Night Wolf #1: The Calm, Before the Storm

Night Wolf #1 begins as a horrific dream with jolts of fear and terror. A dark and mystic place, Rodney is trying to escape the zombies clutching onto him as a snow white wolf fight the undead. This nightmare is so vivid and frightening with detailed images of a black wolf transforming back to human that can leave the reader in a state of panic with the side of morbid entertainment. The dream quickly eases Rodney back into consciousness with his worst fear, being the animal responsible for his girlfriend’s death. Or, was the werewolf in Rodney’s dreams really him or is he misinterpreting his dream? Rodney’s girlfriend, Jen, comforts him and falls back to la la land with Rodney awake and the taste of blood in his mouth.

Most young children experience nightmares, with an estimated 10 percent to 50 percent between the ages of 5 and 12 years having nightmares severe enough to disturb their parents, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). Typically, most kids will grow out of them, but what happens to adults? In this story, the vivid dreams continue each night for this 18 year old Rodney of West Middlesex, Pennsylvania with familiar faces and nightmarish creatures of the supernatural. Hecate, a witch and advisor to Lord Malice, summons powerful black magic at will without incantation or spell book. Hecate informs her master of the newest Monoki in the region, who may be too tainted to be purebred, but not bad enough to be a mongrel. Lord Malice commands Hecate to send the TWINS to investigate and summon “Black Claw” at once!

Meanwhile, the following Saturday afternoon, Randy and Jen meet up with some friends at the mall. The nightmares are mentally causing physical disturbance for Randy and his friends notice. Jen and her fiend Jess have some girl time as Randy and the boys do their thing. The testosterone is in full effect as well as a certain estrogen, we call Janelle. She flirts with big man Rod with no shame to her game. Then the girlfriend arrives and, well, many guys have been in this situation, lol. Rodney finds something familiar with Janelle, other than the racks of teenage desire. She has a twin sister, Circe, who arrives and ready to @#$% up that skank. Hecate shows these happenings to her Lord Malice and he finds familiarity to Rodney’s girlfriend, Jen. Lord Malice demands the twins to back off before any more attention is brought to them.

Robert A. Multari provides an excellent beginning of a horrific love story for the young at heart as Night Wolf #1 flips between known reality and the mythical world. Multari does an excellent job on articulating the science of nightmares to the essence of fictional storytelling. A nightmare is when we are mentally dealing with difficult issues during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and trying to sort them out. We, as humans, often ignore our difficult issues with distractions during the day but when we are asleep and alone in our own heads, these difficult issues will be addressed.

Night Wolf #1, Rodney Marcelli is metamorphosing between the principles of Neo-humanism as he becomes a Lyncanthrope, more commonly called a warewolf. The stress that his body is undergoing is currently unknown to Rodney, which is the trigger of these nightmares. During the state of REM sleep, Rodney’s mind or spirit is bouncing between “planes of existence”. Marcelli’s storytelling flows like a rapid river as he bounces the reader between the realms. This works excellent and intrigues the imagination from panel to panel and page to page, up to the end of this first awesome and morbid issue.

Marcelli is in full control of this story as he determines the pacing throughout this first issue. It’s exciting to notice that he is writing in full script and not relying on anyone else to get his job done. Marcelli places subtle hints that this title will connect to other as he is world building. It will be quite interesting to see where this series lead the reader.

Artwork & coloring by Oscar Choquecota & Carlos Herrara & Ross A. Campbell greatly emphasizes the storytelling. This talented team provides a strong horror theme art. The reader easily can relate and put themselves in each character’s shoes. This creative team uses numerous close-up shots to give the reader a real-world emotional feeling that connects with the ominous tones throughout the story. The coloring enhances this smart cinematic panel layouts with point of view perspectives all combined to create an eerie atmosphere. An awesome start to a potential great series!