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Essential Werewolf By Night Volume 1 TPB (Essential) Books
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- A must buy for Werewolf by Night fans!This book contains all of the essential stories that made Werewolf by Night a thrilling, memorable read at the time it was published. It also contains none of the weird, melodramatic and rather boring stories that eventually killed the series off entirely.
These are the stories that made the original comic a unique, heart-stopping masterpiece about the struggle in all of us to define what it is that makes us human. In many ways, this collection represents the finest werewolf fiction ever written.
Rating:
- Another of the Marvel Monster SquadThe Essential Werewolf by Night quite clearly shows the Werewolf's place in Marvel Monster history in terms of importance and quality. He sits firmly between Tomb of Dracula (as the best) and the Frankenstein Monster (the most uneven). The Werewolf comic got off to a good start mainly due to the artwork of Mike Ploog. The stories, though, while often fine, were never top-notch and over the course of this volume too many authors tackle our furry friend to create any consistency or compelling drawn-out storylines (such as those of Dracula, who makes a welcome appearance in this volume). The main problem is that the character of Jack Russell dissappears as the Werewolf appears and no one was ever able to create a compelling character out of the Werewolf itself, in addition to the difficulty that the furry side only came out three nights a month. An Essentials volume makes this problem even more evident. Still, the stories are fun and very emblematic of Marvel in the early to mid 1970s when they exploded with unusual concepts and tried to move beyond simply having the superheroes. Another interesting Essentials choice.
Rating:
- Mike Ploog brings the Werewolf by Night to lifeThe biggest casualties of the purge that happened with comic books with the advent of the comics code were the horror comics, personified by E.C.'s "Tales from the Crypt" and related titles. Instead of horror comics there were black & white horror magazines, the most notably of which were published by Warren (e.g., "Creepy," "Eerie"), while D.C. published watered down versions of the E.C. horror anthologies such as "House of Mystery." At Marvel there were mostly reprints of old Jack Kirby monster stories in titles like "Monsters on the Prowl" and some brief attempts to create titles with new stories with "Tower of Shadows" and "Chamber of Darkness," before they became reprint comics as well. Then in April 1972 Marvel released the first issue of "Tomb of Dracula," which became the top selling horror comic in the land, written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Gene Colan.
Once "Tomb of Dracula" kicked open the door, Marvel followed suit with a whole slew of horror comic books including "The Monster of Frankenstein," "Ghost Rider," and the title I thought was the second best of the bunch, "Werewolf by Night." What those three titles had in common was that the first issues of each were drawn by Mike Ploog, whose distinctive artwork made him a fan favorite second only to Berni Wrightston when it came to drawing monsters (and clearly Ploog was able to do more pages than Wrightston). The problem with these titles came with Ploog moved on to something else, as he always did sooner of later. The main artist on the title eventually became Don Perlin, although Werner Roth, Gil Kane, and the person I would have preferred to see be book's artist Tom Sutton did some issues as well (Sutton drew #9-10 and inked Kane's pencils for #11).
The cover art for this trade paperback is taken from the cover art of the first issue of "Werewolf by Night" and shows exactly what Ploog's attraction was as an artist. Fortunately Ploog does fourteen of the issues collected in "Essential Werewolf by Night, Volume 1," which includes the character's introduction in Marvel Spotlight #2-4, and the first seven of the twenty one issues of "Werewolf by Night" reprinted here. The book also has the title character tangling with Spider-Man in "Marvel Team-Up #12," a crossover with "Tomb of Dracula" #18, and tangles with Tigra in "Giant-Size Creatures" #1. The werewolf character was created by Roy & Jean Thomas, with the first stories scripted by Gerry Conway. Other issues were written by Lein Wein and then Marv Wolfman took over for a while (including the Dracula crossover), and eventually Mike Friedrich and Doug Moench worked with Perlin for most of the rest of the book's run.
The basic premise of "Werewolf by Night" is that Jack Russell grows up in Los Angeles with his mother, sister and stepfather, having emigrated from Eastern Europe many moons ago. The night he turns 18 Jack changes for the first time into a werewolf when the moon is full. He learns that there is a blood curse on the males of his family line, because way back when one of his ancestors, Baron Russoff, a read aloud from the "Darkhold" (so Jack is really Jacob Russoff). Consequently, initial issues had to do with Jack dealing with the family legacy and running into a string of characters who looked liked they belonged in a Hammer film or other noted monster movies. Issue #4 does a werewolf version of "The Most Dangerous Game" and #6-7 has Jack the prisoner of the "Carnival of Fear." They get the book away from Marvel's supervillains, with the encounter with the Hangman (#11-12) being the exception that proves the rule. Besides the Dracula crossover the standout story is the two-parter involving the beautiful Topaz and the man-monster called Taboo (#13-14), which marked the return of Ploog for four issues.
Of course, like Bruce Banner and the Hulk, Jack Russell would always be seeking ways of either avoiding or at least controlling the transformations. Eventually the Three who are All would give Jack the ability to change into the werewolf at will and have his human mind control the beast, except on the three nights of the full moon, when all bets were off. But at this part in the history of the book you just have the recurring coincidence of bad things happen to Jack each month on the three nights of the full moon. Fortunately Ploog's artwork makes the movie monster plots work better than they probably would otherwise, although reduced to black & white it is Sutton's artwork that really stands out here. I am not sure if there will be a Volume 2 of the "Essential Werewolf by Night," because without Ploog's artwork it is just not as interesting.
