Love is feral. Love is unkind. Wait. That’s not how it goes! At least in the tedium of scripture. But in life? Love has teeth.
In Becky Cloonan’s Wolves, what the heart wants doesn’t so much matter to the bitter winds and the cruel onset of fate. To borrow from novelist Carson McCullers, the heart, quite literally, is a lonely hunter. Our hero is a gaunt and rugged wanderer desperate and forlorn in an unforgiving wood. He searches for a beast his King demands slain. It’s a task that might lead to far worse than death.
Wolves is a self-contained single issue rendered in stark black and white. It’s haunting and affecting, with an uncomplicated narrative exquisitely rendered. Liken it to a visual haiku, rich in the splendors of the natural world and human pathos.
The otherworldly realm of Wolves lies far from the Western Ocean where it laps the coast of Kush, Cloonan’s setting for the tremendous “Queen of the Black Coast” adaptation. But fans of her work on Conan the Barbarian would do well to seek out this equally spooky tale of primal passions. The action is visceral and the eerie scenes of doomed romance a tonal match for Conan’s hallucinatory lust for the pirate Queen.
Best of all, Wolves–initially available only in limited print runs from Cloonan herself–is now available for just $0.99 on Graphicly. It’s the perfect time to check out the self-published gem that Mike Mignola, Frank Quitely, Gerard Way and Guy Davis have been raving about.
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This book is awesome and I wish iFanboy would cover more truly indie titles like this one. Ok, I know there aren’t that many books out there of this quality, but I figure you guys will probably get to see them before I do and I’d love to know about them when you do.
I agree, there is such wonderful diverse indie wok out there. I love iFanboy’s UPSTART articles. Keep it coming.
Also agree. You guys should consider doing a biweekly spotlight on Kickstarter comics, there have been some great titles funded through that site, which (in terms of dollars raised) is now the third largest comics publisher in America (ahead of Image and Dark Horse!).
Thank you Paul for spotlighting this book & it’s wonderful artist. Cloonan has been killing it on the new Conan mini [ issue 2 came out yesterday ] and Wolves is just great stuff. I picked it up this past fall at NYCC.
I found an article through Robot 6 that talked about the musical tastes of different comic creators. Cloonan dominated them all. Ulver?!? Wodensthrone?! Holy shit. Makes this Wolves book and the Conan stuff make so much sense. If I was writing or drawing that kinda stuff I’d totally be rocking Nattens Madrigal. Rad shit.
Do you have a link to the article? I would love to read that.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-scheidt/the-comic-creator-mixtape_b_1317692.html
I found the article from a blerb about it on Robot 6. Definitely a fun read.
Remender has some good picks in the article too. At least they align with my taste more than the others… which makes them good. 🙂
I got this in the mail last week. So awesome!
I can’t wait till The Mire comes out!
http://beckycloonan.bigcartel.com/product/the-mire
If you like getting print copies, like I do, you can pick up Wolves from her website and pre-order The Mire, her next piece, and get it signed for free, or pay an extra $20 to get a sketch of one of the characters.
I just checked this out. Definitely a cool little story. Feels slightly like a Witcher story. It was also my first Graphic.ly purchase, so that’s a plunge. I actually enjoyed reading it a bit more on my phone than the computer monitor even though the display is small.
Has everyone seen this….
http://heartbreakcomics.com/blog/becky-cloonans-1989/
Thanks for the kind words guys! Psyched to release my self-published book digitally! And Paul, thanks a ton for the write-up! Much appreciated!