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Werewolf by Night: The Complete Collection
Werewolf by Night: The Complete Collection, Vol. 1
Collects Marvel Spotlight (1971) #2-4, Werewolf By Night (1972) #1-15, Marvel Team-Up (1972) #12, Tomb of Dracula (1972) #18. Jack Russell stars in tales to make you howl, as Marvel's very own Werewolf! Learn how Jack became one of the grooviest ghoulies of the seventies in this classic collection of his earliest adventures! Afflicted with his family's curse, Jack's on a search for answers - could they lie in the terrible tome known as the Darkhold? But Jack's quest is fraught with danger -from mad monks to big game hunters to a traveling freak show! Then there's the terror of Tatterdemalion, the horror of Hangman and the torment of Taboo! But few encounters can compare with Krogg, the lurker from beyond - except, maybe, a Marvel Team-Up with Spider-Man...and a supernatural showdown with Dracula himself!
434 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 4, 2017
55 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Gerry Conway
2,061 books89 followersGerard Francis Conway (Gerard F. Conway) is an American writer of comic books and television shows. He is known for co-creating the Marvel Comics' vigilante the Punisher and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man. At DC Comics, he is known for co-creating the superhero Firestorm and others, and for writing the Justice League of America for eight years. Conway wrote the first major, modern-day intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
June 2, 2018
Having recently read "Tomb of Dracula", "Creature Commandos", "I, Vampire" (amongst many others), I can safely say that I miss old school horror/ monster comics!
And Werewolf by Night is a great (and underrated) title from Marvel's heyday! Decently written and drawn, this run is surprisingly memorable and tightly plotted.
And Werewolf by Night is a great (and underrated) title from Marvel's heyday! Decently written and drawn, this run is surprisingly memorable and tightly plotted.
December 28, 2023
Jack Russell, Werewolf by Night, got his start in the pages of Marvel Spotlight. This was a try-out book that Marvel used to see if a new character concept was going to sell well enough to warrant getting their own title. Obviously some characters did better than others. Jack Russell did better than many, but not as well as Ghost Rider, who followed the Werewolf as the featured star of the title.
Marvel Spotlight #2-4 - Gerry Conway and the incomparable Mike Ploog served up a truly different character this time. Jack Russell has just turned 18 and now he can’t escape his family’s curse: lycanthropy. Every month, for three consecutive nights, during the full moon, Russell becomes a werewolf. The opening pair of issues, set up the main cast of characters and the basic backstory. But issue #4 moves things into a sort of loose adaptation of The Island of Doctor Moreau, with a couple more introductions of characters and concepts that would become quite important (3/5).
Werewolf By Night #1-4 - Conway & Ploog continue their story. The Book of the Darkhold is introduced (although the past as presented here isn’t quite as malevolent as it will be developed). The progression of the narrative and the development of supporting characters is clear and the they set a solid direction for the title (3/5).
Werewolf By Night #5-7 - Len Wein replaces Conway as writer, although Ploog’s art anchors the story with some continuity. While Wein seems to wrap up some “loose ends” from the previous issue, he’s actually taking things in an unexpected direction and then spins a multi-issue arc about a circus. Not the greatest of stories, but the art holds up. Although some of Ploog’s inkers are better at handling his style than others, and it shows (3/5).
Werewolf By Night #8 - A guest-artist fills-in for Ploog, and while Werner Roth isn’t Ploog by any measure, he offers up a nice look for the issue featuring a demon-possessed rabbit in the wild (3/5).
Marvel Team-Up #12 - Wein & Conway team up on this story, with artists Ross Andru & Don Perlin handling the pretty pictures, the latter will become very prominent on this book a bit later, for this typical team-up style narrative. This is fast-paced and pretty loose with the credibility, but it’s a fun, quick read (3/5).
Werewolf By Night #9-10 - Conway & Tom Sutton delivered this 2-part story that pits the Werewolf again a cult lead by a kind of Piped Piper type. First mention of the Committee by name (this will become very important) and other interesting developments (3/5).
Werewolf By Night #11-12 - Marv Wolfman takes over the writing duties and Gil Kane steps in to handle the artistic ones. This 2-parter introduces the character of The Hangman and offers some unexpected new twists for Jack Russell (3/5).
