The Astounding Wolf-Man #6
Issue #6 is the pivotal turning point of the series' opening arc — the confrontation with the Actioneers over Wolf-Man's accidental killing of Sergeant Superior forces Gary Hampton to reckon with the consequences of his uncontrolled lycanthropy in a way that reframes him as a tragically flawed hero rather than a simple monster-turned-do-gooder. More importantly, the issue delivers a genuine shock twist: Sergeant Superior, widely believed dead, resurfaces as a vampire newly turned by the manipulative Zechariah, a revelation that deepens the vampire mentor's long-running deception and sets in motion the moral complications that would define the entire back half of the 25-issue run. Collected into the first trade paperback alongside issues #1–7, this chapter is structurally inseparable from the volume's cliffhanger conclusion, making it essential reading within the Kirkman-Howard Invincible shared universe.
ComicBooks.com Value
This exact issue on ebay
More listings for this title
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard launched The Astounding Wolf-Man on Free Comic Book Day, May 5, 2007, as a deliberate expansion of the superhero universe Kirkman had been building around Invincible at Image Comics — blending classic horror mythology with the shared-continuity superhero storytelling that distinguished the Invincible line. Issue #6, published in May 2008, arrived during the series' early monthly rhythm and was the last issue before the narrative took its dramatically darker turn in #7. Howard, a newer artist at the time, was visibly evolving his style throughout these early issues, a development both he and Kirkman later acknowledged in the collected editions.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published May 2008 by Image Comics; written by Robert Kirkman with art and cover by Jason Howard.
- The issue's central conflict: the Actioneers — Sergeant Superior's superhero teammates — hunt down Wolf-Man to exact revenge for his accidental killing of their leader during a full-moon frenzy.
- Shocking twist: Sergeant Superior reappears alive at the issue's climax, revealed to have been transformed into a vampire by the manipulative mentor-figure Zechariah — the first time Sergeant Superior's vampirism is depicted in the series.
- First appearances in this issue: the villain Impact, Doctor Kleaver, Nathan Singleton (Gary's corporate rival), and Elise.
- The Actioneers and Sergeant Superior themselves debuted earlier, in The Astounding Wolf-Man #2 (2007), created by Kirkman and Howard.
- Issue #6 falls within the first collected trade paperback, The Astounding Wolf-Man Vol. 1, which reprints issues #1–7 and was released in August 2008.
- The entire 25-issue series — including this issue — was later collected in The Astounding Wolf-Man Complete Collection hardcover (July 2017) and a new Compendium edition announced by Skybound in November 2025.
- Wolf-Man, as a character introduced in this shared universe, made a cameo in Season 3 of Amazon Prime's animated Invincible series, bringing renewed reader interest to the original comics.
Full credits
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.