Wolf #1
Image Comics
Written by: Ales Kot
Art by: Matt Taylor
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Designer: Tom Muller
Wolf #1 begins with a man singing while burning alive. It’s a striking way to start this story and this tone continues for the rest of the issue.
The titular character and the burning man, Antoine Wolfe is an immortal detective who has had enough of living. In explaining to his superior why he was walking along a road burning, we learn Wolfe is rather nonchalant about his life, and that becoming an immortal man was never his choice. As the story continues, Antoine’s personality and history begins to take form, we learn about his time in the military and what followed him home afterwards.
Wolfe is a detective however, and this wouldn’t be a detective story without said detective getting in
volved in situations he isn’t particularly enthused about. Wolfe meets a hypnotist street magician, a racist old man named Sterling Gibson, who Wolfe has a discussion about mythology with. Later Wolfe gets a visit from Freddy Chtonic, my new favorite squid boy, about his rent. Wolfe may be the main character, but the book jumps around a few times, focusing on a young girl being escorted to jail after her parents’ mysterious and bloody death.
Wolf #1 can get a bit confusing at times, and I had to reread it just to understand what was going on. Clocking in at 58 pages, this deserves a long hard look and you might be surprised what you see in the art. Matt Taylor and Lee Loughridge are the artist and colorist for this book at they are brilliant. Taylor’s clean, angular pencils give way to fantastic details in the background and the way Loughridge fills pages with fiery oranges and forest greens is a sight to behold. This book has both style and substance if you’re willing to look close enough, and proves just how weird Los Angeles is.