Werewolf By Night #13-14 - Ploog returns! While the guest artists have been fine, it’s pretty clear that Ploog is THE artist for this title. This story develops things in some rather unexpected directions and motivations become a bit muddled at times. I attribute this to the changes in writers and the narrative going in some different directions than was perhaps originally intended. We also get first appearances of Taboo and Topaz (4/5).
Tomb of Dracula #18 (also a page of relevant material from #17) & Werewolf By Night #15 - This 2-part crossover/team-up/“monster” mash-up is a mess. It is just one contrived cliché after another. But at the least the art by Gene Colan and Ploog makes up for some of the flimsy clichés (3/5).
As it stands this volume is a pretty average 1970s Marvel horror-hero introduction to Jack Russell and the werewolf, but Ploog’s art at least keeps things interesting and entertaining. Ploog’s art also prevented me from giving a lot of these stories, and the overall book, anything less than a 3-star rating.
Marvel Spotlight #2-4 - Gerry Conway and the incomparable Mike Ploog served up a truly different character this time. Jack Russell has just turned 18 and now he can’t escape his family’s curse: lycanthropy. Every month, for three consecutive nights, during the full moon, Russell becomes a werewolf. The opening pair of issues, set up the main cast of characters and the basic backstory. But issue #4 moves things into a sort of loose adaptation of The Island of Doctor Moreau, with a couple more introductions of characters and concepts that would become quite important (3/5).
Werewolf By Night #1-4 - Conway & Ploog continue their story. The Book of the Darkhold is introduced (although the past as presented here isn’t quite as malevolent as it will be developed). The progression of the narrative and the development of supporting characters is clear and the they set a solid direction for the title (3/5).
Werewolf By Night #5-7 - Len Wein replaces Conway as writer, although Ploog’s art anchors the story with some continuity. While Wein seems to wrap up some “loose ends” from the previous issue, he’s actually taking things in an unexpected direction and then spins a multi-issue arc about a circus. Not the greatest of stories, but the art holds up. Although some of Ploog’s inkers are better at handling his style than others, and it shows (3/5).
Werewolf By Night #8 - A guest-artist fills-in for Ploog, and while Werner Roth isn’t Ploog by any measure, he offers up a nice look for the issue featuring a demon-possessed rabbit in the wild (3/5).
Marvel Team-Up #12 - Wein & Conway team up on this story, with artists Ross Andru & Don Perlin handling the pretty pictures, the latter will become very prominent on this book a bit later, for this typical team-up style narrative. This is fast-paced and pretty loose with the credibility, but it’s a fun, quick read (3/5).
Werewolf By Night #9-10 - Conway & Tom Sutton delivered this 2-part story that pits the Werewolf again a cult lead by a kind of Piped Piper type. First mention of the Committee by name (this will become very important) and other interesting developments (3/5).
Werewolf By Night #11-12 - Marv Wolfman takes over the writing duties and Gil Kane steps in to handle the artistic ones. This 2-parter introduces the character of The Hangman and offers some unexpected new twists for Jack Russell (3/5).
Werewolf By Night #13-14 - Ploog returns! While the guest artists have been fine, it’s pretty clear that Ploog is THE artist for this title. This story develops things in some rather unexpected directions and motivations become a bit muddled at times. I attribute this to the changes in writers and the narrative going in some different directions than was perhaps originally intended. We also get first appearances of Taboo and Topaz (4/5).
Tomb of Dracula #18 (also a page of relevant material from #17) & Werewolf By Night #15 - This 2-part crossover/team-up/“monster” mash-up is a mess. It is just one contrived cliché after another. But at the least the art by Gene Colan and Ploog makes up for some of the flimsy clichés (3/5).
As it stands this volume is a pretty average 1970s Marvel horror-hero introduction to Jack Russell and the werewolf, but Ploog’s art at least keeps things interesting and entertaining. Ploog’s art also prevented me from giving a lot of these stories, and the overall book, anything less than a 3-star rating.
