Hello, my friends. The familiar chill of Autumn is in the air, the costumes are getting prepped and the various tricks & treats are being readied for that one glorious night underneath the moonlight where we go on the prowl for that spooky good time. As we once again get ourselves pumped up for the evening of All Hallow’s Eve, I feel like it’s time for us to return to a particular independently-made world but we instead focus on the build-up of a certain combatant who’ll be fighting against the supernatural forces of evil. As such, I welcome you all to a special mini-review series called…
Back in October 2023, I reviewed the first seven issues of Robert A. Multari’s signature action/horror series known as “Night Wolf”. Within said books, it focused on Rodney “Rod” Marcelli who has to rescue his girlfriend from Lord Malice and his various evil cohorts. Ever since our initial look over those particular comics, he’s had a few more entries published which has allowed his adventure to continue. While those books will get their time to shine upon this critical platform, let us instead focus on someone who’s been directly helping Rod on his journey, While she initially appeared in his dreams before helping him out of a home-based confrontation and would then properly team up with him, our featured fierce female’s origins would also be hinted at. As such, we’ll be focusing on her rise to prominence by looking over her spinoff mini-series.
Published in December 2021, this initial issue would see the light of day seven months after the main Night Wolf series had its fifth installment released. As for our featured chapter, Multari would write the story & script while also handling the art direction. Joining him on this book would be Mog Park on line art and Bruna Costa as the colorist. So how does our featured heroine begin to forge her Lycan prominence? Let the hunting begin as we find out!
We open within the Scottish Highlands in the 19th Century upon the MacKinlay Farm where the family head named Bram is looking for Cirilla a.k.a. Cirray while the rest of his family, consisting of his lone son named Gavin, his wife named Fiona and their youngest daughter named Lorna, are busy doing different kinds of farm chores. Elsewhere within the vast Highlands, it turns out that Cirilla is out hunting a deer while armed with only a single knife as she manages to sneak up on the creature before pouncing towards it.
Later that evening back at the MacKinlay Farm, Bram and Fiona are in the kitchen as he bemoans their eldest daughter for being gone all day on one of her adventures while they’re behind on sowing the seeds for the season’s crops. While Fiona tries telling her husband to remain calm, Bram is unwilling to do so due to their eldest girl being lax towards her chores. He then wonders where his hunting knife is at before Cirray comes in carrying the deer that she managed to slay in order for them to eat it for dinner. However, Bram tells her that supper is already being prepped before he then scolds her for being out “on some daft adventure” while their farm is struggling to make end’s meet. Bram then brings up how most of the other farmers have either moved to the city in order to work in the factory or have left the country altogether in order to live better lives elsewhere. Cirilla says that she has no intention of living on the farm for her whole life, to which her father agrees before mentioning that he’s arranged his 18-year-old daughter to be married towards James Chisholm “innae fortnite”. Cirray argues against this since she doesn’t love her would-be suitor and that her dad only wants her to get hitched since James’ father offered him “a large bride price” for her. Bram argues that the arrangement will save their farm while also keeping their own family fed, yet Cirilla says how it’ll come at the cost of her own happiness. He then tells her that he and Fiona did carefully think about the proposal before they ultimately decided that it’s what’s best for her since it’ll be “a good match”. Cirray then says that she had dreamt about going on various adventures and that she doesn’t want to become a pampered housewife, yet her dad says that they’ll be meeting up with her fiancée over in Inverness the next day. Cirilla then heads into her room and slams the door before Bram asks his wife if he was wrong for making this arrangement, to which Fiona tells him to not take their daughter’s words seriously since she shares her father’s stubbornness. He then says that he wants to give their eldest girl what’s best for her since the marriage will allow their daughter to have all of the things that he couldn’t provide her with. Bram then says that he doesn’t want their girl to hook up with “a poor farm loon” and then suffer within poverty, to which Fiona says that she did the exact thing when she married him and that she couldn’t be happier. He then mentions how their daughter wouldn’t remain happy living on the farm and that at the very least, this marriage will allow her to get out and see the world since he doesn’t see any farms still operating within the highlands at the rate they’re going. During all of this, Cirray had been tearfully overhearing all of this from her room.
