A feminist comic as gripping as a horror film ? This is Coyotes, released by Hi Comics. In a border town between the United States and Mexico, Frank Coffey, a new police officer, arrives at the scene of a massacre. As bizarre as it may seem, he very quickly realizes that these murders are committed by a pack of werewolves. In the first volume, Analia, the main heroine is pursued by these wolves. She then discovers the Victorias, a sect of fighting women, then old witches including Abuela. Discovering a danger to women's freedom, Analia and Abuela go north to look for survivors of the attacks.
Feminist monsters and secret societies
Thanks to Sean Lewis' screenplay, the reader is immersed in a fantastic tale: magic potions, deities and esoteric names. With the main heroine, the reader discovers different women's organizations that fight in secret against these coyotes. The many adventures are well structured and lead us to a grandiose final battle. A legend reveals the origin of predators. At the beginning of time, they lived with Gaia, the mother goddess, in darkness. She created life but, jealous, the coyotes attacked and raped her daughters. This legend illustrates the jealousy of men. Coyotes is certainly an action story, but it is also a feminist parable. Women don't let that happen. According to legend, Gaia having scattered the wolves, she recruits four grandmothers to keep them apart while she rests. They are certainly fighters but they refuse to kill them unlike wolves. For them, these animals are necessary to maintain a natural balance. A father who has worn coyote skin is judged by women and must serve the group until he changes his behavior. This redemption is fragile because during the attack of the coyotes, most of the prisoners take back their wolf skin. Sean Lewis, who has already published The Few with the same publisher, uses reality to scare even more. The murders of women are not a pure invention because in Ciudad Juárez more than 1600 women have been killed. These themes are embodied by characters. The witch is very funny because she rejects all social constraints, which contrasts sharply with Analia who is more composed.
An independent heroine
Coyotes is also the story of a woman's emancipation. Long a victim, Analia refuses to suffer the tyranny of men disguised as coyotes. This little girl who has become a strong woman goes from prey to hunter. Wearing a red cape, this main character is a reinterpretation of Little Red Riding Hood who refuses to be devoured. The screenwriter shifts heroic values. Fragility becomes a weapon when the brittle bones of old women are turned into knives. Hi comics takes care of this volume of a series that is close to their heart with bonus sketches, photos of friends to play certain scenes that allow to understand the other side of creation.
Coyotes : a cartoonist to follow
Caitlin Yarsky's drawing fits well with this dark and scary atmosphere. His faces are very expressive thanks to grimaces and angular features while remaining realistic. The designer is very good at dreamlike passages: the grandmother telling a legend, her story appears in the middle of the blue smoke of her cigar. Violence against women is sometimes direct like this gory image of a woman charred by the lava wolf. As shown by an electric blue full page like a dream, the artist selects a common shade per page. Coyotes is a complete story in two volumes that brilliantly mixes the myth of the werewolf and the reality of femicides. The story that took three years to be conceived shows the emancipation of women but it is not without difficulty: Analia lost her sister, her mother and finally her best friend. This theme, admittedly very current, often takes precedence over the depth of the characters in a story that may be too short.