The Astounding Wolf-Man #1

Robert Kirkman & Jason Howard

Yes, I'm a little late on my review of this book, but at least I'm getting to it... During Free Comic Book Day, I had to work, so my usual comic book store had "sold out" of this book by the time I got around to perusing the leftover selection. A visit to a new, closer and overall better store (Neptune Comics) led to my picking up this book months after its launch (the second issue is already on comic book shelves). After reading the debut issue of the Robert Kirkman title, I can say that there's nothing too new and inventive about the title thus far. It's your basic attacked-and-discovering-you're-a-werewolf story. Nothing shocking and inventive about it whatsoever. We've seen this type of thing dozens of times before. But I believe this character turns into a superhero of sorts in subsequent issues, so past the obligatory origin, we may get something worth a closer inspection. But as is, it's very by-the-numbers, with the great cartoony art and instantly likeable characters being the only saving graces. I think I will give it another shot since Kirkman is generally a pretty good writer, but if something compelling doesn't happen soon, I'm going to have to write the title off... C-