Written by: Ales Kot
Art by: Matt Taylor and Lee Loughridge
Publisher: Image
As per usual with Wolf, I’ve read Issue 4 twice and am still a little confused. I went back and reread Issue 3, and that certainly helped some, but I’m beginning to think there’s a lot left out of this comic for some kind of effect. Or, barring that, there are many devils hidden away in the details, and I don’t see all the details right away.
It’s interesting though, because while I find the whole thing kind of frustrating, I also like it. I’m a sucker for a mystery and unanswered questions when there are just enough puzzle pieces in place to figure things out. Wolf is that, or will be once this first arc is over.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Issue 4 starts off with a breaking and entering, though Mr. Wolfe is laying in wait. Of the four vampires that hit the house, we only see Wolfe subdue and interrogate one, but I imagine the other three were killed in no-nonsense ways. Wolfe is kind of a badass like that. The interrogation is where the meat of the first half of the comic takes place, with Wolfe finally giving up a bit of his backstory and explaining the powers he possesses.
There’s more than just immortality, which he considers a curse and not a superpower.
It’s an interesting section, perhaps not quite as compelling as it could be, yet it’s wholly grounded in reality and helps paint Wolfe has a normal person instead of some kind of super detective. The things that have shaped him into the depressed man he has become are regular tragedies coupled with a scarring tour of Afghanistan that has yet to be fleshed out.
The latter half of the comic involves more movement and a nice twist on the idea of “the wolf leading the lamb to the slaughter.” It then throws in one extra twist for good measure.
On the art front, the comic looks quite good as usual. I feel like Matt Taylor and Lee Loughridge made better use of color and silhouettes here than in previous issues, and there’s a minimalist style throughout that really works. Though once again, some of the heavier silhouettes make it hard to know who is who at points, which of course can lead to more questions or general confusion.
As a comic series, I’ve grown to like Wolf despite its strange story pace and its purposeful vagueness. The world the comic inhabits is still wonderful, and Wolfe is still an interesting protagonist. I do think, however, that this is a series best fit for a trade paperback, where you can have all the issues bound together in one book. It’ll make it easier to flip around at your leisure if you get confused and need to cross-reference an older comic.
