The Incal: Kill Wolfhead

Incal Universe

by Brandon Thomas, Pete Woods

The Incal's fan-favorite hero/roguish flirt, Kill Wolfhead, is back in his own story. 1 VOLUME RELEASED - INDEPENDENT STORIES. Kill Wolfhead has been called many things in his long, storied life—Lover (Galaxy's Greatest), Fighter (Freedom and Otherwise), Entrepreneur (Five Franchises and Counting), and Intergalactic Hero (He saved the universe! Twice! At least!). But you don't live that kind of life without making some enemies... And those enemies are now out for blood. After a vicious attack, Wolfhead is left in a coma, and his only possible hope for a healthy return is a dangerous, experimental technology in the hands of the children he's abandoned in his Lothario wake. In order to save their wayward father, his children must go into his damaged brain-space, but all is not what it seems.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Comic Book

121 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 2, 2021

About the author

Brandon Thomas is the writer and co-creator of critically-acclaimed comics series EXCELLENCE (Skybound/Image), HORIZON (Skybound/Image) and THE MANY ADVENTURES OF MIRANDA MERCURY. Previous work includes the comics series NOBLE (Lion Forge), VOLTRON (Dynamite), and FANTASTIC FOUR TALES (Marvel).

NOBLE #1 was awarded the Fist Award for Best International Comic by the 2017 Lagos Comic-Con, in recognition of best usage of characters/stories based on persons of African descent. NOBLE was also nominated for 2019 Glyph Comics Awards in six categories: Story Of The Year; Best Cover (winner); Best Writer; Best Artist (winner); Best Male Character (winner); and Best Female Character.

Since 2003, Brandon has written comics for several publishers, including Marvel, Lion Forge, Arcade, Dynamite, and DC Entertainment, and has published over 300 original columns as part of the Ambidextrous series. His first creator-owned project THE MANY ADVENTURES OF MIRANDA MERCURY shipped from Archaia Entertainment to widespread critical success, leading to his biggest comics projects to date — the sci-fi conspiracy thriller HORIZON (co-created with artist Juan Gedeon), and the action fantasy series EXCELLENCE (co-created with artist Khary Randolph) — both published by Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment.

Brandon also hosts The Two Brandons podcast with Eisner-Nominated writer Brandon Easton (Transformers: War For Cybertron, Star Trek: Year Five, Vampire Hunter D: The Series).

He lives and writes in Southern California with his wife and son.

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little lost. Maybe I need to read the other Incal but this was still entertaining for what it was. Felt isolated enough I could enjoy it. The art was good throughout, no complaints there. I feel like I would have gotten more reading more of this series, but still the action was solid and the main lead interesting enough. Fans of this series will probably dig it even more.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Incal: Kill Wolfhead combines stellar art with a relatively cool narrative style, but ends up having some pacing issues with scene transitions that make the whole story a little hard to follow. Disclaimer, I haven't read any instalments of The Incal prior to this one (and hadn't even heard of the series before), but as far as I know, this one can be read as a standalone, so I should still be able to understand everything clearly.
I do disagree with other reviewers saying it was totally bizarre or so confusing you didn't know what was going on - as I said, some transitions were jarring and disorienting, but ultimately, it's a clear-cut story if you accept that it largely takes place inside someone's mindscape. I actually enjoyed the narrator introducing chapters by saying "this is real" only to then go "okay, I lied, but only this once", right before doing the same thing again. It was a fun touch and actually helped me follow the flow of the story.

The art is really great, but the plot does end up a little bit formulaic (although I really really REALLY liked the ending). All in all, I enjoyed it and am interested in reading the original series, but I'm not sure it'll stay with me - time will tell.

- ARC provided by NetGalley -

[Ije the Devourer of Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is excellent. It left me somewhat confused in the way it twisted and turned but I understood most of it by the end. It is like one of those great orchestral pieces with lots of instruments and different parts, sometime with the noise of cymbals, other times with the quietness of a few notes from the piano. Although I have to say that once this started it banged and crashed most of the way!

