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Essential Werewolf by Night #1
Essential Werewolf by Night, Vol. 1
Whether they came at him in committee, cult, or carnival, no nemesis was a match for Marvel's highest-ranking horror hero! With some of the most scintillating supernaturalism served out by the seventies! Guest-starring the hero who goes with everything, Spider-Man! Introducing Topaz of Witches! Plus: the deeds of Dracula, the transformation of Tigra, and more!
Collecting Marvel Spotlight #2-4, Werewolf By Night #1-21, Marvel Team-Up #12, Tomb Of Dracula #18, Giant-Size Creatures #1.
576 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1947
6 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
About the author
Gerry Conway
2,064 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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December 19, 2020
Marvel exploited the slackening of the Comics Code in the ‘70s by releasing a wave of horror titles. These horror books have been one of the few gaps in my Marvel collection addiction for decades so I’ve decided to do something about this, starting with Werewolf By Night.
This is a really fun book, particularly if you’re a fan of the cheesy horror b-movies of yesteryear (I know I am). On his eighteenth birthday, Jack Russell (I know, I know...) finds himself cursed to turn into a werewolf every full moon and from there the howl-worthy misadventures begin.
It’s not as great as it could have been thanks to the curse that plagued Marvel throughout the ‘70s: inconsistency. The book is blighted by constantly changing writers and artists, which leads to plot threads being forgotten about, characters just vanishing without explanation and generally jarring stories. A real shame as, when it’s good, it’s really good. Still, I had a blast reading this.
Noteworthy for Marvel historians and trivia collectors: this volume includes Greer Nelson’s transformation from her original heroic identity the Cat to her now more familiar form of Tigra.
Now on to Tomb of Dracula...
This is a really fun book, particularly if you’re a fan of the cheesy horror b-movies of yesteryear (I know I am). On his eighteenth birthday, Jack Russell (I know, I know...) finds himself cursed to turn into a werewolf every full moon and from there the howl-worthy misadventures begin.
It’s not as great as it could have been thanks to the curse that plagued Marvel throughout the ‘70s: inconsistency. The book is blighted by constantly changing writers and artists, which leads to plot threads being forgotten about, characters just vanishing without explanation and generally jarring stories. A real shame as, when it’s good, it’s really good. Still, I had a blast reading this.
Noteworthy for Marvel historians and trivia collectors: this volume includes Greer Nelson’s transformation from her original heroic identity the Cat to her now more familiar form of Tigra.
Now on to Tomb of Dracula...
October 2, 2020
(I recently reread this to prep a read of volume two, and I would have liked to add a few bits to the end of the review, but I seem to have maxed out - maybe I'll give the comments a whirl.
Quite enjoyable revisiting these comic books from my youth. Californian young man Jack Russell finds out that, thanks to a family curse, he's doomed to become a "Werewolf By Night"! ("Because...", as astutely pointed out by my good friend Prof. Groff, "...you can't be...a werewolf...by day")
Things I learned from reading THE ESSENTIAL WEREWOLF BY NIGHT Volume 1
1. Mike Ploog was a really good artist, especially when he inked himself. I didn't pay much attention to art when I was reading comics as a kid in the 70s, as it was usually the story that interested me, but occasionally certain things would seep through. Ploog was perfect for the various horror titles (see also Essential Man-Thing, Vol. 1) as he does great creepy shadow work, like a more cartoony Berni Wrightson.
2. WEREWOLF BY NIGHT was a far better title in Marvel's 70s "monster" output than the recently collected FRANKENSTEIN book (Essential Monster Of Frankenstein Volume 1 TPB). Marvel simply had no idea what to do with Frankie, other than have him complain about man's inhumanity to man, but WEREWOLF moves along at a good clip, with Jack Russell (as in the terrier breed, man) your typical swingin' 70's young adult tortured by his dark curse. This seems to work much better as a character-trope than it did for the similar Ghost Rider, although I'm going by memory here and haven't read Essential Ghost Rider, Vol. 1 yet. He even moves into a singles apartment complex at one point and gets repeatedly hit on by the girls next door. And gets into fights with the angry black guy in the next apartment (who, yes, turns out to be a werewolf as well).
3. If you move a castle "stone by stone" from Transylvania to an island off the coast of California, that includes moving secret passageways and hidden doorways that hide rooms with ancient arcane tomes. Not one workman noticed, I guess.
4. If you live in a castle, or are in any way weird, you always have a collection of freaks in your basement. I can't imagine that it was cost-effective to feed, clothe and house a gaggle of freaks but lots of people were doing it in the 70's, apparently (see obscure Ghost Rider foe "Freakmaker", who even based his whole shtick on it!). They make good fodder for "raking talons", though.
5. The main plots running in WBN usually involve: 1) mystics who want the Darkhold (this was where the "tome of unholy magic" was introduced into Marvel continuity and was originally not nearly as all-powerful as it later became) which circles around Russell's life because his father owned it and 2) a group of criminal businessmen called The Committee (in that classic Marvel 70's manner where criminal conspiracies were run by businessmen: Roxxon *cough*Exxon*cough* Oil were trying to regain the Serpent Crown and President Nixon was running "The Secret Empire", or something like that) who want the Werewolf for differing reasons: initially, to use him as a way to scare people into spending more money and thus revive a sagging, sluggish economy (I kid you not! Who wrote this, Steve Gerber?) and then, later, because his blood will make men super-strong. Also, the aforementioned Black Werewolf subplot, and the obligatory fight with Dracula.
