Wolf Moon #4 Review

Wolf Moon #4 has Dillon face off against the Wolf and another hunter he has never encountered before.

WOLF MOON #4
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist/Inker: Jeremy Haun
Colourist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editors: Shannon Eric Denton and Greg Lockard
Publisher: Vertigo Comics
Cover Price: $3.99

Previously in Wolf Moon #3: Dillon chase the Wolf to a new city with some surprising aid from Cayce.

TWO THREATS ONE ALLY

Project after project writer Cullen Bunn turns out great independent comics and Wolf Moon #4 continues this tradition. From the first issue he has established a unique werewolf mythology that he continues to build on from issue to issue. It really culminates in the pages of this issue where Dillon is forced to not only face down the monster he has been hunting down and a threat from a man who represents the aforementioned mission.

Wolf Moon #4 is a bit of a game changer for the series to date. Up to this point Dillon has been chasing the Wolf across the United States as the skin walker spirit jumps from host to host, getting closer each time, but, ultimately, unsuccessful. Writer Bunn brings Dillon’s girlfriend (maybe his wife?), Cayce into prominence. Throughout the series she has appeared on the other end of Dillon’s phone calls, often threatening to leave him for the sake of a child of uncertain paternal parentage. By the end of the issue, Bunn has Cayce join Dillon’s crusade and resurrect their old partnership in a move that will hopefully bring the couple together and eliminate the threat of the Wolf once and for all.

For the most part Wolf Moon #4 is the fight between Dillon and the Wolf exacerbated by Dillon’s conflict with the other hunter. He is forced to contemplate the necessity for protecting civilians from the Wolf versus protecting civilians from the wayward shots fired by the hunter. Not only does this serve to raise stakes and create conflict, but Bunn gets the opportunity to bare his protagonist’s humanity while at the same time bringing up the question of whether he will be able to accomplish his goal in the end.

In addition to doing a lot of complicated things with Dillon and his character, Bunn also uses the very final pages of Wolf Moon #4 to introduce a new threat who is certain to throw a wrench into Dillon – and now Cayce’s – plans in the closing issues of this miniseries.

Wolf Moon #4 takes a truly unique approach to the werewolf mythos and the narratives presented about werewolf hunters and truly explores the most important emotional aspects and interpersonal relationships in Dillon’s life. It has added complications and set up several compelling obstacles to be overcome in such a short remaining time. It’s a really good issue.

DEADLY DARK

Artist Jeremy Haun does outstanding work in the pages of Wolf Moon #4. He brings a gritty reality to Cullen Bunn’s supernatural world that serves to ground the fantastical element in its respective reality. This issue is a narrative wrapped up in visual violence and for all the frights it is absolutely worth mentioning that Haun’s linework is stellar. Everything he touches from character design, the Wolf himself to the inside of an otherwise generic shopping center is rendered very realistically.

As for the veritable battle that takes place throughout Wolf Moon #4 Haun fills the panels with dynamic poses that not only present the Wolf as the physical threat that (s)he is, but betrays the level of combat training that Dillon and the other hunter have respectively. At several points throughout the issue something – or somebody – will get thrown and it look as if the object is coming straight for the reader.

Lee Loughridge adds another layer to Haun’s art in Wolf Moon #4 with his grim and gritty colours. The issue is cover in blacks, browns and greys making the visceral pinks and red stand out all the more brilliantly.

Wolf Moon #4 looks hard core.

BOTTOM LINE: AN EXCITING READ

Wolf Moon #4 is scary, interesting and dynamic. This issue is probably the best to date and easily the coolest werewolf story on the shelves.