Rating:
- Jack Russell. It is your time to Howl!In some of my past reviews, I asked why different series couldn't land Essentials of their own: the Champions, Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu, and especially the Sub-Mariner. So far, only one request has been answered, Werewolf by Night, which I spoke of in my first review. This marks the third Halloween in a row that has seen the release of an Essential of a Marvel monster comic from the `70's (though how many more 4th's of July will pass us by without an Essential Captain America 3 I can't say). The Werewolf first arrived in Marvel Spotlight #2 in 1972; now he's in the spotlight of your local comic book shelves again. And so Werewolf by Night, show us your chops!
Created by veteran Marvel writer and editor Roy Thomas (though it would have been more poetic if it was Marv Wolfman), the story stars Jack Russell, average Malibu valley dude. After his 18th birthday, Jack's life takes a turn for the less-tubular when he learns he has inherited the Curse of the Wolf from his Transylvanian baron/warlock father (Thanks, Pop!). Shortly thereafter, his mother is killed in a staged car accident and he avenges himself on her murderer by the tooth and nail of the Werewolf by Night. But his troubles have only just begun as he struggles to contain the beast within, protect his younger sister Lissa (who may yet succumb to the transformation as he did), translate the Darkhold (his father's diary and legacy of black magic), and endure the shadow of his stepfather Phillip, whom he suspects had orchestrated his mother's death. Thus, a new character has put his paws down in the darker corners of the Marvel Universe.
The series features an eclectic cast who brings woe and weal to our canine host. A wide range of villains who would look at home in a Hammer House production (the kind that have monocles, turbans, waxed moustaches, cigarette holders, or some combination thereof) come for a piece of the Darkhold or the Werewolf. Jack meets two pre-Giant-Size X-Men mutant foes in the Gorgon and the Hunchback. He's also put in a cage and presented as a carnival exhibition by the Hindu mystic Swami Rihva (A pun on the song "Suwanee River"? Most likely). In my Luke Cage review, I said that the vigilantes Discus and Stiletto made the Punisher look congenial. Well, the crazed sexist crime-stopper Hangman in this book makes Frank Castle look like Mister freakin' Rogers! Wolfie also takes care of Louis Belski and Liza Pyne, the vampirized actors I last met in the Essential Tomb of Dracula 4. Mostly though, the Werewolf tangles with the L.A. crime cabal known as the Committee, who allegedly launches random acts of terrorism in order to stimulate the sagging economy. Whatever. They still have more going for them than the color-coded rubes of ICON who pushed the Monster of Frankenstein around in his comic. Friends-wise, the series introduces Topaz, the kindly empathic sorceress (In most of her appearances she is a blonde Caucasian woman, but in last year's Witches mini-series she suddenly became a dark-haired Indian. She's magic!). Then the Werewolf becomes smitten with future Avenger Tigra the Were-Woman, despite Hydra's best intentions to ruin his romantic mood. And yet, Jack's strongest friendship is with Buck Cowan, an unsuccessful screenwriter who is more than twice Jack's age (Do the guys on the O.C. hang with 40-year-olds much? It's been a while since I've seen that show).
During my run with the Wolf-Man, I ran into only two things that really stuck in my craw. The first is how the plotlines very flippantly brushed over the Werewolf's "downtime". Things only get hairy for Jack during the three consecutive nights of the full moon, but it seems that nothing ever happens during the 25 or so days between those times (Jack even starts apartment hunting between the first and second nights of one cycle. Shouldn't he have done that sooner?). Also, the nights of the full moon seem to elude Mr. Russell's cognizance until it's too late on way too many occasions (If I was a werewolf, I would mark the lunar phases on my desk calendar or something). Secondly, the villainess Ma Mayhem is among the most jarringly confusing characters I've ever seen. In one issue, she's a myopic old crone who's called "California's most powerful witch" even though she attacks the Werewolf with an arsenal of silver melee weapons as opposed to spells or curses. Then in her second appearance, she arrives as a spandex-clad, curvaceous young hottie holding a latex hag mask (with glasses painted on it!) and does absolutely nothing except act as the cheering section for the villain of that story. Everyone, all together now ... huh!?! Meeting Ma Mayhem was a flashback to the repudiating, not-sticking-with-your-guns type of stories that absolutely plagued the Essential Ghost Rider. Today's comic writers tend to get a 4-6 issue story arc completely in the can before the first part is even released; it's a practice that is starting to sound very sensible to me.
Although not every story held me in my seat, I believe that the Werewolf by Night is a great success in combining the supernatural with the superheroic. The Werewolf possesses considerable but not excessive strength, agility and resilience. He prowls the night with animalistic but not evil or bloodthirsty instincts (the wolf just wants to return to "the forest" and hunt deer instead of people) which Jack's repressed human ego can sometimes impose his will upon. He's a bit like the Hulk with a luxurious coat of fur. Helping the reluctant hero angle along is the soulful and introspective first-person narration that Jack provides throughout the series (This is a very early departure from the omniscient narrator routine at Marvel, as I inferred from Thomas' editorial in the Giant-Size Creatures issue).
Therefore, whether you are a classic comic fan or just looking for some good monster tales for Halloween, I think that you'll like this lycanthrope!
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