By Dustin Cabeal
This issue of Wolf Country is a quick read, mostly because Halfpenny is fighting a wolf for most of it and tripping balls the rest of it. What continues to be gripping about this series is the way that Jim Alexander bounces between the settlement, the wolves, and Halfpenny back in the city. Unlike what a lot of writers would do, Alexander doesn’t check in on each part of the story with every issue. Instead, he finds a very natural way to bounce between them, and sometimes that means going a few issues without checking in.
Such is the case with this issue which focuses only on Halfpenny. He was incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit and finds himself mixed up in a conspiracy that has the potential to change everything in this world. That is the other great thing about the writing; it picks apart different genres depending on which aspect of the story it’s following. With Halfpenny, it’s more church vs. state with its Di Vinci Code mystery. Again though, Halfpenny goes blow to blow with a Wolf, kills it and then starts hallucinating from a lack of blood. In his vision, he reminds himself never to drink from the Wolf, which seems to be his captor's goal.
As good as this issue is and the story overall, there does need to be some kind of reveal coming up. It still isn’t clear to me everything that Halfpenny is up against and now seems like a great time to start revealing that. There is a bit of a reveal at the end, but it’s just the starting line, and we need to get racing if we’re ever to finish. None of these comments will affect my scoring for the issue though since they’re more of my thoughts on the series after reading the seventh issue of Wolf Country.
The art by Will Pickering continues to impress me. I say this every review I fell, but Pickering does continue to grow and improve with each issue. There’s a lot of empty space in this issue, but it didn’t make the story feel empty. Instead, it amplified what Halfpenny was going through, giving a surreal feeling to the panel-less pages. It came across as a dream sequence which I’m sure was the goal, but what’s impressive is that Pickering accomplished this using black, white and grey tones.
The steady releases for Wolf Country are worth the wait. It’s one of the few very indie titles that I have no doubt will return with another issue. What’s more, I can never tell where the story will land next, so it’s always an adventure with the next issue. If you’ve never checked out the series and want to get your beak wet on some indie comics, then click the link below to find out more about Wolf Country.
Score: 4/5
Wolf Country #7
Writer: Jim Alexander
Artist: Will Pickering
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Publisher: Planet Jimbot
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