Kill Wolfhead is the Galaxy’s Greatest Lover but he has left broken hearts and broken families in his wake, so what happens when the past comes for him and his only hope is in the hands of the children he's abandoned, who in turn have their own pasts and hurts to contend with?

The artwork is fab, the imaginative storytelling is excellent but I think I need to read it a few times in order to fully understand it. I did enjoy it though. It is weird but exhilarating!


Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

And so on with the new generation (I'm calling it that even if they are not) of Incal stories and this time its the return of a character we last saw in the original saga - Wolfhead.

This was an intriguing character in the original story going through rather a bit of a transformation in the process (if you want to know the details I highly recommend reading them) and that is where you pick the story up here.

However the writers have done something very clever - they have not spoiled the original plot rather just dropped a few vague references here and there to anchor the story. So what of it - well for me it has all the humour, violence and style of the original story and if it was not for the intro I would be none the wiser - a great fun read.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Incal: Kill Wolfhead was visually wonderful. For me the story started off really interesting but soon veered off into odd, with things being unreliable as well. It is playful and sometimes weird, but overall lacked a bit for me because too much got thrown into the plot.

Note: arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for honest review

[Tristan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Currently available on Kindle Unlimited, this is an homage by two US comic artists to the Incal universe, drawn in the European graphic novel style. It’s a good homage, true to the feeling of the original Incal series. The story is utterly incomprehensible emotional / spiritual claptrap riffing on themes of love and redemption without rhythm or reason, but the art is detailed, imaginative, and very pretty, if over dynamic at times, hence losing visual storytelling clarity. I enjoyed reading through but I don’t think I’ll bother reading again, even if it’s for the sake of understanding what the hell this was all about.

[Yuri Ulrych · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nesta reencarnação, Kill Cara-de-Cão acorda como um famoso predador sexual de meia-idade. Pela vigésima quarta vez, vencedor consecutivo do prêmio de amante dos mundos. Atualmente, o sex symbol é um artista bom de briga, que nos meandros da política, pelo passado rebelde e heróico, também tem seu quinhão presidencial. Invejado perigosamente por todos os tipos de concorrência planetária, como pansexual excitado, o fato inaudito e persecutório das beligerantes mães solteiras. Vingança ou acerto de contas, filhas e filhos entram na jogada. E é por dentro do cérebro de Kill Cara-de-Cão em coma, que uns invadem por dinheiro, nostalgia, ou aprendizado. A exemplo do filho robô que põe-se a questionar, a vida é isso mesmo? Com a trama intrincada de peripécias, a HQ põe em dúvida se o nosso próximo futuro sci-fi distópico seguirá na mesma ordem traumática da valorização cotidiana do pai ausente, interplanetário. Ótimo spin-off do universo Incal criado por Jodorowsky e Moebius, em termos lúdicos de acesso, essa arte leva e traz imaginação política para assuntos sérios de discussão pública.

(Yuri Ulrych)

[Mathew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been... a long time since I've read the Incal but that didn't stop me from enjoying this slightly bizarre psycho-science-fiction story. The story can be a bit convoluted, messy, or just plain vague at times, but as a neuron bumping adventure it moves along. There are several WTF moments that left me wondering about motivations for such and such an event, but I tried not to let it bother me too much, and if the story was a bit much at times, the fantastic art made up for it, and effortlessly pulled us along from page to page.
My critique is that although the story has an interesting concept, it didn't quite manage to pull off the delivery, which then was compensated by fourth-wall breach style narrations, which I personally find to be cheap patches for unpolished writing. I'm not saying that it was completely irredeemable, and I actually liked the run-lola-run style neural jaunts. I think Thomas might actually be a highly talented SF writer and this simply wasn't the best vehicle for him.
Seriously though: 5 star art!