June 15, 2018
A fun trip down memory lane! Back in the era of bell bottoms and headbands, i was a kid with an allowance of 25 cents, maybe more. I would walk across the South Side to a news stand. There i dithered and agonized: famous monsters of filmland? Werewolf by night? Or pretzels and candy? So while I sometimes chose Werewolf, I didn't always. That meant that the storyline got chopped up for me. So i splurged and bought a nearly new copy. Which took me down more memory lanes than i expected. Not only did I finally find out how certain stories came out, but this really is a beautiful and solid volume, well made and printed in all its seventies glory. And as I read it, I came across cover art that I hadnt seen in decades. A couple were such sudden and powerful memories that I could visualize the old news stand in clear detail, which I hadn 't been able to do on my own. I remembered street corners, trees, and sidewalks. It's been quite an experience, reading through this.
I give it three stars for the memories and some of the art. It loses stars for other art, lol. And painful dialog. But hey, it's from another time. I enjoyed this.
I give it three stars for the memories and some of the art. It loses stars for other art, lol. And painful dialog. But hey, it's from another time. I enjoyed this.
September 23, 2018
I really wanted to go back and revisit one of these old Marvel horror runs for my Halloween mediathon this year, so I chose Werewolf by Night, but probably should have gone with Tomb of Dracula. Jack Russell is not that interesting of a character, and by the dozenth transformation I was starting to fall asleep. That said, the art is cleaned up in the digital version, so I like the colors even if I'm not crazy about some of the designs. Jack does face a host of goofy, lovable villains like Sarnak or the Mad Monk, and a whole bunch of neat thugs and brutes who are frankly more interesting than the stories going on around them. I just couldn't get into Conway's very wordy style here, but I'm going to try the following volumes because Moon Knight appears for the first time in them, one of my fave Marvel characters, and its been awhile since I checked out his debut.
March 14, 2022
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.
Werewolf by Night was a childhood favorite, so it’s been really nice reading these books again for the first time in at least 20 years. The artwork (especially Ploog’s) was fantastic for the era it was drawn in. And, despite giving a werewolf the groan inducing name of Jack Russell, the writers took their job seriously.
The only thing I didn’t like was how Jack’s step-father seemed to randomly change his tune. He’d always hated Jack, so why would he stand in the way of Jack getting his. Particularly when not doing so caused Mr. Russell to be hurt himself. As to how his story changed, making him a much nicer guy, it didn’t feel real.
Aside from that one complaint, though, Werewolf by Night is a horror comic that has stood the test of time. Recommended!
Werewolf by Night was a childhood favorite, so it’s been really nice reading these books again for the first time in at least 20 years. The artwork (especially Ploog’s) was fantastic for the era it was drawn in. And, despite giving a werewolf the groan inducing name of Jack Russell, the writers took their job seriously.
The only thing I didn’t like was how Jack’s step-father seemed to randomly change his tune. He’d always hated Jack, so why would he stand in the way of Jack getting his. Particularly when not doing so caused Mr. Russell to be hurt himself. As to how his story changed, making him a much nicer guy, it didn’t feel real.
Aside from that one complaint, though, Werewolf by Night is a horror comic that has stood the test of time. Recommended!
May 28, 2020
The cool thing about Werewolf by Night was that his stories took place away from the super-hero goings-on of most Marvel titles, even though he did exist in the same universe and had occasional run-ins with other characters like Spider-Man. Mike Ploog's clean and expressive artwork is in most of the series, getting better as it progressed. The stories of Jack Russel (the werewolf) were chapters in his life as a vagabond, encountering different threats along the way. This collection culminates with cross-overs with Tomb of Dracula and some really cool artwork by Gene Colan. Recommended for all bronze age fans.
September 30, 2022
Took me forever to get through this collection (I think in part because it collects more issues than I'm used to digging through), and it's more or less what I expected. I was hoping for some more atmospheric or spooky stories (more of an EC Comics tone), but this is a lot of action and repetition for the most part.
That's the nature of the beast with comics, though, especially from this era, so it's not like it's not as advertised. Still, it probably goes without saying that none of this seems like it's essential grounding for Marvel's upcoming "Halloween Special."
