Due to budget and time constraints, I went about 2 months without going to the comic shop. The upside of this was getting a double dose of the series I read which actually had new issues out (all two of them... *sigh*). The downside was... uhhhh... there really wasn’t one. Other than going through comic withdrawal, of course. You’d think after two months, there’d be tons of reviewable material on the shelves, right? Think again! Some fun stuff, different day. The few new series that I saw really didn’t appeal to me, so I settled for The Way of the Wolf (heretofore known as WoW) because it’s written by local writer Michael R. Barklage. Not that I know who Barklage is, or that I’ve ever even heard of him before, but I like to support local talent and the art looked good, so I picked it up. Unfortunately, WoW is one of those comics that I don’t feel strongly about. I like to feel strongly about things, one way or another, because emotion leads to inspiration, and inspiration hopefully leads to something which you readers will enjoy. WoW isn’t really bad... It’s just not really good either. It tells the story it wants to well enough, but the story didn’t engage me. The story is set in the Black Forest, long ago when man and wolf hunted together. Or rather, towards the end of this period. Man and wolf are growing distant, and can no longer talk to each other. When a girl goes missing from the human tribe, they blame the wolves. Surely the wolves envy and fear man’s fire and tools, so they have turned against mankind. The people set out to kill the wolves and find the girl. If the wolves really had killed the girl, of course we wouldn’t have much of a story. A crazy man killed the girl and the wolves killed him, but by the time the one man who can still speak with the wolves (typed in a dramatic teaser-trailer voiceover sort of way) explains this to the human hunter, a wolf has already been fatally wounded. And thus Speaker is left, feeling saddened. The end. Except, this is the first issue of a six-issue mini-series. So what happens next? The story leaves us with no hook to draw us back in to future issues. Speaker (as the wolves call him) doesn’t vow to bring humans back to the old ways. The humans don’t vow to exterminate all the wolves. The wolves don’t vow to do exactly as the humans expect of them. Speaker doesn’t seem interesting enough to make me want to know more about him. The one thing that might keep readers hooked is Robert Graham’s dark art. Even the white in this comic is shaded with grey, everything is darkness, shadows, and slightly rough lines. It fits well with the story. I don’t think that smooth, full-color art would have worked as well. Graham’s style and shading really evoke a Black Forest sort of feeling. The Way of the Wolf is a violent comic with mild sexual reference, not suitable for children but likely fine for pre-teens.

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