[Ben A · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third installment of expanded universe graphic novels is a beautifully rendered entry into the Incal Universe featuring Kill Wolfhead. The narrative itself is as crazy and frantic and I suspect that another read might clear up some of my confusion and make the enjoyment factor increase with each successive read. As I write this, it occurs to me that I really like the thought that the book was only challenging to me because it's filled with so many ideas and concepts that I haven't unlocked them all yet. How very Alejandro Jodorowsky of Brandon Thomas. As for the art, it really is the standout for this first reading, as Pete Woods really shines in the Incal sandbox. I confess that as I wrote this review, I found myself thinking incredibly deeply about this graphic novel, and that tells me it has already had a lasting impact.

Special thanks to Humanoids, Inc. and Netgalley for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

[Clint · Rating 2 out of 5]

Woods’s art is nice enough looking, but nothing about Thomas’s plotting or dialogue grabbed my interest. He opts to extend the story of existing character Kill Wolfhead instead of telling a new story in this universe; my memory of Wolfhead was as an extremely horny guy with a dog’s head and fearsome combat ability. Maybe a better writer could have created something more interesting focused on him, but Thomas opts for a derivative riff on Inception where Wolf’s many bastard children have him captive and are trying to retrieve things from his psyche. It’s somehow not engaging on a philosophical or plot level, and the emotional hooks are clumsy and didactic.

Having read this and the first volume of Excellence, I’m tempted to avoid the next comic I see Thomas’s name on.

Go read The Incal: Dying Star instead!

[Mohan Vemulapalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Kill Wolfhead" is a bizarre, hallucinogenic fever dream of a book that will confuse, perplex, and , hopefully, delight, hard core fans of the "Incal" franchise. This book is recommended for anyone who enjoys a bit of literary whiplash from time to time. Read on, hold tight and enjoy !

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Humanoids Inc for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

My biggest problem with this is that it doesn't stand on its own. You need to know who Kill Wolfhead is to care about any of this. Plus Thomas is way too verbose of a writer. He drones on and on throughout these pages. The gist of the story is that Wolfhard has littered the galaxy with his children and now they are picking his brain clean now that he's severely injured. The best part about this is Pete Woods's art.

[Theediscerning · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well I gave this a go, but unfortunately it really wasn't my kind of a way into this universe – the introduction makes one feel stupid not to have heard of any of these books before, until you open this one up and remember how you gave up on the Elric books as a teenager because they weren't anything like as good as they could have been. This certainly gave me Moorcock feels.

[Davide Pappalardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 2.5

This one is not as good as Dying Star, by a long shot. The author wanted to be clever and deep, but instead he just gave us a very confusing story that starts ok, but gets progressively worse. If Dan Watters managed to do his own thing, while respecting the ethos and "mood" of the Incal saga, sadly Brandon Thomas fails here to deliver the same result.

[Mee Too · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was like being stuck in a conversation with a sporadic, bipolar, somewhat intelligent idiot. The more inread the more i wanted it to end.

I mean the actual story was a little over 100 pages and it felt like an eternity. This book is on every end table in purgatory.

2.3🌟

[Paulo Brito · Rating 3 out of 5]

História desnecessariamente complicada. O texto podia explorar tantas coisas do universo Incal. Tudo se resumiu ao quanto o melhor amante da galáxia é pai ausente.

[Patrick Haga · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artwork was great, as always, and the story kept me from putting it down. I read this in 1 sitting, telling myself I'd go to bed after the end of each chapter, but never succeeding.

[Daniel Mossop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining but felt empty.

[Alexandre · Rating 2 out of 5]

ok power trip fantasy

[DollarBin ComicWin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wild, surreal detour into Kill Wolfhead’s mind—fun and strange, though not quite on par with the main Incal. Still worth a look for fans of the universe.

[Xacolhinha · Rating 2 out of 5]

que troço ruim

[Mikael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great art, but quite confusing story.