6. The Hangman, who has his first appearance here, is a great bad guy, as he's a mentally unbalanced psychopath who grew up on movie versions of good and evil (John Wayne, etc.) and now thinks the world is corrupt. So he's a vigilante, but so insane that he's mostly killing good people, cops, etc. while "fighting the good fight". A few years later, Marvel would take a similar character, decide he was a hero, and call him The Punisher. I know The Hangman has appearances in the Marvel Universe after this, but the end of his first appearance is great: trapped under rubble, screaming for help but all the people he's kept imprisoned in his lair just leave him to die (and understandably so). It's a really smart choice to have an inversion of the standard superhero/vigilante show up as the bad guy in a book in which the main character is an anti-hero. More coming in Essential Werewolf By Night Volume 2 TPB, I suppose.
7. Topaz (who's recently re-appeared in the Marvel Universe in Witches Volume 1 TPB) has her first appearance here - a shapely blonde mystic, assistant to Taboo (a big fat magician who would seem to be a Hindu but lives in a "mosque"). She's later used as a great plot device as she can *kinda* control the Werewolf. Then she splits because her powers are running out. Again, Essential Werewolf By Night Volume 2 TPB might provide further answers.
8. If you're a French mutant who is super-strong and has impenetrable skin (and you're hunchbacked), and your attempted hijacking of an airliner goes awry because of a werewolf, the very last thing you should do is kidnap the werewolf's girlfriend and run all the way across Paris to the Cathedral of Notre Dame because, very likely, you're gonna be thrown off the top to your death.
9. The Dracula appearance is kinda perfunctory. Transylvania in 1974 in the Marvel Universe seems an awful lot like Transylvania in 1874 (or like Hammer Films' versions of Transylvania: y'know, with lots of cockney pub-dwellers). Also, there's a horribly confusing scene transition between a man and a woman talking in a room, and another man and a woman talking in a room that is not noted as having transitioned (I stared at that page for like a full minute, trying to grasp it!) It did make me want to get and read the Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 1, et al. because those were some great horror comics of the times.
10. The Committee is run by Baron Thunder. Who is Baron Thunder, you may ask? I'm glad you did. I really wish I had a scanner so you could see his introductory panel. I really, really wish I did. First of all, he's in one of those "command chairs", in front of a control panel, so he spins around in a very cinematic way (they even have a little "ziiiippp" sound effect) to face the reader. He's fat. Really fat. His head is shaped like an egg. He has buzz-cut hair on the top of his egg-shaped head. He has a monocle. He has a long scar down his face. He's smoking a cigarette in a (you guessed it) long, effete cigarette holder (just like a movie Nazi!). Now, you'd think that it would be enough to identify him as your standard "decadent European Nazi-30-years-after-the fact" bad guy, right? (I mean, he's a freakin' Baron, for chrissakes! Although I always wondered if anyone actually checked these supervillain's credentials - yeah, Count Nefaria was an actual Count, but were Baron Blitzkrieg, Baron Blood, etc, really Barons?). But, oh no. Because here's his get-up: he's wearing a big cape with an enormous collar attached by tasselled skull-heads. He's wearing a tuxedo-style suit with a frilled vest and, I swear to God, a cummerbund with a devil's head around his waist. Also, his sleeves end in enormous, Elizabethan frills. This guy, let's make no mistake, stopped off from some serious LA Gay-Pride Costume Parade on his way to running the Committee.
11. For the MARVEL UNIVERSE HANDBOOK OF FORGOTTEN CHARACTERS please find the following entry for "Ma Mayhem": an operative for Baron Thunder, she looks like an aging hippie grandma, is "the most powerful witch in California" (yeah, tell that to Louise Huebner), swings a mean axe, packs silver dust and also wields a magical, silver-coated whip (uhhh, how does that actually work? Wouldn't it just make the whip not very flexible? Oh, that's where the "magic" part comes in, I guess). She wants the Werewolf's ears for a magic spell. When Doug Moench takes over writing from Mike Friedrich and wraps up the entire Committee plotline in one issue (very clumsily, I might add: this happens a lot in Marvel comics of this period), she's suddenly a hottie femme fatale who was disguised as an aging, hippie-looking grandma for no discernible reason. And if that seems lame, just think of poor Lawrence "please, call me Larry" Tong, who Friedrich introduces as Baron Thunder's second-hand man: he's a hulking karate expert who appears in a few panels as an obvious set-up to eventually square-off against the Werewolf (they really like the "hulking brute against animal savagery" dynamic for fights). But that's it. Moench completely forgets to even mention him when he wraps-up the storyline (by having the Committee's previously undisclosed HQ - in a creepy Gothic home on "Moonrise Hill", no less - blown to smithereens after a quick tussle between the Werewolf and Baron Thunder). So here's to Lawrence Tong: I'll do some checking online but I bet he never appears in the Marvel Universe again and is now happily selling insurance in the Valley and only occasionally gets drunk and tells his friends about those few crazy years when he worked for a fat, flaming, ranting European guy with a devil-cummerbund and a monocle.
12. (I'm almost done, I promise) WEREWOLF BY NIGHT has a great narrative framing device that all the writers use. Since the book is narrated first person by Jack, someone decided from the start that his "changes" would be framed with "First Night" - "Second Night" - "Third Night", for the three nights of the full moon. It's a suspenseful way of staging the story and also keeping track of where Jack is in the "cycle". It works really well and I was impressed with the forethought it took to come up with it. Ditto on the Werewolf's continual, single-minded desire to escape to "the Forest", something he rarely achieves.
