Being a teenager is never easy. It gets even harder when you can’t go out on a full moon and you’re not really sure if you’re completely sane anymore. Read on for our review of the feverish “She-Wolf” Volume 1 by Rich Tommaso.
Written and Illustrated by Rich Tommaso
A surreal exploration in horror, SHE WOLF follows a teenage girl who believes she’s been bitten by a savage werewolf. Soon after she begins to experience feverish nightmares that seamlessly bleed into her everyday reality. Friends and family help to unlock the keys to her strange transformations through their own personal experiences with lycanthropy and by use of witchcraft. Collects issues #1-4.
Much to my shame, I didn’t know of Rich Tommaso’s illustrious comic book career before opening “She-Wolf”. I knew he wasn’t a newcomer but until this series, I had not actually been exposed to his work, I just knew his name in passing. With a long history as a colorist, Tommaso has spent the last few years publishing multiple comics and this year he published two series via Image Comics. One being “Dark Corridor” and the other that I’m going to spend time getting into here – “She-Wolf”. “She-Wolf” is mesmerizing in every sense and truly captures the outsider spirit that Image Comics wants to stand for.
“She-Wolf” tells the story of Gabby, a teenager with an interest in the occult and dark magic. She is turned into a werewolf after an encounter with a former boyfriend and from there her life changes drastically. Gabby was raised in a religious family and because of this she has no one to help her when she begins to suffer from waking nightmares. Nikki, in a chance meeting at the mall, reveals her own supernatural secret and together, they get into all kinds of trouble.
Werewolves are far from missing from pop culture. They’ve been done in lots of different ways and while the premise of “She-Wolf” isn’t ground breaking, the approach is so unique and engaging, that it was impossible for me not to fall in love with this. As is the case with most cartoonists, Tommaso is completely in tune with his own story. He crafts beautiful imagery to match the story he’s telling but allows that imagery to do the talking. The entire story is from the perspective of Gabby and because of this we witness her fever dreams and hallucinations as she sees them. We are not given narration as these things happen because Gabby doesn’t have that. We don’t need to have a concrete explanation on what she sees because like any hallucination or dream, it’s subjective and it can mean so many different things. Tommaso breaks the conventions of typical panel layouts to throw us fully into these full page visions that feature gorgeous coloring and dizzying imagery.
Tomasso’s style is all is own and when you’re working in the horror genre, this is what you need to do to stand out. “She-Wolf” is a sort of tribute to the 1980’s with it’s bright coloring and distinct fashion. The use of watercolors helps the backgrounds pop more and add to the delirium of the dreams and hallucinations. It’s a book meant to scare us just a little bit but the use of neon color helps to define it’s youthful feel. Gabby is young and this is far from an old feeling werewolf story. The way Gabby expresses her distress and terror is palpable but so is her exuberance when she’s with Nikki and they get deeper into the darker magic they both have an interest in.
Usually, lettering is not something I take notice of. As important as it is in creating any comic book (it’s literally what we read), it’s easy to ignore it because it’s doing it’s job. “She-Wolf” features some beautiful varying lettering. It’s as much a part of the art as the backgrounds or the character designs. It’s coloring changes, it’s shape changes and it all adds to the feeling of the story that Tommaso is trying to convey to readers. Having Gabby utter a long, whiny “Okaaaay” with an elongated balloon adds something to the “over it” attitude she has about her parents. Having the growls as large and as part of the art makes it feel much more tangible and having anger shouted in a red balloon adds an emotional response without needing to include extra narration.
“She-Wolf” is a great read but it’s not without a couple of minor hiccups. I almost wish it were an extra 20 pages longer only to get to know Nikki a bit more and understand the place that all this supernatural stuff has in the context of this town. We know how Gabby gets this way and we know a little bit about her interests but who is she really? Who is Nikki, really? The way it tackles things like isolation, angst, guilt are all excellent and that all eventually makes up for my nitpicks with the character development.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – “She-Wolf” might not be for everyone but it’s trippy and truly original. It breaks the mold of what Image has put out the last couple of years and I’m grateful for that.
