Can I Pet Your Werewolf? Review
Happy Werewolf Wednesday, everyone! This week I’m going to talk about a wonderful wolfy comic book that I thoroughly enjoyed and heartily recommend to anyone who loves stories that warm the heart, tickle the funny bone, and have a little bite to them: Can I Pet Your Werewolf?, a comic anthology edited by Kel McDonald and Molly Muldoon.
I was lucky enough to pick up this anthology at Emerald City Comic Con a couple of years back, but just got around to reading in in 2022. When I tell you that there was not a single dud of a story in this anthology of thirteen short, standalone comics? I mean it. There’s even one in there written by Seanan McGuire (Nebula and Hugo Award winner!). They all delight and they all do something new and inventive with the idea of werewolves.
As the playful title might suggest, if you’re looking for horrifying tales of bloody teeth and slashing claws, you’ve come to the wrong place. In Can I Pet Your Werewolf? readers will find that what might seem monstrous is more often misunderstood — that the strange is merely unfamiliar, and that when looked at through the eyes of love, even a big hairy shapeshifting creature can become a fast friend.
If you aren’t sure that comics are really your thing, or have never read a graphic novel before, this book would also be a great place to start to develop an affinity for the format! There’s lots of different artistic styles on display in this anthology, so I really do believe there’s something for everyone to like inside this one.
Is there a werewolf comic that sticks out in your memory as being particularly awesome? It can be a webcomic, traditionally published weekly, or anthology collection like the one here — drop the title in the comments below and let’s start a book club!
Robin Jeffrey 