13. Jack Russell suffers from what I jokingly refer to as the "Professor X Secondary Power Curse". This comes from the fact that Prof. X must have a second mutant power that no one ever caught onto: the power "not to walk". No matter how often his crippling leg damage was cured (healed by mutant healer, healed by Shi'ar tech), he'd be sure to catch a bullet in the spine or have some machinery fall on him or something so he'd be back in the wheelchair. In Jack Russell's case, it's the mutant power to be completely oblivious to what time of the month it is and what time of the day it is and when the moon will be rising. Seriously, you'd think if said moonrise automatically turned you into a slavering, mindless killer, you'd keep pretty close track of that shit. Yet, again and again: "I hadn't realized until this second that...". Yeah, I know, it would be a pretty boring comic book if he did realize, but it strains credibility. If I remember correctly, I was mightily impressed when Jack Russell (long after WEREWOLF BY NIGHT was canceled) showed up in an issue of SPIDER-WOMAN and it was implied that he'd been chaining himself up in a remote house on every full moon for years on end. Which makes me wonder just what he's doing in the Marvel Universe nowadays.
14. I know I've fixated on this, but I have to add this from the OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE entry for Jack Russell/Werewolf included on the back of this Essential collection: "Miraculously, in that time he (Jack) never took a human life, although a number of the persons he encountered have been permanently scarred or crippled." Ahhhhhh, no. Nope. Bulllllllllshit. He killed lots and lots of people (thugs, mostly) in these comics and there's no doubt about it. Let's not be silly about this (like Jim Shooter's sudden declaration in the mid 1980s that Wolverine hadn't really been killing people all those years). I mean, sure, they're not going to show him standing there with loops of intestines hanging off his claws in a 1970s comic book ostensibly for kids and sold in 7-Elevens but, seriously, a lot of those guys were ground chuck after tangling with Jack Russell.
15. Okay, here's the last thing. It's this really funny little side bit that happens in the story from GIANT-SIZE CREATURES that's included because it's got the Werewolf meeting Tigra (and this is the first appearance of Tigra as well - after Greer Nelson's costumed career as The Cat - in full, furry form). It's an okay story by Tony Isabella, interesting because it sets up the whole "Cat People from another dimension" thing into Tigra's origin (not that I think they did anything with it - the Cat People caused the freaking Black Plague in the Marvel Univerese, according to this story. You'd have thought that would have been someone like, say, Apocalypse) and Tigra doesn't have a tail here (when did she get her tail?) and Tigra has powers I never heard about (including the ability to absorb and organize lots of information, along with an empathic sixth sense). Plus, she's pretty blasé about finding out she can't turn back to human form again (about as blase as She-Hulk was in that John Byrne graphic novel when it happened to her - which I liked a lot). Another Tigra thing: the story says her voice has a feline, musical purr, which I'd really like to see someone bring forward in the dialogue when they use the character sometime. Also, this story is kind of funny because, let's be blunt here, the Werewolf pretty much gets horny for Tigra. And he's really lonely at the end when she leaves, which is kinda sad. There can't have been too many opportunities for monsters to hook up... But that's not what I want to mention. The bad guys in this story are perennial Marvel evil super-secret organization Hydra (you know, "cut off a limb and two more shall take it's place" yadda-yadda-yadda). But there's a funny detail noted in this story. It seems, at this moment in Marvel history, Hydra had been undergoing some bad times. They'd previously merged with two other bad-guy groups (this being the 70s, times were tough on everybody) but now: "Since A.I.M. and the Secret Empire left our ranks, our power has been less than we would like." This leads to (as a Hydra thug clubs Tigra unconscious with his pistol by order of the Chief Hydra): "No sweat, Leader-Man! Hail Hydra, baby!" Followed by: "Have a care Agent B-4! None may make use of our oath with so little respect!" And then later, as Hydra are kidnapping an old woman doctor: First Hydra Agent: "The Supreme Hydra requests your presence, Doctor. He wishes to..." (cut-off by Second Hydra Agent): "Put a lid on it, Jerko! You're supposed to take her to headquarters, not impress her with your flowery talk!" (to which, the First Hydra Agent thinks): "Gad! I fear Hydra's ranks are being refilled solely from the baser classes."
And that, my friends, is absolutely hilarious writing! Fun horror/action/superhero comics from when comics were fun!
(THEN I READ IT AGAIN - a few more observations in the comments!)
Quite enjoyable revisiting these comic books from my youth. Californian young man Jack Russell finds out that, thanks to a family curse, he's doomed to become a "Werewolf By Night"! ("Because...", as astutely pointed out by my good friend Prof. Groff, "...you can't be...a werewolf...by day")
Things I learned from reading THE ESSENTIAL WEREWOLF BY NIGHT Volume 1
1. Mike Ploog was a really good artist, especially when he inked himself. I didn't pay much attention to art when I was reading comics as a kid in the 70s, as it was usually the story that interested me, but occasionally certain things would seep through. Ploog was perfect for the various horror titles (see also Essential Man-Thing, Vol. 1) as he does great creepy shadow work, like a more cartoony Berni Wrightson.
2. WEREWOLF BY NIGHT was a far better title in Marvel's 70s "monster" output than the recently collected FRANKENSTEIN book (Essential Monster Of Frankenstein Volume 1 TPB). Marvel simply had no idea what to do with Frankie, other than have him complain about man's inhumanity to man, but WEREWOLF moves along at a good clip, with Jack Russell (as in the terrier breed, man) your typical swingin' 70's young adult tortured by his dark curse. This seems to work much better as a character-trope than it did for the similar Ghost Rider, although I'm going by memory here and haven't read Essential Ghost Rider, Vol. 1 yet. He even moves into a singles apartment complex at one point and gets repeatedly hit on by the girls next door. And gets into fights with the angry black guy in the next apartment (who, yes, turns out to be a werewolf as well).