Over at the docks in London, a light fog begins to roll in just as a man notices a swift figure over near a stack of boxes. He then goes over to investigate before he’s suddenly attacked and killed by a black-haired werewolf. It’s then revealed that this creature is with a small group of werewolves as they’re then met upon by their armored leader on a ship, to which he then orders for their recently-mauled man to get placed in the galley before they eventually set sail for Scotland. As they ultimately cast off, they’re unknowingly spotted from the rooftops by a white-haired werewolf as well as a humanoid lion.
We then shift to the next day at the MacKinlay Farm where Bram and Gavin prep the horse & carriage for the upcoming trip. As for Cirilla, she meets up with her mother before they share a hug. Just then, Lorna comes in and tearfully tells her to not forget about her family while she’s away. Cirray then promises to do so since she’ll only be gone for a few days before we then shift to several hours later as she and Bram are on the road towards Inverness. During their ride, she tells her dad that he’s only doing his part to help his family out of their hard times. Even though she’s not happy about this sudden arrangement, she’s still willing to do her part if it helps her younger siblings out as well. Eventually, they arrive at Erchless Castle located just west of Inverness where they’re met upon by Lord Roderick Chisholm and his son James. Upon James’ gentlemanly introduction, Cirilla become charmed by his handsome appearance before Roderick escorts her and her dad inside for dinner as he then informs her that she’ll meet up with Inverness’ “best seamstress” the next day in order for her to get fitted into her wedding dress, to which she’ll then meet some high-society guests for the engagement party afterwards. We then shift ahead to the next day as Cirray proceeds to get fitted into her wedding dress with the help of a pair of seamstresses before she’s then shoved out the door in order for her to mingle with the guests.
Meanwhile, the engagement party is in full swing as Roderick introduces Bram to Grayson Tyndall who runs the Tyndall Shipping Company. Grayson then presents his lawyer named Lucas Ferrera before he then introduces the men to one last guest, as it turns out to be Alexander Skelton who works for the British National Bank. Alexander wants to meet the bride-to-be as soon as possible since he’s here on a business trip, to which Tyndall assures him that they’ll do their business discussions once the party dies down. Roderick then assures the men that Cirilla will appear soon, to which Bram adds that his daughter isn’t used to “such a large banquet in her honor”. Skelton then snidely remarks to Lord Chisholm how it’s what comes from his son marrying a poor “teuchter” (which is a Lowland Scots word that semi-disparagingly describes anyone who comes from the Scottish Highlands, anyone who speaks Gaelic, or any person who comes from the rural or northern part of Scotland, even though the word’s origins seem to date back to 1910 despite this story taking place in the 19th Century), to which Bram takes offense to that remark especially from a “sassenach” (which is a Scotish term meaning “Saxon” or “Englishperson”). Roderick then steps in to temper this feud as he tells Alexander to not insult his eventual daughter-in-law and that he needs to unwind before they conduct any kind of business. From there, Cirray makes her appearance before she and James proceed to dance with each other to which she then narrates about how this arranged marriage won’t be bad after all. Later, he takes her to the balcony where they proceed to view the star-filled skies. While she comments about the wondrous sight, he then tells her that the stars aren’t as “bonnie” (beautiful) as she is as they then proceed to share a kiss. Over within the nearby forest, the same white-haired werewolf is with his humanoid lion ally as he’s sniffed out where their target is at. However, they’ll have to wait until the other innocent people eventually clear out. Just then, he notices something odd about Cirilla in that she’s not what she appears to be especially since their foe named Grim Fang has sensed it within her as well, given how his own werewolves are also looming over her.