That's the nature of the beast with comics, though, especially from this era, so it's not like it's not as advertised. Still, it probably goes without saying that none of this seems like it's essential grounding for Marvel's upcoming "Halloween Special."
July 7, 2018
Coyer Summer Bash
Marvel has a history of great horror comics and this volume has the complete Werewolf by Night issues. I love the look of these comics. It's a flash back to my childhood experiences with comics. They radiate the 70's ! The main character is a very tortured guy who on the path of the series learns to use his powers more to his benefit. There are also some really great crossovers with Dracula from the Tomb of Dracula series.
Marvel has a history of great horror comics and this volume has the complete Werewolf by Night issues. I love the look of these comics. It's a flash back to my childhood experiences with comics. They radiate the 70's ! The main character is a very tortured guy who on the path of the series learns to use his powers more to his benefit. There are also some really great crossovers with Dracula from the Tomb of Dracula series.
October 2, 2018
As far as Marvel anti-hero's go Jack is a pretty weak character as a Werewolf. Don't get me wrong, this is a great collection with lovely art but I'm not a fan of the handicap Jack keeps facing. Always getting beat up and always having to protect his sister that is always in the wrong place at the wrong time. I do look forward to the other volumes but Tomb of Dracula is definitely a better Marvel horror series in my opinion.
June 28, 2018
Solid take on the werewolf story with a fairly interesting plot and characters. There’s some really great art but the one off villains of the week don’t make much of an impression. The less said about the Spider-Man cameo the better. Overall this is a great 70’s horror comic filled set in Los Angeles instead of Marvel’s usual New York.
November 18, 2024
Usually I say compilations like this are hard to read all at once since they were designed to be read monthly BUT this is an exception. The story and the art were so well-done it was a joy to read as quickly as could be done with focus and clarity. I remember reading these individually back in the day and enjoyed reading them again lo these many years later.
March 25, 2018
Welcome to 70's Marvel horror where Jack Russell (get it? ) has amazing adventures while dealing with a family curse that turns him into a werewolf at the full moon. Lots of action and an on going storyline will keep you reading.
February 5, 2019
I love retro Marvel anthologies like this.
It probably doesn't age well, but I think that's half the charm. It's a slice of time on it's own and you can tell that there are definitely themes and aspects that must have really been pushing the boundaries for the era.
It probably doesn't age well, but I think that's half the charm. It's a slice of time on it's own and you can tell that there are definitely themes and aspects that must have really been pushing the boundaries for the era.
August 2, 2019
Little bit of a mixed bag. Some issues were really engaging and others bored me a bit. it's great classic Marvel horror art though. I really can't get enough of Mike Ploog. Looking forward to continuing the adventures of Jack Russell.
December 19, 2024
When I was a kid, the only comics I collected were Savage Sword of Conan, Tomb of Dracula, and Werewolf by Night. The artwork isn't as good as I remember it, but it still had me reliving my childhood for a while. Loved it!
January 10, 2018
Great then, great now
Back in the day, Marvel put out great horror comics. Picking this up, all the thrills were still there. Look forward to the next installment!
Back in the day, Marvel put out great horror comics. Picking this up, all the thrills were still there. Look forward to the next installment!
October 7, 2020
Cheesy as hell, stilted dialogue too but fun
November 1, 2022
really loved the writing in this. oddly poetic
November 3, 2022
Took me awhile to adjust to the older style (I still hate how they write women) but the best bits are with Dracula. Cool character, will continue on
January 3, 2023
Didn't finish. I read maybe half of it and just decided to pass on the remaining issues.
September 27, 2023
I think I've made my way thru everything Mike Ploog ever did for Marvel. I wish he'd stuck around forever.
November 26, 2023
Very Marvel monsters of the seventies. Lots of stand alone stories, typically featuring a fight among monsters.
December 7, 2022
This man deals with an almost ridiculous number of full moons
October 23, 2022
I loved the Mike Ploog art but these stories are just too repetitive to offer any kind of entertainment once you’ve read 3 or 4 of them. It’s uninspired and the writing style is still entrenched in the early silver age. The book is worth checking out for a minute but it’s not something you want to sink any real time into.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews