Rising high school basketball star Cam Banter can’t even miss one pass without igniting the fiery anger of his gruff father Julien, who is determined to raise his son to win at all costs—both on and off the court. At the same time, the new coach, Damien Castle, is trying to instill a sense of morals and team cohesion into his players (“We are a team and no one should turn on the other just because they had a bad game”). Damien butts heads with Julien immediately, creating a tension that puts Cam in an awkward position. Cam also has trouble containing his volatile outbursts. His anger is the result of more than regular hormones—Cam and his father are werewolves and members of a vicious pack that use their powers to get ahead. Coach Damien himself is also a “shifter” with the ability to turn into a panther; he recognizes Cam’s potential and hopes to steer him toward a path of using his powers responsibly. As the wolf in Cam starts to rear its furry head, he has to choose between his father’s unrelenting aggression and his coach’s calmer wisdom. As Cam bounces back and forth between these two competing visions of adulthood, Di Meglio’s illustrations call back to classic comic strips with vibrant colors and a vintage style of square-jawed, all-American jocks. The artwork becomes even more fun when the supernatural elements come into play, allowing Di Meglio to create some great panels of half-men/half-wolves dunking shots and growling at each other. Hawkins’ use of shapeshifting as a coming-of-age metaphor does not feel like anything new—the basic setup will call to mind classic high school films like Teen Wolf—but Cam’s uneasy choice between his father’s brutality and his coach’s emphasis on responsibility and duty creates a rich dynamic to drive the entire story. Fans of supernatural high school stories will appreciate that this wild fantasy shoots for a story grounded in real emotions.
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English (US) ·