MISTY, VOL. 3 REVIEW

Writer: Unknown
Artists: Eduardo Feito
Publisher: Rebellion



Wolf Girl is the main story from the latest collection of reprints from the classic '70s comic Misty, a supernatural comic aimed at young girls, and now brought to you by Rebellion as part of their British Treasury imprint. Misty Volume 3 features the story of Lona, a teenage girl coming to terms with her troubled past.

Originally published in four page instalments, Wolf Girl wastes no time in setting out the story of how a baby Lona is raised by wolves after a tragic accident kills her parents. Discovered two years later, the wolf girl is adopted by a loving family, who conceal from her the secrets of her childhood. But a teenage Lona realised that she is different, and struggles against her beastly urges.

If 1985 docu-drama Teenwolf taught us anything, it's that having certain lupine characteristics comes with immediate benefits, such as being irresistible to the opposite sex and being really good at basketball. In Wolf Girl, Lona’s adventures initially seem tame by comparison, limited to the usual teenage pursuits of howling at the moon and being awkward in public.  Before long, though, Lona’s desperate need to escape spirals out of control, putting herself and others at risk.

Although it flirts with the ideas of the supernatural, Wolf Girl eschews the usual Misty format, with no ghostly goings on. Rather, it's a story of nature versus nurture, with a few fantastical elements along the way. Wolf Girl also ignores the format seen in previous Misty reprints, with Lona coming from a loving family, with no conflict. Wolf Girl is about a girl from a loving family, struggling to reconcile her own feelings with what society expects of her. It’s the story of a young woman coming to terms with her own primal needs.

Despite it’s originality, the original editors seem to have not been overly impressed with Wolf Girl, as any record of who actually wrote the script has been lost. It’s a shame, because this is a story that the writer should be proud of.

Art by Eduardo Feito is very impressive, capturing the emotions of both man and beasts. A trio of his howling wolves would look excellent on a t-shirt. Occasional colour pages haven’t aged well, slightly blurred by printing techniques. Most of the pages are black and white, with impressively realistic characters, and wonderfully capture the styles and fashions of the 1970s.

The collection also includes a selection of one-off supernatural tales from the pages of Misty, each of them featuring wolves in some way.  They're a really nice collection, with some original twists. 
 

Being a reprint from a bygone era of British comics, Wolf Girl is probably one for fans. It’s an older style of storytelling, originally aimed at twelve year old girls. The modern target audience is likely anyone eager to collect a library of classic tales they might remember from their childhood, or British comic aficionados. Regardless, Wolf Girl is an excellent example of its particular stable.