David Small is best known perhaps for Stitches; in this book, The Werewolf at Dusk, he shares three short comics stories about aging, two of which are adapted from other authors, linked as Small says, by “the dread of things internal.” The title story, by Lincoln Michel, is about a werewolf that has grown old. In other words, the old man has something bestial in his nature, though now somewhat in decline. “Once I was a monster. Now I’m more like a waif in a wolf.” This one I like least, maybe, because its the slightest, but it’s still provocative (think about connection to Hesse's Steppenwolf).

The second story, “A Walk in the City,” was written by Small and he says it is semi-autobiographical. It may be my favorite. Based in part on a dream/nightmare he had decades ago about aging, the now fictional story explores aging from the perspective of an aging Small, now in his late seventies. The old man is a psychotherapist, sort of lost in a city, encountering giant spiders--the threat of death, decline? He’s on the precipice of a narrow walkway above a river far below; he gets vertigo, fear of falling. He knows he’s dreaming, a dream within a dream, or is the blind man he encounters--the only person he meets--dreaming him? I suppose to call a dream surreal is sort of redundant, but that’s the effect. Eerie.

Reminders to self”: View again Bergman’s Wild Strawberries, that opens with an old man’s dream/nightmare, and think, too, about Daphne du Maurier’s short story, “Don’t Look Back,” which also features a man in a similar environment--Venice?--lost, afraid, facing oblivion.

The last story, “The Tiger in Vogue,” by Jean Ferry, is a surrealist tale about a(n old) man who goes to a musical performance in 1930’s Germany. One part of the performance features a tiger in a suit that is an allegory to the dangers of the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany. The old man fearfully--and he feels like he is alone in feeling this--sees the decline of his country, and the world, sliding into fascism. Simple, but also provocative. I liked this quite a bit, maybe in part because I am now an older man, but I like Smal’ls minimalist style throughout.

Thanks to W. W. Norton & Co., Net Galley and the author for an early look at this book.

Short stories again are my jam! I really enjoyed the vibe of this book with all the different stories. Some of these gripped me from the get go!

What did I just read? I don’t even know. All I know is that they were 3 very strange and inconclusive stories. None of them had a proper ending. The second one was the best one, but still, what did I just read?

This book was so good! It was intriguing and really drawed me in. I'll be reading more of this authors work.

This was a very interesting read and I enjoyed it. In some ways, it felt more like an adult picture book than a graphic novel, which I do mean as a compliment. The art was in a sketchy style, and the stories offered no tidy answers. I have a lot of respect for it, though parts of it did leave me hanging more than I prefer.

This collection of short stories adapted into comics is impactful in its spare details and crisp linework.

I’ve liked David Small’s work in the past and was interested to see what this would be like. I liked the title story Werewolf at Dusk and found both the story and the art evocative. I also liked the second story and I thought it was the most interesting to me, but maybe that’s because it was a story written by Small and not his approach to someone else’s story. I didn’t particularly care for the third story, but I really enjoyed the art that went along with it. It’s definitely not my favorite work by Small but I did enjoy it!

David Small crafts a visual feat again with a series of stories told through his unique vision. A notable artist whose work continues to link visuals and literary thinking.

Three stories are depicted in this part graphic novel part novel compilation. David Small does the illustrations and they are not my favorite. Two of the stories are adaptations from other authors. The first being about an old man werewolf, aging through his fur. It was interesting but ultimately ends in a way that made me question what the point was. The second story is from the author himself and I found this one rather lackluster as well. There is a doctor who believes he is dreaming, big spiders, and a blind man. The ending again felt lackluster to me. The third story is about an orchestra song and the man who hates it. There were nazis, tigers, and ultimately I was confused and didn't understand the point. Overall this collection fell quite flat for me.

David Small is back with a new comic, this time a collection of three short stories: an adaptation of two stories by other writers, The Werewolf at Dusk by Lincoln Michel, and The Tiger in Vogue by Jean Ferry, and an original, A Walk in the Old City. I wish Small had produced a comic only of his own material because his story is easily the best and the others are disappointingly poor.

The Werewolf at Dusk is about an elderly werewolf who tells us how he isn’t as vital now as he once was. He’s not just an old man but he transforms into an old werewolf too and both versions feel the ravages of age. That’s it. Ho hum. Very repetitive and one-note.

A Walk in the Old City is about a disaffected older psychiatrist who goes wandering through a labyrinthine city and gets lost - until he is saved by a quiet old man. The story goes from dream-like to nightmarish on a dime and I loved it. Haunting, imaginative - it’s easily the best story of the three.

