Graphic Novel Review: Night Wolf Vol. 1

Night Wolf Volume One / Snow Paw

Written, edited and lettered by Rob Multari

Art by
Carlos Herrera, Oscar Choquecota, Ale Cat Melvyn

Colors by
Ross A. Campbell

Buy it HERE.

Night Wolf is a blend of the Teenage monster horror movie genre, supernatural eternal struggles between powerful forces with instinctual bonds to magic or the occult, a government agency on the alert to supernatural phenomena. Snow Paw has a bit of Scottish folklore.

-plus a tiny bit of superhero team stuff.

Gettin' the wolf on!

The story starts out with Rod Marcelli, high school football star and boyfriend to Jen, having a bad dream of being a werewolf. Later they meet at the Mall (of course) being it's just a day or two before school begins. Rod and friends meet up with an aggressive mean hussy and her friend who want to claim Rod as her lover. They fight with Jen of course.

Dealings with the Underworld, etc.

Lord Malice is plotting to... uh, take advantage of some ancient alignment of time when another werewolf will join with the 'Monoki,' an ancient race of werewolves...

Every so often there's the 'government agents' who intercede with the story, doing their 'Men in Black' style interference. And of course there's some connective tissue provided by 'the latest news' on TV.

This thick volume contains four stories. There's plenty of cool eye candy at the back with variant covers and posters, lots to like!

Rob Multari has been working hard at getting this out into the public, not only as a comic book but as a branded entity, selling thousands of copies worldwide through online fundraisers and conventions. He walks the walk, and there's no doubt he's in this for the long haul. His passion for werewolf tales shows through.

I have to ask myself when I closed the book what was Rob's sense of emotional connection to the story? There's an awkward, uneven approach to different happenings: people in the every-day high school/family world get brutally murdered. Their bodies are literally pushed to the background as the story moves on. Other times, like when there's a battle between werewolves, we get every nuance and twist of flesh, every knife slash. Pages and pages of that. Maybe Night Wolf should've just not shown the ordinary (read: boring) victims getting theirs and focus on the 'cool' fights instead? I think that's what I would've done.

Emotional connection... lost.

The story shines better when it's kept simple. When it was simply a matter of Lord Malice plotting to destroy Night Wolf (Rod Marcelli) with his demonic agents I enjoyed reading this graphic novel more. The 'damsel in distress' trope I liked as well. But, you could easily throw out the 'government agents', high school hi-jinx, the news and such and still have a decent story.

Rob Multari is a dynamic work force, a comic book maestro churning out book after book. I have no doubts his future work will contain more story and more emotional connection.

Next Tuesday:

Darling, a gritty, four issue comic book story about the goings on of a drug addict in New York.

printed by Source Point Press

created by Michael Fleizach and Todd Hunt

10454 Lomita Ave #B, Felton
United States

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