Wolfsmund Vol 1

Wolfsmund is a very dark manga where the separate stories all come together at the border castle at St. Gotthard Pass.  Set in during an oppressive time period where Switzerland was under Austria’s iron thumb, the border castle guards the mountain pass between the Swiss Alps and the Italian Alps.  From rebels and bodyguards to Wilhelm Tell and his son, all are forced to have to cross the high mountain pass guarded by a ruthless bailiff known as the Wolf of the Maw who revels in interrogation and torture of dissidents.  He’s a genius at spotting lies and forgeries, and then he exploits that weakness which usually ends quite terribly for our poor waylaid heroes.  Its to the point where Wolfram is even angering his allies with his callous and cruel nature because they fear he is helping inspire the rebellion by being excessively cruel in his actions.

The artwork has a very dark and mature tone of it perfectly matching with the even darker storylines.  For people who have only read typical shonen manga, this lesser known sienen series will shock people with the lack of good endings for the characters in the stories.  Made up of about 3 separate stories that tie together; the protagonists are left usually trapped in the twisted web that Wolfram has set up among Gottard Pass town and border crossing where he is able to anticapte the actions of people and predict accordingly.  I am excited to see what awaits in the later volumes.

I enjoy the separate stories that all focus on the actions of the bailiff known as the wolf of the maw.  The way the manga has built up Wolfram’s villainous and cruel nature was enjoyable as we learned in each chapter just how far he will go to instill fear into the hearts of the Swiss countryside.  Its exciting to see American manga publishers starting to print these lesser known sienen mangas that are a huge jump from the normal cookie cutter shonen and shoujo mangas you can find on most store shelves.  this shows the growth of the manga market in the United States that smaller lesser known mangas like this, Dorohedoro, and Uzumaki which I should have reviews for soon.

Author - Mitsuhisa Kuji
Publisher - Vertical
Date - July 2013