We then shift to a few days later where Cirray and Bram are about to head back to their farm in order for them to plant all of their crops. James then assures her that once they’re married, she’ll never have to sow seeds ever again and that they’ll embark “on grand adventures” together. As for Bram, he thanks Roderick for his hospitality as well as standing up to the arrogant Alexander. They then spot their engaged kin sharing one last kiss before Cirilla joins her father in order for them to ride off home. Several hours later, they arrive back at their farm after night has already fallen. Bram then tells her to head inside to see if her mother needs help with supper while he goes to put their horse in the barn. He then places the steed inside before it suddenly gets spooked by some otherworldly company, to which it then proceeds to approach him. Over in the house, Cirray is met upon by her mother & her siblings as she tells them that James is both charming & handsome and that this arranged marriage won’t be remotely horrible.
Suddenly, Bram’s body gets thrown through the window before they’re then met upon by Grim Fang who then has his werewolves subdue the whole family. He then approaches the captured Cirilla as he sniffs her and discovers that she’s whom he’s been seeking, to which he then exclaims how he’s discovered that she’s “a purebred youngling” once he caught her scent during the engagement party. He then says that he won’t kill her since he loves “the challenge of tainting a purebread’s soul” before ordering his lycan minions to take her with them back to London while also murdering the entire family. Just then, the intense situation causes her to suddenly transform into a white-haired werewolf before she then acquires her father’s hunting knife and uses it to fatally stab an opposing lycan. She then proceeds to slaughter the remaining beasts before setting her sights on Grim Fang as she charges towards him. However, Issue 1 ends with him grabbing her by the throat while saying that she’ll provide him with an “entertaining challenge” before mentioning that he’ll break her “stubborn spirit”.
Overall, this was a pretty solid start to this spinoff series. It gives Cirilla a youthfully energetic introduction where it establishes her initial knife-handling skills while also showing & explaining her rambunctious free spirit longing to break way from regular farming life. She’s initially bummed that her father ended up choosing her future for her in order for him to save their farm, yet she decides to give him a break given their potentially dire situation as she then finds her potential suitor enticing. I wish that James would’ve gotten a bit more development to start off with beyond his good looks, such as him having a particular behavior, set of skills and/or status besides rich that can help her achieve her personal desires with the added benefit of having a companion to share those experiences with. Despite that, he at least represents her opportunity to live a normal lifestyle as she grows to appreciate him. As the story progressed, the initial humanoid animals who pursue out main baddie do hint at their mysteriously heroic stances while largely staying in the shadows. Because I had already read Night Wolf #5-7 (which those latter two chapter coming later in the release timeline) despite those not delving too much into them, it’ll be interesting to see how they take our main heroine in as well as forge her into the confident werewolf that she’ll become in her time period as well as the eventual mentor that she’ll serve towards Rodney further down the road. In addition to that, there’re also some other mysterious threads that’re left open for potential development down the road, such as the U.K. elite & how they’ll be entwined within all of this, how long Grim Fang has been observing Cirray for her budding werewolf status and finally the origins of her Lycan abilities. After all, the mainline Night Wolf series (particularly Issue #5) at this point had only hinted at what happened to her eventual mentor as well as a fabled weapon. Tying all of this together with our core cast of characters, good pacing and progressive development is the artwork. Thanks to the entire line not mandating itself to a regular monthly schedule like the more well-known publishers, Multari is able to make sure that the artists he assigns are able to bring as much detail as they possibly can. The featured artist Mog Park is able to do so with effective ease for the various characters, the presentably pleasant backgrounds throughout every panel and the atmosphere upon each scene. All of this is coupled really well by Bruna Costa’s coloring work who gives the preceding events a solid range all across the board. Whether it’s day or night, the colors are pleasant enough in order to combine with the regular artwork in order to make the narrative presented in a solid capacity. In the end, the book lays a good foundation for Cirilla to gain the necessary skills & knowledge that will help her strive, survive and emerge as the strong-willed werewolf who’ll do battle against various kinds of supernatural horrors over the ages. It provides the readers with some strong intrigue and entices them to see how her Lycan destiny will play out long before she becomes the wise figure that Marcelli will badly need in his time. As for the dire situation that Cirray has found herself in at the end of this chapter as well as how she’ll get out of it, come back next time as the moon slowly rises to further shine its light upon this series while we also slowly prowl towards that hauntingly good night.
Snow Paw (created by Robert A. Multari) is owned by Lone Wolf Media Entertainment, Inc.