3. If you move a castle "stone by stone" from Transylvania to an island off the coast of California, that includes moving secret passageways and hidden doorways that hide rooms with ancient arcane tomes. Not one workman noticed, I guess.
4. If you live in a castle, or are in any way weird, you always have a collection of freaks in your basement. I can't imagine that it was cost-effective to feed, clothe and house a gaggle of freaks but lots of people were doing it in the 70's, apparently (see obscure Ghost Rider foe "Freakmaker", who even based his whole shtick on it!). They make good fodder for "raking talons", though.
5. The main plots running in WBN usually involve: 1) mystics who want the Darkhold (this was where the "tome of unholy magic" was introduced into Marvel continuity and was originally not nearly as all-powerful as it later became) which circles around Russell's life because his father owned it and 2) a group of criminal businessmen called The Committee (in that classic Marvel 70's manner where criminal conspiracies were run by businessmen: Roxxon *cough*Exxon*cough* Oil were trying to regain the Serpent Crown and President Nixon was running "The Secret Empire", or something like that) who want the Werewolf for differing reasons: initially, to use him as a way to scare people into spending more money and thus revive a sagging, sluggish economy (I kid you not! Who wrote this, Steve Gerber?) and then, later, because his blood will make men super-strong. Also, the aforementioned Black Werewolf subplot, and the obligatory fight with Dracula.
6. The Hangman, who has his first appearance here, is a great bad guy, as he's a mentally unbalanced psychopath who grew up on movie versions of good and evil (John Wayne, etc.) and now thinks the world is corrupt. So he's a vigilante, but so insane that he's mostly killing good people, cops, etc. while "fighting the good fight". A few years later, Marvel would take a similar character, decide he was a hero, and call him The Punisher. I know The Hangman has appearances in the Marvel Universe after this, but the end of his first appearance is great: trapped under rubble, screaming for help but all the people he's kept imprisoned in his lair just leave him to die (and understandably so). It's a really smart choice to have an inversion of the standard superhero/vigilante show up as the bad guy in a book in which the main character is an anti-hero. More coming in Essential Werewolf By Night Volume 2 TPB, I suppose.
7. Topaz (who's recently re-appeared in the Marvel Universe in Witches Volume 1 TPB) has her first appearance here - a shapely blonde mystic, assistant to Taboo (a big fat magician who would seem to be a Hindu but lives in a "mosque"). She's later used as a great plot device as she can *kinda* control the Werewolf. Then she splits because her powers are running out. Again, Essential Werewolf By Night Volume 2 TPB might provide further answers.
8. If you're a French mutant who is super-strong and has impenetrable skin (and you're hunchbacked), and your attempted hijacking of an airliner goes awry because of a werewolf, the very last thing you should do is kidnap the werewolf's girlfriend and run all the way across Paris to the Cathedral of Notre Dame because, very likely, you're gonna be thrown off the top to your death.
9. The Dracula appearance is kinda perfunctory. Transylvania in 1974 in the Marvel Universe seems an awful lot like Transylvania in 1874 (or like Hammer Films' versions of Transylvania: y'know, with lots of cockney pub-dwellers). Also, there's a horribly confusing scene transition between a man and a woman talking in a room, and another man and a woman talking in a room that is not noted as having transitioned (I stared at that page for like a full minute, trying to grasp it!) It did make me want to get and read the Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 1, et al. because those were some great horror comics of the times.
10. The Committee is run by Baron Thunder. Who is Baron Thunder, you may ask? I'm glad you did. I really wish I had a scanner so you could see his introductory panel. I really, really wish I did. First of all, he's in one of those "command chairs", in front of a control panel, so he spins around in a very cinematic way (they even have a little "ziiiippp" sound effect) to face the reader. He's fat. Really fat. His head is shaped like an egg. He has buzz-cut hair on the top of his egg-shaped head. He has a monocle. He has a long scar down his face. He's smoking a cigarette in a (you guessed it) long, effete cigarette holder (just like a movie Nazi!). Now, you'd think that it would be enough to identify him as your standard "decadent European Nazi-30-years-after-the fact" bad guy, right? (I mean, he's a freakin' Baron, for chrissakes! Although I always wondered if anyone actually checked these supervillain's credentials - yeah, Count Nefaria was an actual Count, but were Baron Blitzkrieg, Baron Blood, etc, really Barons?). But, oh no. Because here's his get-up: he's wearing a big cape with an enormous collar attached by tasselled skull-heads. He's wearing a tuxedo-style suit with a frilled vest and, I swear to God, a cummerbund with a devil's head around his waist. Also, his sleeves end in enormous, Elizabethan frills. This guy, let's make no mistake, stopped off from some serious LA Gay-Pride Costume Parade on his way to running the Committee.
11. For the MARVEL UNIVERSE HANDBOOK OF FORGOTTEN CHARACTERS please find the following entry for "Ma Mayhem": an operative for Baron Thunder, she looks like an aging hippie grandma, is "the most powerful witch in California" (yeah, tell that to Louise Huebner), swings a mean axe, packs silver dust and also wields a magical, silver-coated whip (uhhh, how does that actually work? Wouldn't it just make the whip not very flexible? Oh, that's where the "magic" part comes in, I guess). She wants the Werewolf's ears for a magic spell. When Doug Moench takes over writing from Mike Friedrich and wraps up the entire Committee plotline in one issue (very clumsily, I might add: this happens a lot in Marvel comics of this period), she's suddenly a hottie femme fatale who was disguised as an aging, hippie-looking grandma for no discernible reason. And if that seems lame, just think of poor Lawrence "please, call me Larry" Tong, who Friedrich introduces as Baron Thunder's second-hand man: he's a hulking karate expert who appears in a few panels as an obvious set-up to eventually square-off against the Werewolf (they really like the "hulking brute against animal savagery" dynamic for fights). But that's it. Moench completely forgets to even mention him when he wraps-up the storyline (by having the Committee's previously undisclosed HQ - in a creepy Gothic home on "Moonrise Hill", no less - blown to smithereens after a quick tussle between the Werewolf and Baron Thunder). So here's to Lawrence Tong: I'll do some checking online but I bet he never appears in the Marvel Universe again and is now happily selling insurance in the Valley and only occasionally gets drunk and tells his friends about those few crazy years when he worked for a fat, flaming, ranting European guy with a devil-cummerbund and a monocle.
