Werewolf by Night #1 review

Blood Hunt is over, but Jack Russell’s story continues in Werewolf by Night #1 written by Jason Loo with art by Sergio Dávila, Jay Leisten, JP Mayer and Craig Yeung and colors by Alex Sinclair. The book, proudly designated “Red Band”, is pure unadulterated grindhouse cinema gloriously transformed into a 37 page comic and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Jack Russell has always been one of my favorite Marvel characters, and I always appreciated when he popped up somewhere within the Marvel Universe of books. Much like Larry Talbot (played with incredible pathos by Lon Chaney Jr. in the old Universal Horror Wolfman films), Jack is a good man cursed with changing into a werewolf but also cursed with a conscience, forever wanting to control the raging beast he turns into during every full moon.

We get more of that “man vs. monster” turmoil here as Jack, now living in a gothic castle in the mountains of Colorado, becomes embroiled in a mystery.  Brutal killings have started in the area. Fearing that he may be responsible, he soon finds that someone (or something) else may be preying on the local populace.Elsa Bloodstone makes a welcome return here and will hopefully stick around for the next few issues. An epic fight between her and Werewolf by Night is worth picking up the issue for alone.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world in Transylvania, a new menace arises.  A cult of wayward vampires and dark mages is trying to find a way to make their own version of the Darkhold to take over the world, led by a classic Marvel villain.

The whole issue is pure gold for anyone who loves the special creepiness of ’70s horror films.  From cults in candlelit castles wielding dark witchcraft to brutal bloody vivisections to the Werewolf himself, scraping his long talons across moss-covered stone walls in dim corridors, it all has the cozy feeling of watching a great horror film (with a dash of super heroics) at 2am.

I’m a sucker for Marvel’s monster sub-universe. I’d love to see them bring back regular series for their other horror-themed characters also, like Dracula, Frankenstein, Man-Thing, etc., and if you want to toss Spider-Man or Wolverine in there every so often just to remind everyone they’re in the Marvel Universe, no problem.

With this being a “Red Band” comic (named after the “Red Band” trailers for R-rated films that don’t edit out the bloody and gory moments), it allows the writer and artists to cut loose and they do here. I hope they continue going heavy on the horror and resist the urge to transform this into a superhero-type book, where Jack is reduced to some alternate version of The Hulk, running through New York City fighting Electro or Batroc the Leaper. Time will tell, but for now, keep bringing on the chills!