It's a comic about a bass-playing werewolf woman, a jazz pianist ghost woman made of milkshakes, and a mean and dynamic drummer woman (human and living). There's music, gigs, a battle of bands, a burger and milkshake joint, magic, a hate-to-love w/w romance, class and domesticity issues, disability issues, self-esteem and confidence issues, and a blue and pink (and black and yellow) colouring palette.
What's not to like?'Wolfpitch' is chaotic, but it's a nice, soft, palatable chaotic, never annoying or obnoxious. Set in our modern world but with supernatural elements integrated in, it stars a massively confident (one could say overcompensating), loud, stubborn and often overbearing punk rock bassist named Isabella "Izzy" Plata, who's also a big bad werewolf. Though no one would think twice about her behaviour if she were a man, would they? She is truly the "howler" of the book, and the band, the newly-forming Wolfpitch. With her in Wolfpitch is Delilah, a little lady who is one of the best drummers ever, and was Izzy's longtime archnemesis and rival. I started out hating her, but she turned into one of my favourite characters, isn't that something? Delilah's bad attitude and temper is actually endearing, and understandable. Even though she is a werewolf racist towards Izzy, scarcely getting over herself over the course of the book. The other member of the girl band is Geraldine Dukes, a sweet, levelheaded ghost of a famous jazz pianist, who now works at a burger joint called Blood Moon Bites, and is unable to write new music or improvise since her tragic onstage death. She is made tangible by milkshakes. Goddess, I love comic books.
Side characters include Geraldine's awesome, wise, savvy boss Kate (who wouldn't want a boss like her), her nonbinary coworker Terry, Ron the nice rival drummer, and... yeah, they're the only ones worth mentioning. Dylan of the rival rock band, who's he?
'Wolfpitch', among its many lightly-touched themes for a short comic, is about transformation, literally and figuratively. It is about development, growing up, moving on, self-worth, self-acceptance, and surmounting odds. And rocking out your passion and creativity for everyone to see.
The art and colours really make everything stand out, and give the readers an idea of the music being played in an inaudible medium. It's a mixture of rock and jazz, supposedly. I'm no music expert, but it sounds interesting, to say the least.
The comic is far from perfect. It could have gotten more into Delilah's relationship with her mother, who barely shows up and is barely talked about, yet we are told two or three times that theirs is a strained, complicated, borderline neglectful relationship. Some minor side characters definitely could have benefitted from extra page time, especially Terry, and other band members. Dylan's shift from regular rivel band member at the beginning to straight-up mad villain is rather sudden. And the w/w romance between two of the main players, while gradually developed and underplayed, and it took me by surprise, needed more page time as well. More scenes of the couple together, romantically.
'Wolfpitch' is short but sweet. It is juicy, and juicily like 'Jem and the Holograms' and 'Josie and the Pussycats'. In my opinion, it is not as enjoyable as Balazs Lorinczi's other work, 'Doughnuts and Doom', but maybe that's partly due to personal preference. In a few ways, the wolfy rock band comic is a silly mess, but in this case, that's okay. The main keynote players and rep - and the fantastic art - make up for it.
Both of Lorinczi's comics feature a 'Kiki's Delivery Service' style of supernatural stuff that's normalised in a normal world, and strong, passionate and creative female leads, and foods that add to and amp up their cuteness factor.
Finally, on a tiny footnote: 'Wolfpitch' references 'The Mummy', starring Brendan Fraser. Anything that references Brendan Fraser is a good highlight, and starlight.
'Wolfpitch' is its own fun, little Milkshake-y Way star system.
Final Score: 3.5/5
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