12. (I'm almost done, I promise) WEREWOLF BY NIGHT has a great narrative framing device that all the writers use. Since the book is narrated first person by Jack, someone decided from the start that his "changes" would be framed with "First Night" - "Second Night" - "Third Night", for the three nights of the full moon. It's a suspenseful way of staging the story and also keeping track of where Jack is in the "cycle". It works really well and I was impressed with the forethought it took to come up with it. Ditto on the Werewolf's continual, single-minded desire to escape to "the Forest", something he rarely achieves.
13. Jack Russell suffers from what I jokingly refer to as the "Professor X Secondary Power Curse". This comes from the fact that Prof. X must have a second mutant power that no one ever caught onto: the power "not to walk". No matter how often his crippling leg damage was cured (healed by mutant healer, healed by Shi'ar tech), he'd be sure to catch a bullet in the spine or have some machinery fall on him or something so he'd be back in the wheelchair. In Jack Russell's case, it's the mutant power to be completely oblivious to what time of the month it is and what time of the day it is and when the moon will be rising. Seriously, you'd think if said moonrise automatically turned you into a slavering, mindless killer, you'd keep pretty close track of that shit. Yet, again and again: "I hadn't realized until this second that...". Yeah, I know, it would be a pretty boring comic book if he did realize, but it strains credibility. If I remember correctly, I was mightily impressed when Jack Russell (long after WEREWOLF BY NIGHT was canceled) showed up in an issue of SPIDER-WOMAN and it was implied that he'd been chaining himself up in a remote house on every full moon for years on end. Which makes me wonder just what he's doing in the Marvel Universe nowadays.
14. I know I've fixated on this, but I have to add this from the OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE entry for Jack Russell/Werewolf included on the back of this Essential collection: "Miraculously, in that time he (Jack) never took a human life, although a number of the persons he encountered have been permanently scarred or crippled." Ahhhhhh, no. Nope. Bulllllllllshit. He killed lots and lots of people (thugs, mostly) in these comics and there's no doubt about it. Let's not be silly about this (like Jim Shooter's sudden declaration in the mid 1980s that Wolverine hadn't really been killing people all those years). I mean, sure, they're not going to show him standing there with loops of intestines hanging off his claws in a 1970s comic book ostensibly for kids and sold in 7-Elevens but, seriously, a lot of those guys were ground chuck after tangling with Jack Russell.
15. Okay, here's the last thing. It's this really funny little side bit that happens in the story from GIANT-SIZE CREATURES that's included because it's got the Werewolf meeting Tigra (and this is the first appearance of Tigra as well - after Greer Nelson's costumed career as The Cat - in full, furry form). It's an okay story by Tony Isabella, interesting because it sets up the whole "Cat People from another dimension" thing into Tigra's origin (not that I think they did anything with it - the Cat People caused the freaking Black Plague in the Marvel Univerese, according to this story. You'd have thought that would have been someone like, say, Apocalypse) and Tigra doesn't have a tail here (when did she get her tail?) and Tigra has powers I never heard about (including the ability to absorb and organize lots of information, along with an empathic sixth sense). Plus, she's pretty blasé about finding out she can't turn back to human form again (about as blase as She-Hulk was in that John Byrne graphic novel when it happened to her - which I liked a lot). Another Tigra thing: the story says her voice has a feline, musical purr, which I'd really like to see someone bring forward in the dialogue when they use the character sometime. Also, this story is kind of funny because, let's be blunt here, the Werewolf pretty much gets horny for Tigra. And he's really lonely at the end when she leaves, which is kinda sad. There can't have been too many opportunities for monsters to hook up... But that's not what I want to mention. The bad guys in this story are perennial Marvel evil super-secret organization Hydra (you know, "cut off a limb and two more shall take it's place" yadda-yadda-yadda). But there's a funny detail noted in this story. It seems, at this moment in Marvel history, Hydra had been undergoing some bad times. They'd previously merged with two other bad-guy groups (this being the 70s, times were tough on everybody) but now: "Since A.I.M. and the Secret Empire left our ranks, our power has been less than we would like." This leads to (as a Hydra thug clubs Tigra unconscious with his pistol by order of the Chief Hydra): "No sweat, Leader-Man! Hail Hydra, baby!" Followed by: "Have a care Agent B-4! None may make use of our oath with so little respect!" And then later, as Hydra are kidnapping an old woman doctor: First Hydra Agent: "The Supreme Hydra requests your presence, Doctor. He wishes to..." (cut-off by Second Hydra Agent): "Put a lid on it, Jerko! You're supposed to take her to headquarters, not impress her with your flowery talk!" (to which, the First Hydra Agent thinks): "Gad! I fear Hydra's ranks are being refilled solely from the baser classes."
And that, my friends, is absolutely hilarious writing! Fun horror/action/superhero comics from when comics were fun!
