The Wolf is a painted novel by Tom Neely. The book tells a simple love story, but one woven with surrealist horror, werewolf lore and its own brand of nightmare logic. With The Wolf, Neely progresses from the traditional cartooning style he showed off in his previous books, The Blot and Brilliantly Ham-Fisted, to a form that blends comics-style storytelling with a fine arts approach to imagery. The ultimate effect is equal parts touching and chilling.
LA Weekly on The Wolf
The Wolf Preview and Interview on CBR
“An assaultive, erotic riot of sex and combat and horror and sheer image-making power. There’s great beauty in The Wolf’s blackness.” – Sean T. Collins
"The book talks about a progression, and an inner struggle, but I was most impressed with how Tom masterfully articulates the sentiment of love." -- Trenton Doyle Hancock, artist.
“The Wolf is drawn with skill and heart … It is thrilling to see Neely work this way, and to know that this dedicated artist is in it for the long haul.” -- Austin English, comics author/publisher (The Disgusting Room, Domino Books)
"The Wolf veers from frightening and expressionistic to cartoony at the drop of a hat, sometimes in the same drawing. But Tom pulls it all together beautifully. -- Zak Sally, cartoonist (Sammy the Mouse, Recidivist)
"Tom's work has the unusual ability to provoke anxiety, uncertainty, horror and uncomfortable laughter in equal measure … Mr. Neely has done so here with grace and a crafty precision. -- Aaron Turner, musician-artist (Isis, Mammifer)
"Neely provides a sumptuous feast of ink on every page. I enjoyed looking at every page as a simple drawing apart from its larger context, and Neely does well to imbue each image with a kinetic, rubbery quality that lends itself to wanting to see the next painting or drawing. Neely continues to create comics that are uncompromising, beautiful, and thought-provoking." -- Rob Clough, The Comics Journal
228 page black & white and full color paperback
I Will Destroy You, 2011
