Review: Harbor Moon

Harbor Moon doesn’t come out right and tell you that you’re reading a werewolf story. Sure the cover alludes to it and you basically can tell that it deals with werewolves, but it takes a different approach rather than pouring it on from the beginning. This book is rustic, its scenic and most of all its intelligent. Harbor Moon assumes you know the rules of werewolves, but even still laces in the threads of lore that most horror fans know all too well. What really makes it smart though is that it’s about people. This is more over a story that happens to have werewolves in it and not dominating it.

The story has what in TV terms would be considered the “cold open” and frankly I found it had very little importance to the plot so I’ll skip it. The true opening begins with a man arriving in the town of, you guessed it Harbor Moon. The man ends up at the local tavern where he’s greeted by two goon looking locals that give him the business as he walks up. They have a short, but great exchange that perfectly displays the town’s attitude towards outsiders and the man’s attitude towards bullies. The man behind the counter of the tavern gives more reasons to leave than stay and our man ends up over paying for a room so that he can wash the road trip off of himself.

After his shower he discovers the friendly tavern owner standing in his room. He asks him for his I.D. which is the perfect opportunity to learn our main characters name…Tim Vance. Since his privacy is already being invaded he decides to ask the owner if he knows one Andrew O’Callaghan the reason he’s come to the town in the first place. He receives a very cold; “Nope” that sounds a lot like, “Fuck You.”

The next morning Tim heads down to the towns diner to grab some grub and ask some more questions. He witnesses an altercation between the butcher and the goons from the night before that doesn’t look friendly and shows something lying in hiding in the town. He makes it to the diner that only serves five things on the menu and begins to poke around about Andrew O’Callaghan again. That is until he’s greeted by the goon’s leader Patrick. If you thought the rest of the town was unwelcoming then Patrick is the unwelcoming committee’s president. Things look like they’re about to get ugly when a beautiful red head steps in to shut Patrick down, all the while Tim maintains his cool composure.

The story continues as Tim tries to find Andrew and his own connection to him. What he ends up finding is something dangerous and yet fulfilling at the same time. The story is very good and like I said, it’s about the people more than it is werewolves. The book has that outsider trying to solve a mystery feel to it that you’ve probably read or seen on TV, but this added element of the supernatural makes it very different from the rest jocking the same formula.

The writing team of Ryan Colucci and Dikran Orenkian take this simple idea and turn it into a high concept idea with a rich and full world. That was the really great thing about the book. It was isolated to this small town, but the world it was set in was so much bigger. The possibilities of new stories and a continuation of this story are abundant for sure. Hopefully Harbor Moon does well enough to warrant a sequel as it has the potential of being the next 30 Days of Night.

Speaking of 30 Days of Night; the art style of Pawel Sambor is as close as anyone to come to Ben Templesmith’s style. It’s not exact which is good since you don’t want to see a knock off. You want to see it influenced by it and then taken a different direction. It’s mostly in Sambor’s painted coloring that you’ll see the resemblance to Templesmith which is sometimes the best part of his art. It gives the book a much defined look that you don’t see too often in comics due to the skill needed to produce it.

This book is available now from Arcana Studios and I have to say it’s one of the best Graphic Novel’s I’ve read in a long time. It grabbed me right from the beginning and gave me every reason I needed to continue flipping the pages. If you like horror that isn’t all about the monster, but the man behind it then check this book out. You won’t be disappointed. You can also check out our latest podcast in which I talk about the book as well.

Score: 4/5

Writer/Editor/Producer: Ryan Colucci

Writer: Dikran Ornekian

Artist: Pawel Sambor

Art Director: Karol Wisniewski

Publisher: Arcana Studios and Harbor Moon Productions

Price: $19.59