The Astounding Wolf-Man

The Astounding Wolf-Man
The Astounding Wolf-Man #1 Director's Cut
Publication information
Publisher	Image Comics
First appearance	"The Astounding Wolf-Man" (May 2007)
Created by	Robert Kirkman Jason Howard
In-story information
Full name	Gary Hampton
Species	Werewolf/Human
Abilities	Superhuman senses, strength, speed, agility, durability, Accelerated healing factor

The Astounding Wolf-Man is a comic book ongoing series launched by Image Comics on May 5, 2007. The series was created and is written by Robert Kirkman with art by Jason Howard. The first issue of The Astounding Wolf-Man was given away for free as part of Free Comic Book Day. A "director's cut" edition of the first issue was released the same date as the second issue.

The story is that of Gary Hampton, a CEO who is mauled by a werewolf while on a family vacation. The story revolves around Gary's efforts to use his powers for good and to be a superhero, despite having an evil curse.

Storyline

After his second experience with lycanthropy, Gary is visited in his home by a stranger who he first thinks is paparazzi. The stranger tells Gary that he can help him with his "problem" because he "has experience with the super-natural". He then gives a menacing smile which shows the stranger's long, sharp teeth; that, coupled with his glowing red eyes, suggests he is a vampire.

At the start of the second issue, it is revealed that the stranger is named Zechariah. He begins to mentor and tutor Gary and help him to harness his werewolf abilities. They visit super-hero outfitter and tailor Art Rosenbaum, who designs a costume for the newly christened "Wolf-Man". The costume includes gauntlets that harnesses moonlight, so that if Gary is ever caught in sunlight, he will have some time to take cover before transforming. Gary's first night performing as a super-hero has him teaming up with a group of other heroes, called "The Actioneers", who he helps take down a multiple-headed monster called Spore.

Meanwhile, Gary's family life begins to deteriorate: his daughter Chloe is not aware of her father's condition, and his wife seems to resent it. Gary starts on his way out of his bedroom to meet with Zecheriah for another night of training, but instead stays with his wife, and they start to have sex. However, during foreplay, Gary transforms into his werewolf form and, seemingly out of control of his actions, leaps out the nearby window. In his transformed state, he kills a member of the Actioneers, "Sergeant Superior".[1]

Issue 3 opens with Gary sitting in his secret base underneath his home, seemingly distraught at his actions. Zecheriah drives up in the new "Wolf-Car", and Gary transforms into his werewolf form before attacking the vampire, angry that he has been missing for a fortnight, in which time he has killed another person. Zechariah turns into his mist form and dodges the attack, before calmly explaining that he knew Gary would be out of control when he transforms at a full moon, but that he needed to feel the rage to understand it. He then apologizes, saying he made a mistake.

The following evening, Zecheriah and Wolf-Man head onto the streets in pursuit of a super-villain called Thrill Kill, who's taken a girl hostage. They succeed in defeating the villain and saving the girl, but as Wolf-Man heads back to the car, he finds himself in an ambush situation with four other werewolves, one of whom grabs Zecheriah around the neck. Wolf-Man fights off the werewolves, and Zecheriah turns into his mist form and escapes. The werewolves retreat, stating they will be ready for the 'elder brood' (Wolf-Man) and Zechariah next time.

The next morning, over breakfast, Gary reveals to his wife that he has been voted out of his company by the board of directors, before his butler Dunford comes in to tell him that a "group of men" are at the door, and are there to evict Gary from his house.

Issue #4 opens with Gary and his family trying to cope with their recent financial troubles. With his family now relocated to his hideout and his daughter made aware of his "condition", Gary continues his work as a superhero.

Characters

Gary Hampton - The story's protagonist and titular character as Wolf-Man, Gary starts the series as a wealthy CEO trying to balance his family life with his corporate duties. After his ill-fated family vacation and subsequent realization that he is now a werewolf, he attempts to make use of his new abilities as a superhero. Gary's transformation into a crime fighter is due in large part to his mentor Zechariah, who has shown Gary everything he has needed to know to be an effective werewolf. The attack and Gary's new life though came at a volatile time in his life and have had significant consequences on his everyday life. Just prior to his attack, his company had gone public, and the resulting media frenzy after his near-death wreaked havoc on the company's stock. In the end, he was fired in an attempt to recover financially and because Gary's house was purchased with company funds, Gary and his family were evicted from it. Gary also has to struggle with the fact that his powers are not fully under control. The full moon triggers an uncontrollable transformation into his werewolf state where he is unaware of his actions. Gary is currently on the run because he is accused of killing his wife, (despite the fact it was Zechariah who killed her) and has escaped to Willow creek, the place where he was turned into a werewolf to seek the Elder Brood who chosen Gary to become a werewolf in order to kill Zechariah. During his training he has been attacked by a government agent called hunter who is unable to die, been grievously injured by the elder brood to try to make Gary to not get used to turning back to human form to heal himself and been attacked and helped by Mark Grayson, the main hero of the invincible comic series, then again Mark also helped Gary to clear his name with Cecil and helped him defeat the global gladiators.

Gary's family has a complicated relationship with his new life. His wife, Rebecca, has made peace with her werewolf husband to a certain extent, though she does not trust Zechariah. She is also making do with their current financial situation, though the news of their eviction was a very distressing event for her. Gary's daughter, Chloe, has only recently learned about her father and his double life and was visibly stunned at the sight of him transforming. She is not pleased in any way by their new financial situation.

Zechariah - Gary's mentor and supernatural partner. Was turned into a vampire in the early 1900s and became an early form of a superhero and is wanting to force the vampires into existence to rule the earth as the vampires who turned him were too hooked on the thirst to do anything. As a vampire, he has a variety of powers, not the least of which is his ability to revive himself after seemingly fatal situations. While the help he has provided Gary is invaluable, he has many secrets and his true intentions are, at best, obscure and many other characters distrust him. This distrust may not be unwarranted, since he hid from Gary his murder of a werewolf child, allowed Gary to go on a rampage when he knew it could be prevented, and has Sergeant Superior captive in his apartment, the man Gary believes he killed in blind rage. On issue 7 Zechariah shows his true colours, when Gary discovers that Zechariah had turned Sergeant Superior into a vampire he decides enough is enough and refuses to have anything to do with Zecariah. Zechariah goes to Gary's hideout to try and befriend him but kills Gary's wife in a fit of rage but with Gary being the only witness and his daughter discovering Gary with the corpse in wolfman form is blamed for the murder. Zechariah also has a son, but since he refused to become a vampire made him an elderly man on his death bed and is also killed by Zechariah to ease his passing as he is too old to become a vampire now. He also turned the actioneers (except mecha maid who was just destroyed as she was a robot) into vampires and possibly Gary's own daughter in order for her to kill him.

Collected editions

The series is being collected into trade paperbacks:

• Volume 1 (collects The Astounding Wolf-Man #1-7, 96 pages, January 2008, ISBN 1582408629)
• Volume 2 (collects The Astounding Wolf-Man #8-12 and Invincible #57, 160 pages, April 2009, ISBN 1607060078)
• Volume 3 (collects The Astounding Wolf-Man #13-18, 166 pages, October 2009, ISBN 1607061112)

References

External links

This section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)

• The Astounding Wolf-Man #1: Director's Cut, Full Issue, Newsarama, December 31, 2008
• Kirkman's Buy My Books Column on Comic Book Resources
• Podcast interview on Astounding Wolf-Man at comiXology
• Robert Kirkman: Of Wolfmen and Walking Dead, Comic Book Resources, January 16, 2009
• Astounding Wolf-Man Website in french, December 24, 2009