The book closes out with The Tiger in Vogue. Set in Germany in the 1920s, a man goes to a music hall where he sees a performance featuring a tiger in a suit. It’s a rather strained and obvious metaphor for what Hitler would go on to do to Germany and its people. Like Werewolf at Dusk, the point here is laboured and banal.

I quite liked Small’s loose art throughout. It’s not as strong as in previous books but I think it’s more a sign of a confident illustrator than simply age (he’s now in his late ‘70s). The imagery in Old City is especially inspired - another reason why I would’ve preferred more of Small’s own stories than anyone else’s.

There’s one good story here out of the three at least so the collection’s not a total bust though it does also unfortunately make Werewolf at Dusk David Small’s weakest book in some time.

I was hooked on David Small's books after reading Stitches. His graphic novels are amazing. This particular title has three stories, two adapted by other authors and one by David Small. I really liked them for the most part, but David's story is by far the best.

The first story, Werewolf at Dusk, is by Lincoln Michel. It's about an aging werewolf who is unable to do what he used to. He's depressed that he can't hunt and kill like he could in his younger years.

The second story is A Walking in the Old City. This is David Small's work. The artwork is great and the story is in David's style. It is about a psychiatrist who takes a walk in the city and gets lost. He comes across an elderly man who the psychiatrist thinks will save him. Things go awry and the psychiatrist finds that saving wasn't in the elderly man's plan.

The last story is about Adolf Hitler and how he was able to control a tiger, which is a metaphor for the German people during WWII. It is called The Tiger in Vogue by Jean Ferry.

I hope that David will come out with a new graphic that is all his own soon.

This fantasy comic book puts the spotlight on aging evil.
We have three stories which explore the ailing body refusing to cooperate or that keeps going on doing the evils of their perpetrator. I guess this is looking at age in a different light: it's not because you are old that you are toothless. It isn't because you age that you cool down.
The illustrations were very well done, but felt very cold, not only because of the tone - the book is in dark grey and pastel blues, but also because everything felt like it was drawn on screen. For some reason it put me off, I think I would have liked them to feel a little more organic, because we are seeing biology at work. For some reason, it created a bit of a dissonance for me as I was reading, it just looked too neat and clean.

I love the art, the backgrounds are usually simple with a focus on the characters, but even the "simple" settings managed to be immersive. I like "A Walk In the Old City" the most, for the story as well as the setting. I could easily imagine myself on the bridge, or the cliff. It's interesting how color was added, so I suggest reading it on a device with color.

First off I have to say the artwork of this graphic novel was so beautifully illustrated. It helps carry the emotions through the book.

Out of the 3 the first was definitely my favorite, with some of my favorite quotes coming out of it. But the two that followed carried their own through the rest of the novel both having very striking metaphors. They were lacking the “mmph” that was in the first story, just something missing.

I would definitely pick up more novels by David Small.

Thank you NetGallery for an advanced copy.

Beatiful, evocative artwork. I've read some graphic novels lately where the artwork doesn't add much to the story. That is certainly not the case for Werewolf at Dusk--the artwork is so emotional and carries so much of these stories. There is not an over-reliance on the written word in this text.

I'm not sure that these stories really make sense together, though. Based on the cover, I thought all would be about werewolves, which was not the case. They all had animals in them, I guess? I found them beautiful but disjointed.

I think my favorite story was the one the author actually wrote, the second story that is about facing mortality.

I was confused about the third story, and that might just be due to my unfamiliarity with WWII history. I needed clarity on what the allegory of the story was--what was the tiger a metaphor for? I even tried googling it, but my basic search didn't help. Again, this could just be my own failure to understand, but I could have used more clarity either from the artwork or from the words the author chose to include (and not include) from the original story.

I would read more from David Small!

The 3 stories presented in this book are great! The art is very akin to illustrations but the fluent style allows a storybook approach, it gives you time and space to savor the story, its lessons, and mark the margins of your thoughts.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy for an honest review

‘Werewolf at Dusk: And Other Stories’ was a nice anthology graphic novel it was ok but I felt it was lacking something I liked the first story but not so much the others. The artwork was nice.

Rating 4 stars

Small is a singular figure in comics. As at home with memoir as he is with parable, it is difficult to find his equal. A werewolf story that brings a Werner Herzog melancholy to it's narrator. A twisting tale of blindness. A reinvention of a classic French surrealist tale.

A wonderful collection.

The artwork here is great, but I must say that I did not connect with anything beyond the first story. This reads incredibly quickly and might be of interest to some short story fans, but was not for me.

I really like and admire the art of David Small. These stories didn’t speak to me.

The title story, an adaptation of Lincoln Michel’s short, the dread is that of a man who has reached old age. The three stories are linked as an homage to ageing. .