(THEN I READ IT AGAIN - a few more observations in the comments!)
May 22, 2025
The b & w reprint collection of Marvel's "Werewolf by Night" was a fun read though very much a product of the 1970's. Marvel was itching to produce both a Dracula and a Wolf-man or Werewolf series and though the former was more successful this trade made for a decent enough read.
The series follows the story of Jack Russell and his curse turning into a werewolf when the full moon rises. Various mysteries, villains, family and friends are introduced including Jack's sister Lissa which grounds the series rather than making Jack some loner who travels from town to town.
The b & w art doesn't always come off as good as the original color, but that is to be expected in these kinds of trades from the 70's.
The series follows the story of Jack Russell and his curse turning into a werewolf when the full moon rises. Various mysteries, villains, family and friends are introduced including Jack's sister Lissa which grounds the series rather than making Jack some loner who travels from town to town.
The b & w art doesn't always come off as good as the original color, but that is to be expected in these kinds of trades from the 70's.
February 9, 2016
I read these in their original comic form back in the 1980s. Marvel combined the horror and superhero with these comics. Ranging from normal werewolf style stories to fights with super villains made these different than alot of comics. Recommended
December 18, 2007
This is pretty much The Hulk all over again, but with a more generic back story and less interesting characters and a lead named after a dog (the Werewolf's civilian identity is Jack Russell). My overall rating is, "meh."
December 31, 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).
Werewolf By Night #16 - Oh Mike Ploog, it’s so sad to see you leave. This is Ploog’s last issue with the title and it’s a fascinating look at the titular character classic The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. It’s not the same character, but the similarities are used as a plot device to basically get the “Hunchback vs the Werewolf” as if it was an old Universal Monster film. It’s a fun story, really fast paced, but doesn’t have much else going it other than the gimmick and that it’s Ploog’s final issue. (3/5)
Werewolf By Night #17-19 - And this is writer Mike Friedrich final arc as the writer. So there’s some attempts at wrapping up a few loose threads or at least doing something with them so the next writer might have an idea where to take the narrative. We get a golem-esque knock-off with the Behemoth, a vicious cleaning lady witch (think Rosa Klebb from From Russia With Love and add spells, another neighborhood werewolf, and more Committee intrigue. Fun, but not really conclusions or wrap-ups. (3/5)
Giant-Size Creatures #1 - Tigra! This is basically Tigra’s re-origin (for lack of a better word) as her short-lived career as The Cat never really got past the “kitten” stage. Still, it is very intriguing and certainly caught the attention of my young mind back when I first read it. It’s pretty normal superhero-monster (aka hero-horror or horror-hero) fair from that era, but it’s still lots of fun. Written by Tony Isabella with art by Perlin, the story also pits HYDRA against our werewolf and Tigra. Also see TIGRA: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION for her “complete” story. (3/5)
Werewolf By Night #20-21 - Big welcome aboard to new regular writer Doug Moench (a personal favorite of mine). With Moench and Perlin now on as regular creative team, a lot of inconsistencies start to disappear. But we’ve got to cut through a lot of dangling entrails that are still making an unsightly mess. In no time at all, Moench take scare of the Coker and Lt Hackett narratives and then Baron Thunder and the Committee. It’s kind of whirlwind considering how long of this stuff was simmering. Some of it is a bit rushed, but honestly,mit gets things moving again. (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).
Werewolf By Night #16 - Oh Mike Ploog, it’s so sad to see you leave. This is Ploog’s last issue with the title and it’s a fascinating look at the titular character classic The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. It’s not the same character, but the similarities are used as a plot device to basically get the “Hunchback vs the Werewolf” as if it was an old Universal Monster film. It’s a fun story, really fast paced, but doesn’t have much else going it other than the gimmick and that it’s Ploog’s final issue. (3/5)
Werewolf By Night #17-19 - And this is writer Mike Friedrich final arc as the writer. So there’s some attempts at wrapping up a few loose threads or at least doing something with them so the next writer might have an idea where to take the narrative. We get a golem-esque knock-off with the Behemoth, a vicious cleaning lady witch (think Rosa Klebb from From Russia With Love and add spells, another neighborhood werewolf, and more Committee intrigue. Fun, but not really conclusions or wrap-ups. (3/5)
Giant-Size Creatures #1 - Tigra! This is basically Tigra’s re-origin (for lack of a better word) as her short-lived career as The Cat never really got past the “kitten” stage. Still, it is very intriguing and certainly caught the attention of my young mind back when I first read it. It’s pretty normal superhero-monster (aka hero-horror or horror-hero) fair from that era, but it’s still lots of fun. Written by Tony Isabella with art by Perlin, the story also pits HYDRA against our werewolf and Tigra. Also see TIGRA: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION for her “complete” story. (3/5)
Werewolf By Night #20-21 - Big welcome aboard to new regular writer Doug Moench (a personal favorite of mine). With Moench and Perlin now on as regular creative team, a lot of inconsistencies start to disappear. But we’ve got to cut through a lot of dangling entrails that are still making an unsightly mess. In no time at all, Moench take scare of the Coker and Lt Hackett narratives and then Baron Thunder and the Committee. It’s kind of whirlwind considering how long of this stuff was simmering. Some of it is a bit rushed, but honestly,mit gets things moving again. (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.
December 10, 2018
I love the old Bronze Age Marvel comics in general, and this was no exception. While the series started off strong and then did weaken, it was a very interesting to see the werewolf myth dropped into the Marvel Universe. This comic does suffer from the formula of a lot of similar comics, in the sense that the absurd situations just never stop and you wonder how this character keeps ending up in the middle of weird happenings, many times seemingly at random.
