The Beast of Wolfe’s Bay is a hidden gem amongst independent comics. The book’s creator, Erik Evensen, has done a wonderful job of creating a unique comic experience. He combines a number of different elements to create a fun and exciting adventure that should appeal to almost anyone.
The story revolves around Brian Wegman, a young and rather brilliant anthropologist who cant seem to find the inspiration to finish his research and complete his graduate degree. As an 8th year grad student, the pressure to finish his degree continues to mount.
When Brian is about to leave school for yet another boring weekend alone he receives a surprise call from Sheriff Gary Roth about an unexplained murder at Wolfe’s Bay. As the only qualified anthropologist in the area he is asked to come and consult on mysterious tracks left at the scene of the crime. This, of course, doesn’t happen without incident. The Sheriff’s daughter (and Brian’s old friend), Freddie is also helping out with the investigation. After briefly catching up with her, Brian learns that Freddie has already finished her graduate degree and is on the fast track to getting tenure at the local college. She has accomplished everything Brian has not.
To make matters worse, Freddie and Brian are immediately pitted against each other when she announces that she strongly believes the murders to have been caused by some unknown creature or beast possibly related to ancient myths in the area. Brian, a man of logic and facts, can’t accept this conclusion without proof, even if he does agree the tracks are not human or tracks of any animal he knows.
Through both the writing and the art you can feel Brian’s frustration. Most of the frames are dialogue-heavy which isn’t a bad thing. The dialogue works together with the wonderful illustrations to give each character personality and emotion. The lines and colors are crisp and clean. Setting the mood for every frame. You see the excitement on Freddie’s face as they get deeper into the mystery. Likewise, you can see Brian’s frustration with her upbeat attitude and outlandish theories. The dialogue is well written and placed so it doesn’t ruin any of the frames. In fact, the combination of the dialogue with the pictures makes it easy to hear each character’s voice. This is an incredible accomplishment for an independent comic. Throughout the course of the story you become attached to the characters. By the end I felt like I knew them. Which makes experiencing Brian’s growth as a character even better. As he learns from Freddie and gains confidence in himself, he slowly starts to solve the mystery piece by piece. As the clues piled up and the suspense mounted, I found myself reading faster and faster, losing my self in the story until the end.
So if you haven’t checked out The Beast of Wolfe’s Bay, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy now and enjoy this fresh and fun comic experience.
Sci Fi Saturday Night received a free e-copy of The Beast of Wolfe’s Bay for review purposes only. No other compensation was received.
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