Review by: Sergio Porras I finally rolled the dice and took my chances on reading a book from Zenescope and was pleasantly surprised. When I see people buying Zenescope titles from my local comic shop it's usually the creepy thirty something year old man, who's a tad overweight, wearing matching sweatpants and sweater, who I assume is about to swing by McDonalds before he heads back to his bachelor basement at mom’s house. The one and only thing that attracted me to this book was the title. I'm not sure why but I've always had a strange affinity for lycanthropy.
Only having the title to work off of was a bit of a challenge when it came to the story but I was happy that there was a recap page to go off of to explain the way things work in then Grimm Universe. I quickly learned that this wasn't just a bed time story, but it was a story of revenge.
You're introduced to werewolf hunter Roman Asher who has returned to get revenge on the monsters that made his life hell while he was in the Shadowlands. While chasing a werewolf, Roman runs into a man named Rolly whose busy drowning himself in booze after his daughter Charlotte stormed out on him during a fight. After Rolly's meeting with Asher, Rolly becomes fearful that Charlotte may be in danger of whatever Asher is hunting. Rolly's worst nightmare comes true when the werewolf that is being hunted ends up finding the campground that Charlotte is staying at and attacking her. After the attack Charlotte is taken to a veterinary hospital where they are getting ready to do some special "testing".
This was the first story I've ever read that was written by Mark L. Miller and I really appreciated his writing style. Miller did a great job of moving the story at a quick pace, making sure there was a ton of action and setting up character development, but not giving too much away. Leaving the story with an awesome cliffhanger that left me on the edge of my seat.
My absolute favorite part of The Hunger was the art. Artist Elmer V. Cantada did a bang up job with incredibly realistic looking characters, and intense feeling action scenes that actually bring a level of fear that complement the story. Cantada's art is brought to life with colors by Omi Remalante Jr. Remalante was able to use a black background on most of the panels and chose colors that really make the art pop right off of the page.
Well there's no question as to if I will be finishing this series and jumping on board for a few of the other Zenescope titles. I'm very excited to see what becomes of the special testing that is going to be done on Charlotte after she was bitten by the werewolf. I hope that the story dives deeper into Roman's hunt and by the end I hope to see a resolution for his vengeful journey. It's going to be a challenge to wrap up a story in just three issues but it’s clear that the creative team has a vision and shouldn't have any problems ending the series on a strong note.
Score: 4/5
Writer: Mark L. Miller Artists: Elmer V. Cantada Colorist: Omi Remalante Publisher: Zenescope Entertainment Price: $3.99 Release Date: 5/22/13