Regarding the art, after reading this volume I think Mike Ploog is one of the most underrated artists in comics. His line work was stunning to the point it's a shame he isn't more highly regarded, or at least better known. Don Perlin did a good job as well, but Ploog's art just seemed custom made for this series.
The essential volumes are in black and white, and really, this series probably works better in B&W then it does in color so in case the lack of color is a positive.
As with most comics of the 70s, things do get campy at times, but that's more than made up for by the fun of the series. If you enjoy horror comics and would like something different than the usual anthology format, this is a good choice.
Regarding the art, after reading this volume I think Mike Ploog is one of the most underrated artists in comics. His line work was stunning to the point it's a shame he isn't more highly regarded, or at least better known. Don Perlin did a good job as well, but Ploog's art just seemed custom made for this series.
The essential volumes are in black and white, and really, this series probably works better in B&W then it does in color so in case the lack of color is a positive.
As with most comics of the 70s, things do get campy at times, but that's more than made up for by the fun of the series. If you enjoy horror comics and would like something different than the usual anthology format, this is a good choice.
July 12, 2013
The writing is often way too verbose. Further, the constantly changing calvacade of writers ruin any chance for the book to create and maintain a consistent theme. The transition to black and white also doesn't do the book any favors.
May 7, 2020
Good, cheesy fun from the heyday of Marvel's monster comics in the 1970s! In these collected issues, Jack Russell, cursed with lycanthropy, fights mutants, monsters, witches, sorcerers, and even Dracula. The cast of supporting characters are fun, too, including Jack's sister Lissa, who is constantly being kidnapped, but who is also the first one to figure out Jack is a werewolf; his friend, the reporter Buck Cowan, who I suspect is actually dating Jack's sister behind his back, despite the fact that she's only 17, because she's always hanging out at Buck's house; and Jack's ridiculously horny neighbors at the "singles condo" where he lives, who are always trying to get him in the sack.
While the individual stories are kind of formulaic and forgettable, it's intriguing to see how many important elements of the Marvel universe got their start in WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, most importantly the Darkhold, a book of dark magic reminiscent of Lovecraft's Necronomicon, and the sorceress Topaz, whom Jack frees from servitude to the evil wizard Taboo and has a brief romantic relationship with.
I have one big issue with this collection, though, and it's the main reason I'm only giving it three stars. In my opinion, this book suffers greatly from being printed in black and white. There's a lot of text in narration boxes -- sometimes the comic is grossly overnarrated, with box after box filled with overwrought descriptions of what we're already seeing in the panels -- and the art can often be rich with detail. However, the black-and-white printing makes it hard on the eyes, and sometimes the result is that it's difficult to discern exactly what's going on in a panel. I got frustrated by this quite often.
Luckily, there are color collections available now. They're more expensive, obviously, but if you're interested in WEREWOLF BY NIGHT and the price isn't a deterrent, I would recommend those books instead. Still, no matter which version you read, a lot of kitschy, if forgettable, 1970s horror fun awaits you.
While the individual stories are kind of formulaic and forgettable, it's intriguing to see how many important elements of the Marvel universe got their start in WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, most importantly the Darkhold, a book of dark magic reminiscent of Lovecraft's Necronomicon, and the sorceress Topaz, whom Jack frees from servitude to the evil wizard Taboo and has a brief romantic relationship with.
I have one big issue with this collection, though, and it's the main reason I'm only giving it three stars. In my opinion, this book suffers greatly from being printed in black and white. There's a lot of text in narration boxes -- sometimes the comic is grossly overnarrated, with box after box filled with overwrought descriptions of what we're already seeing in the panels -- and the art can often be rich with detail. However, the black-and-white printing makes it hard on the eyes, and sometimes the result is that it's difficult to discern exactly what's going on in a panel. I got frustrated by this quite often.
Luckily, there are color collections available now. They're more expensive, obviously, but if you're interested in WEREWOLF BY NIGHT and the price isn't a deterrent, I would recommend those books instead. Still, no matter which version you read, a lot of kitschy, if forgettable, 1970s horror fun awaits you.
March 15, 2018
This was terrible! The hero is clueless, even after many months of living under the werewolf curse. Characters are one-dimensional, and he stumbles from one lame villain to another with little thought about what to do. Example: Jack Russell, the 18-year-old hero (who never does turn into the dog he isw named for for some reason) decides to move out of his stepfather's house. He arrives at a new apartment in a place filled with people his own age. So far, so good. And then, oh! It's the full moon? He must have made some preparations for guarding his neighbors from his dangerous werewolf self, but no! He remembers the problem the day he will turn! So he decides he will leave the building (OK) and run around in Riverside Park!
The art is good, though.
I struggled to finish this, despite the problems, but finally gave up three-quarters of the way through.
Stay away from this book!
The art is good, though.
I struggled to finish this, despite the problems, but finally gave up three-quarters of the way through.
Stay away from this book!
November 1, 2019
The Essential volumes are an excellent way to read older material, as they pack in hundreds of pages of comics for a very low price,as long as you don’t mind the black and white. So for the Essentals books themselves, always five stars.
In terms of this volumes content, I give it a solid three but no more. I always enjoyed the character Werewolf By Night back in the day, but being honest his adventures haven’t aged tremendously well. Despite having some very good writers in here, there was always a basic template to be followed, and Werewolf just ends up being a very one dimensional book with a very one dimensional character, who only occasionally transcends average.
It is certainly still fun nostalgia, but little more than that. The art I found to be ok, though again nothing too brilliant.
One for the fans, or nostalgia lovers.
