The Astounding Wolf-Man #10 – Review

By Robert Kirkman (writer), Jason Howard (pencils, inks, colors), FCO and Ivan Plascenia (colors).

The Story: The main part of this issue revolves around the origin of Zecharia, the Astounding Wolf-Man’s one-time mentor turned arch nemesis. Through the tale of Zecharia’s genesis of becoming a vampire, we learn about the vampire nation and Zecharia’s ultimate plans for it.  We are also treated to some werewolf secrets as Gary, the Astounding Wolf-Man, goes through a dangerous training session with the werewolf who created him.

What’s Good: Zechariah’s origin story may be nicely spun, but its real strength lies in who Zecharia is retelling it to over the course of the issue. This unforeseen relationship adds a nice dynamic to Zecharia’s personality.

Jason Howard’s art is solid as usual in his unique cartoonesque presentation. His drawing of Gary’s daughter on the last page is especially memorable, as he does a better job than the text in capturing the emotion of the scene.  He has become a smoother storyteller and has shed off some of the clunkyness that weighed down some of the beginning issues of this series.

What’s Not So Good: Although this is a a non-Gary/Astounding Wolf-Man story, the training session that he and his new mentor go through doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and seems like a waste of time. The idea was to teach Gary how to escape while injured, but instead Gary just does some lame Lamaze-like breathing exercise.  After the cliffhanger last issue involving this very scene, this was a big let down.

Additionally, I feel that the main characters in this series all have confusing motivations. This is most evident in Zechariah, who Kirkman casts as an overall decent individual who struggles with his curse and who is repentant for his past deeds. We’ve seen many examples to support this portrayal throughout the series. But then Kirkman will supply us with information that Zecharia is really an evil, wanna-be despot. And then we have this issue where both these takes on this character are displayed simultaneously.  I understand that characters, like real people, are dynamic and hard to define. I got it. But too much of this wish-washy character study is drowning any plot tension and making this whole endeavor seem boring. The reader needs to know which side to root for– at least for a little while.

This overall inherent ambivalence that permeates many of the characters’ motivations is what makes the last scene, involving Gary’s daughter’s request to Zechariah, so anti-climatic and uninteresting.

Conclusion: The problems that I discuss above can be easily remedied in the coming issues. Also, it is likely that Kirkman, in typical fashion, is using these dynamics to set up something spectacular. But with a crossover with Invincible next issue, the progression of this story will have to be put on hold for a while– and with it my overall interest in the Astounding Wolf-Man. After such a promising start (see my review for the TPB of this series here: http://weeklycomicbookreview.com/2008/11/09/the-astounding-wolf-man-vol1-tpb-review/), it’s surprising to see such a down-turn in the momentum of this potentially great series.

Grade: C-

-Rob G.