Wilhelm Tell can shoot an apple off his son’s head, but can he defeat the Austrian scum subjugating the Swiss people?
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Mitsuhisa Kuji
Translation/Adaptation: Ko Ransom
What They Say
In early modern Europe, the cantons that will one day comprise Switzerland are suffering brutal oppression under Habsburg Austria. Once a source of trade wealth for the people of the Alps, Sankt Gotthard Pass now hems them in, straddled by a barrier station overseen by a heartless bailiff and feared as the Wolf’s Maw. Even as a legendary hero takes up the cause of freedom, hope comes too dear. Clenched teeth, meet cruel smile.
The Review! (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Contains nudity.
Technical:
The cover is unique among most manga that make it stateside; it is a two-tone depiction instead of the more common color covers. The front is a knight on horseback riding down on the reader with his lance ready to skewer you. The back has a book synopsis and a woman cooking porridge. Artistically, Kuji makes use of multiple small panels per page, giving a feeling of a newspaper comic that covers a lot of ground in a fewer number of pages than many comics. There are relatively few single-page panels and only a single two-page panel that I can remember. Not a bad thing, just her personal style. The characters are proportional, but seem sort of stiff. Backgrounds are sparse and stark, just like the world these poor Swiss peasants live in.
The book is an interesting size; it is a little wider than most manga, giving more room for Kuji’s particular panel layout style and making it easier to hold the book open without damaging the spine. The printing is clean and alignment is good. The translation reads well, and the original Japanese SFX remains with smaller English translation alongside.
Content:
The setting is the Swiss Alps in the late Middle Ages, before the creation of Switzerland when the country was still only Cantons with loose alliances. The crux of this story is the impassableness of the Alps between Switzerland and Italy. There are key points where fortresses have been built by Austria to control the flow of people and goods south to Italy. This story is historical fiction, but how much is real history, I am not sure. However, I can attest to the region’s difficult terrain and the necessity to use the few passes that can be traversed into Italy from the time I have spent in this portion of Switzerland. This makes ‘Wolfsmund’ a great setting for a story about detestable rulers and the blood, sweat, and heart of those fighting against tyranny.
The crux of this story is the Wolf’s Maw, or Wolfsmund, a fortress blocking the pass between Switzerland and Italy. The bailiff of Wolfsmund, Wolfram, is a cruel man that enjoys the suffering of others. Wolfram isn’t just cruel, but he is very intelligent and that allows him to play with people’s minds, causing them to give up the truth of their lies in their attempt to get through the checkpoint. Once, he succeeds in ferreting out the truth, his sentencing is quick and ruthless, ending at the chopping block with no exceptions. And if he is unable to get the immediate answer he wants out of his prey, he has no problem being patient as he tortures them with a constant smile on his face.
Some of the people living in the Cantons have had enough and have formed a rebel alliance. Their problem is their inability to get to Italy to access their bank funds and buy soldiers. Thus, the constant struggle to get through Wolfsmund. But, there is another way to get to Italy; climb. It isn’t easy by any means, but mountain goats do it all the time. Luckily for the rebels, the best mountain climber in Europe is on their side, Wilhelm Tell. Yep, the same guy that shot the apple off his son’s head with an arrow. Thus begins a cool sequence of climbing as Wilhelm and his son, Walter, try to climb around Wolfsmund. They have some close calls, but nothing as dangerous as the surprise outpost full of soldiers that begin shooting crossbow bolts at them while they try to climb to safety.
Can the Tell’s make it safely out of range of the Austrian soldiers? Will they be able to get to Italy safely and find those sympathetic to the Cantons of the Swiss Alps? And will anyone be able to do something about that disgusting excuse for a human, Wolfram?
In Summary:
‘Wolfsmund’ can be a tough series to get into. On one hand, it is a great start to a seinen series, a genre sorely underrepresented in the US; but on the other hand, it kills characters off so passively that the reader can’t attach to any protagonist. Instead, the only constant between chapters is this visceral hatred for the bailiff of Wolfsmund, Wolfram. If this is what the author wanted readers to walk away with after this first volume, then she succeeded!
I hate Wolfram so much that I can’t wait to get the next volume to see him get his comeuppance. Anything that would make me feel better, even if it isn’t his death but a demotion from his commanders or something that makes him unhappy. I think Vertical has a real hit on their hands if Kuji can narrow in on a main character more and give readers someone to cheer on instead of just someone to hate.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Vertical, Inc.
Release Date: July 2nd, 2013
MSRP: $12.95