In terms of this volumes content, I give it a solid three but no more. I always enjoyed the character Werewolf By Night back in the day, but being honest his adventures haven’t aged tremendously well. Despite having some very good writers in here, there was always a basic template to be followed, and Werewolf just ends up being a very one dimensional book with a very one dimensional character, who only occasionally transcends average.
It is certainly still fun nostalgia, but little more than that. The art I found to be ok, though again nothing too brilliant.
One for the fans, or nostalgia lovers.
April 20, 2018
Fun and very old school comic.
October 21, 2020
Average, but a fun exploration into Marvel's 70's horror phase.
February 14, 2014
This was another very serviceable entry in the Marvel Essentials line. Like many of the books, there was little "essential" about it, other than the wonderful artwork of Mike Ploog that predominates the volume. The black-and-white reproduction really brings out the atmospheric, Eisner-esque quality of his work.
All in all, this is a good, solid read of some simple and reliable seventies storytelling. I always found Werewolf By Night to be a bit more accessible than Tomb of Dracula, since it, like Man-Thing, Morbius and some of the other horror series of that decade, it had more a few more ties to the Marvel Universe (at least until the latter half of the vampire comic's existence).
If you're a Marvel Horror fan, then this *is* essential reading. If you're a fan of good comic book stories, again, this is a good choice for a couple of evenings' worth of reading.
All in all, this is a good, solid read of some simple and reliable seventies storytelling. I always found Werewolf By Night to be a bit more accessible than Tomb of Dracula, since it, like Man-Thing, Morbius and some of the other horror series of that decade, it had more a few more ties to the Marvel Universe (at least until the latter half of the vampire comic's existence).
If you're a Marvel Horror fan, then this *is* essential reading. If you're a fan of good comic book stories, again, this is a good choice for a couple of evenings' worth of reading.
April 29, 2009
Reprints Marvel Spotlight #2-4, Werewolf by Night #1-21, Marvel Team-Up #12, Tomb of Dracula #18, and Giant-Size Creatures #1. Jack Russell falls under the family curse and becomes a werewolf on his eighteenth birthday. Werewolf by Night is rather typical of Marvel horror in the 1970s. Marvel would come up with a concept idea and often run out of ideas on what to do with the character or are limited by his/her powers (The Werewolf can only be active 3 nights a month). Werewolf is a little better than some of the other titles but still feels repetitive in points. Ploog's art is atmospheric but he obviously didn't know how to draw the Werewolf without its mouth handing open. It is still difficult to get past the fact that the main character's name is Jack Russell...ugh.
March 7, 2011
This title is historically important as Werewolf By Night was the first horror comic published under the comics code. What's great about this comic is that it is completely tied into the tradition of Gothic fiction of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein or Stevenson's Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. What seems revolutionary to me is that this title is written in first person from the perspective of Jack Russell (the werewolf) looking back on these adventures. That voice adds a whole other level of intimacy to these stories.
October 27, 2014
Since i was impressed with the Monster of Frankenstein series, I checked into this series and I would rate this better than the Monster series and would encourage people to read this if they are limited to choose either book.
August 18, 2011
Quality and originality of the story is open to debate, fans of seventies trash will certainly love it, but at this prize it's an unbeatable offer and Mike Ploog's artwork is simply amazing.
July 2, 2015
Sometimes time is ruthless even to genres I love. This was one of those times.
Some nice Ploog art, though.
Some nice Ploog art, though.
May 7, 2018
Wacked-out, free-wheelin', oddly California gothic--and decidedly, innately, a 70s comic. Wonderful, and partly because, to me, it's also insanely awful. For god's sake, there a battle between a shark and the werewolf in issue 2! But it's also the kind of comic I read, growing up, that captured my imagination and remained with me throughout the years.
For instance, the main character, Jack Russell, that titian-haired, oh-so-hip, frequently clueless, angsty young hunk--somehow never remembers when the moon is full and is frequently caught out amidst those pesky people he might eat. But how else could we have him encounter all these sub grade-B, raving lunatic, memorable villains?
As for Jack's pointy-toothed counterpart, aside from rampaging, he's always trying his best to get back to "the forest." Never the woods, mind you, or the trees, or them-thar-hills ... it's always, always, "the forest." I still smile when I see that thought bubble: "must get to the forest."
Aside from the art and the inherent angst, here's what ultimately sold me (and led me to collecting most of the issues as a kid): the same reckless hero/victim/villain is also a thoughtful narrator of the comic. It really drew me into his story. "How often had I almost killed a man -- almost felt his life run out beneath my hands? Too often -- and this time, I almost succeeded... "
Oh, and fun covers like this! From Vol 1 10, "The Sinister Secret of Sarnak"
For instance, the main character, Jack Russell, that titian-haired, oh-so-hip, frequently clueless, angsty young hunk--somehow never remembers when the moon is full and is frequently caught out amidst those pesky people he might eat. But how else could we have him encounter all these sub grade-B, raving lunatic, memorable villains?
As for Jack's pointy-toothed counterpart, aside from rampaging, he's always trying his best to get back to "the forest." Never the woods, mind you, or the trees, or them-thar-hills ... it's always, always, "the forest." I still smile when I see that thought bubble: "must get to the forest."
Aside from the art and the inherent angst, here's what ultimately sold me (and led me to collecting most of the issues as a kid): the same reckless hero/victim/villain is also a thoughtful narrator of the comic. It really drew me into his story. "How often had I almost killed a man -- almost felt his life run out beneath my hands? Too often -- and this time, I almost succeeded... "
Oh, and fun covers like this! From Vol 1 10, "The Sinister Secret of Sarnak"
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