Tuesday, December 3, 2013

CBR Patrick the Wolf Boy

 

Right in the middle of all these Winter Holidays, I found the perfect book to discuss about.

A series I already reviewed for NewReaders recently.

Comic title: Patrick The Wolf Boy: Volume 1
Art by Art Baltazar 
Written by Franco 

Published by Devil's Due Publishing
From 2005
Lineup Patrick The Wolf Boy
Format: Digest-sized trade paperback collecting Patrick the Wolf Boy #1, Patrick Christmas Special, Patrick Valentine's Special, Patrick's Mother's Day Special, Patrick's Summer Special plus 25 pages of new Patrick comics!

Created by Eisner Award-winner cartoonists Art Baltazar & Franco Aureliani, Patrick The Wolf Boy was their big "official" debut in the comic book scene.

Prior to this series, Art Baltazar was mostly known as the artist and writer behind several self-publishedindie titles and later some Disney Adventures stories.

Art found a longtime partner and similar minded cartoonist in Franco, writer and artist. Together they founded a comic book shop and would go to find a lot of success at DC Comics, the rest is - as they say - history.

They formed their very own BlindWolf Studios and started working on various all-ages projects. Published through their own independent Electric Milk Comics company.

With BlindWolf's creative team of Baltazar on the pencils and Franco writing the stories (now reformed into AW YEAH COMICS post-Tiny Titans), they launched their first big success Patrick tthe Wolf in 2000 in the self-titled first issue Patrick the Wolf Boy #1!



The series follow our Wolf Boy-hero, part-Calvin & Hobbes, part Munsters, on his day-to-day life.

Most of the humor takes a lot from the old daily newspaper comic strips.

There's a lot of repetition and silly visual humor.

Patrick might be a little monster but he is treated like the most normal little boy, with normal parents. And although Patrick only growls (RAWR!!) there's no need for any dialogues to understand what is usually going on in Patrick's mind.


He's like any other regular kid... well, expect for his taste for Squirrels (don't worry! they're actually more friends than actual enemies!).

Patrick goes to school every day, meet his friend Lil' Neve. The kids bring an apple to the school teacher. A bully sometimes annoys Patrick and his pals. There's that awful old lady neighbor glancing at Patrick with fear.

And it's all filtered through Patrick's innocent eyes and charming Wolf Boy persona.

Beware...! At midnight, on the night of a full moon, Patrick turns into a Wolf Boy! I mean, a bit more furry than usual...


The humor is sort of reminiscent of classic Addams Family comic strips.

Mixing usual monster movie elements seen in horror with all-ages innocent comedy. Reflecting on daily life with a light hearted tone.

Over the course of the series, Baltazar and Franco introduce more lore to Patrick. More recurring faces be it new kids or more monsters such as the Grimm Reaper himself or also The Family Squatch!


This first volume was the first time Patrick was published at a big name publisher, but actually the second time the series had been collected.

Devil's Due Publishing collected the entire run of the series in these 144-page digest-sized graphic novels through their D3 inprint.

Contrary to the previous collections this series of 4 Volumes actually collected the entire Patrick the Wolf Boy, although by themes and not on a chronological order.

This first volume sees Patrick in various Holiday-themed comics, frightnening mall Santas around
 and giving Squirrels for Valentine's Day! Roughly the first few special one shots centered on these popular annual dates, from Christmas to Mother's Day and even a Summer Special!


Overall, it's a very fun read and highly recommended series!

My only complaint with DDP's books are that the webcomics-exclusive strips are presented here in black & white although they were originally in color...


The Baltazar/Franco duo would go on to become a successful all-ages team and they would obtain mainstream popularity with the later DC Comics Universe title Tiny Titans! Aw, yeah!


The Patrick the Wolf Boy series has been collected in these 4 volumes by DDP.

Later books were collected until 2008, and they would see such issues as the Super Hero Special, a Science-Fiction Special, a Wedding Special, Father's Day and even an After School, and many more!

I give it:
2.5 / 3 Ampersands!

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