post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...
adventure
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
series published in the British comics anthology '' 2000 AD''. It was created by
Alec Worley
Alec or Aleck is a Scottish form of the given name Alex. It may be a diminutive of the name Alexander or a given name in its own right. Notable people with the name include:
People
* Alec Aalto (1942–2018), Finnish diplomat
*Alec Acton (1938– ...
and
Jon Davis-Hunt
Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan (name), Jonathan, derived from "Tetragrammaton, YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John (given name), John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned".Norse prophecy of
Ragnarök
In Norse mythology, (; non, Ragnarǫk) is a series of events, including a great battle, foretelling the death of numerous great figures (including the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), natural disasters, and the submers ...
brings about a moonlit cataclysm in which most of humanity become
werewolves
In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...
. The plot charts the life of one of the few surviving humans, a dog pound worker called Rowan Morrigan who becomes a deadly werewolf hunter.
The series is a
trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...
. The second and third entries shift the story forward years at a time. In the final part, 35 years have passed since the beginning and Rowan is a mother in her mid-fifties.
Creation and concept
The series was originally conceived as a trilogy following a progression derived from the Three Fates of
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
in which the heroine is first a type of sacrificial maiden, second a “ Sarah Conner-type mother” and, finally, a monster. Worley envisioned the third part as a “reverse-''
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
''” in which Rowan, formerly the protagonist, would be the antagonist to a werewolf warrior. It was feared the third part would over-complicate the story so the original idea was abandoned. Worley adapted his original plan for the third part into a different vision of a world now adapted to long-term moonlight, with “a far-out
pulp sci-fi
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
feel, like something off a
prog rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Initi ...
album, a
Rodney Matthews
Rodney Matthews (born 6 July 1945) is a British illustrator and conceptual designer of fantasy and science-fiction.
Career
Trained at the West of England College of Art, Matthews worked in advertising for Plastic Dog Graphics before turning ...
poster or an '80s fantasy epic like ''
The Dark Crystal
''The Dark Crystal'' is a 1982 dark fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. It stars the voices of Stephen Garlick, Lisa Maxwell, Billie Whitelaw, Percy Edwards, and Barry Dennen. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment and The J ...
'', all funky vegetation, and alien creatures running around looking awesome.”
Publication history
* ''Age of the Wolf'', in ''2000 AD'' #1700-08, Sept. 2010.
* ''Age of the Wolf: She Is Legend'', in ''2000 AD'' #1772-81, Feb. 2012.
* ''Age of the World: Wolfworld'', in ''2000 AD'' #1840-49, Jul. 2013
Collected edition
* ''Age of the Wolf'' (Oct. 2014) Oxford: Rebellion ({{ISBN, 9781781082638)
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...