown away, I was engaged, and wanted to read the follow-up story in Volume Two... And that's good, because in Volume Two, this series really starts to sizzle! Worth checking out. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)

I don't know why I bought this trade, maybe it was all the good buzz it was getting, but I remember thinking the concept sounded a bit stupid when the first issue hit the shops: Basically it's: guy gets turned into a werewolf so he becomes a superhero.

Let me just say that despite the silly premise, this book is great. The art is fantastic and the writing is top notch. The comic reads very cinematic and there were times I wished an Astounding Wolf-Man movie were in the works just so I can see all this on the big screen (or HBO series). The horror and superheroics mix pretty well and there are lots of twists and turns in the series so far. I can think of at least two times in the book (maybe three) where I said "oh crap!" out loud.

Can't wait for the next trade!

I've said it before, but Robert Kirkman has to be my favorite writer nowadays! Here he brings it again. From Battle Pope to the Walking Dead, I just don't know how he does it. This book has everthing action, horror/gore, and of course the thing that Kirkman does best CHARECTER DEVELOPMENT!!! The last I think is lost nowadays. If you ever read the walking dead you know that he likes to make you really love a charecter before he (usually brutally) takes them out, and you get that here. His charecter are rarelly undevelloped thow aways (except for some villans here).

As for the story, well it's well done. It kinda reminds me of Bruce Wayne being trained by Ras Aul Ghul ( I know I butchered that spelling, along with many other words, I can't remeber how to spell it and I'm to lazy to look it up, so piss off!), in the batman begins movie. Damn I have to leave so I will stop my reveiw here and say BUY THE DAMN BOOK YOU'LL ENJOY IT!
But now I have to head to the bar!!!
LATER!!!