Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Jeremy Haun
Publisher: Vertigo
Release Date: December 3, 2014
There’s something inherently terrifying about the concept of the werewolf: it represents a primal loss of control, of doing horrific things without the restraint or knowledge you’re doing them — the fear that you might become a monster through no fault of your own. There’s a valid reason that the wolfman has remained a compelling figure in horror for so long. That said, there’s also a reason why there are far more successful vampire stories than werewolf ones.
The werewolf simply isn’t as versatile a figure as a vampire, with its ruminations on sexuality, immortality and nihilism. It’s hard to imagine a Jim Jarmusch-directed deconstruction of the werewolf in the same way that he fused vampires and empty urban spaces in Only Lovers Left Alive. Remove that helpless loss of control and bloodlust in werewolves, and you basically have a superhero with fur. Wolf Moon, a new limited series by writer Cullen Bunn and illustrator Jeremy Haun, strives to add new depth to this small genre with mixed results, offering an interesting perspective on the werewolf while also running through some well-traveled paths.
Archetypes abound in this first issue: a man horrified at his lupine transformation; the grizzled monster hunter going about his task; the woman he leaves behind to hunt who disapproves of his dangerous lifestyle. (And plenty of gore, rendered precisely by Haun). It’s all a little familiar, though the dialogue notes the traditions: as Dillon, the hunter, goes to track the creature, his partner Cayce refers to him as “the great white hunter,” a knowing nod to a cliche. Coming from Bunn, whose creator-owned comic The Sixth Gun accomplishes much more by unraveling and re-assembling tropes, segments of Wolf Moon are disappointingly standard.
