A Howling Good Werewolf Tale...

When Iraq war veteran Timothy Vance receives a call from a man claiming to be his long-lost father, he takes a trip to out-of-the-way Harbor Moon, Maine.

But the man is nowhere to be found and unfortunately for Tim, the town doesn’t take very kindly to strangers.

As he struggles to stay alive and learn the truth about his father, Tim discovers that Harbor Moon is protecting an incredible secret… and it turns out that Tim may have more in common with its residents than he could ever imagine…

Written, edited and financed by Ryan Colucci, with a writing assist by Dikran Ornekian and art by Pawel Sambor, Harbor Moon made its debut at San Diego Comic Con this year but is actually set for general release on February 15, 2011 from Canadian small press publisher Arcana Studio.

Sambor's distinctive artwork immediately stirs echoes of Ben Templesmith's on 30 Days Of Night, but without being derivative. While it's not always obvious what is going on this just adds to the sensation of an hallucinogenic fever dream that also conjures up images of Stuart Gordon's Dagon - which, of course, was itself inspired by HP Lovecraft's Shadow Over Innsmouth.

When Tim has his first face-to-face encounter with a werewolf, the creature virtually leaps off the page, out of the mist to shockingly powerful effect.

However, it doesn't help that a lot of the male characters look very similar, if not identical, even though the flow of the artwork and dialogue sweeps you along.

Colucci's mythology-heavy story aims to do for werewolves what Lovecraft did for his amphibious deep ones by having an outsider drawn into their community and discovering he has a hidden connection to their past.

Rich in tense atmosphere and oozing with the American Gothic tradition, this is saga of family bonds, betrayal and community secrets in a mysterious, isolated town - and reflected in Sambor's striking and exotic art.

While our protagonist is on his brutal journey of self-discovery, a Draconian organisation called The Brotherhood Of The Moon (whose sole aim is to annihilate all lycanthropes) is closing in and a gang of rogue werewolves is threatening to attract too much attention to the close-mouthed community.

Naturally, all these threads culminate in a bloody climax to decide the fate of Harbor Moon - yet you can't help but feel that Colucci has left the door wide open for possible sequels and follow-ups!

Although the 140-page graphic novel won't be widely available until next year, you can still pick it up direct from the publishers now for $19.95. Art prints of individual pages are also available as well as the actual original artwork.