Wulf and Batsy is a comic book series, described as “old fashioned
Horror,” that’s been around for over a decade now. There are four trade paperbacks that average
about 250 pages available. So, it’s not
really a new comic book, but (I think) it’s still an ongoing series to this day.
![]() |
Wulf and Batsy have no home |
The thing that attracted my eye to Wulf and Batsy was the
very stylized and detailed artwork of Bryan Bough. He captured the right mix I believe, of allowing
his personal style to shine without deranging the subject matter too much, and keeping
it somewhat in the bounds of naturalism.
The characters, themselves, seemed to flow and move easily against the surreal
Van Goghish-like landscapes in the background (always a nice gush of wind for
hair and dresses too). There were also
plenty of shadows and hard light to remind you this was a horror comic. Except for the cover, the books are in black
and white.
The series starts off with Wulf and Batsy already friends, looking for a home to stay. But they’re
monsters, a vampire witch and werewolf specifically, so finding a home isn’t
easy. The main theme of the story, at
least in the first couple of comics (#1 and #2), is the persecuted monster
trope. Humans are the real monsters, you
see, and Wulf and Batsy are trying hard to be normal and belong like everyone
else.
The normie villagers,
of course, react in exaggerated cartoony rage when they discover “monsters” are
about their town. They grab their pitchforks,
form a stereotypical mob, and then go after the poor misunderstood
monsters. If only the villagers knew
about the virtue of inclusivity. Don’t
they know that monsters are just like everyone else when they aren’t being
discriminated against? I got a hunch
those backward hicks didn’t even know, statistically, humans committed the
majority of crimes in medieval villages, not monsters. Perhaps ignorance is the real monster here. I’m just kidding, of course, we should always
kill monsters.
The story ends when Batsy is tied to a tree and is being tortured
for no reason other than to show how mean the villagers are. And, this is a thing that happens in stories,
where you want to establish to the audience its okay to do bad things to a certain
person. There was no point for the
farmer woman to want to get-in-some torturing before the execution, but if she
hadn’t, then later, when she is brutally killed by the monsters, it would have
been emotionally confusing for the audience, I guess.
Remember, the humans are supposed to be the
real monsters here. In the end, after a gory
slaughter, Wulf and Batsy must be on their way, leaving behind corpses of those
they had to kill. As Batsy says,
leaving, “Well, so much for this town… what’s left of it.” I imagine that this will be a constant theme
of the book series.
![]() |
They try to be nice |
However, to my delight, the next book (#3) began a new
storyline, where it veered off the persecuted monster trope.
This time around, Wulf and Batsy decide to help some graveyard zombies
deal with a mad scientist who had been abusing the zombies for mysterious
reasons. This puts the main characters
more into a monster-hero light, than as the monster-victims from before. I feel
like I will enjoy this kind of adventure for Wulf and Batsy better. But, so you know, this is where I left off in
the series, so I don’t know what happens after that.
Overall, I really liked the stylized artwork and the corky
horror universe of the series. I didn’t
get too far, but being that there is a lot more material to read, I’m sure there
is a lot to enjoy in the expanded Wulf and Batsy world. I give this series a B-.
For those interested, the artist/author left this “warning” under the description for some
his of Wulf and Batsy paperbacks:
WARNING:
Not safe for sensitive readers or social justice warriors. <this paperback> contains Exploitative Content and Politically Incorrect themes. Brimming with old-fashioned horror tropes, graphic violence, religious themes, and mischievous sexual innuendo. There is something in this massive 2-part story to offend everyone. Order with caution!
Not safe for sensitive readers or social justice warriors. <this paperback> contains Exploitative Content and Politically Incorrect themes. Brimming with old-fashioned horror tropes, graphic violence, religious themes, and mischievous sexual innuendo. There is something in this massive 2-part story to offend everyone. Order with caution!
That kind of warning (or disclaimer) makes me want to check
out further comics of Wulf and Batsy even more.
…
No comments:
Post a Comment